Mental shift will take time
New season, new coach, new players, but the same old problems remain for the Wellington Phoenix.
Phoenix coach Mark Rudan was left to question the mentality of some of his players after their 3-1 home loss to Adelaide United on Saturday night.
They were up 1-0 just before halftime, but a Tom Doyle own goal before the break saw heads drop and two goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half condemned them to their third-straight loss.
It was almost exactly one year since former Phoenix coach Darije Kalezic sat in front of a post-match press conference and questioned his side’s mental abilities.
That was after a 3-2 loss to Melbourne Victory where his side gave up a 2-0 halftime lead. Kalezic said at that point that his side did not have winners ‘‘because if you have winners this can never happen’’.
Rudan was by no means echoing that sort of blunt rhetoric, but his concerns about his squad were in the same mental area of the game.
And it was something he anticipated would be a challenge when he joined the club.
‘‘Speaking to some former coaches and people around the club, it was a big issue. It was a constant message from all of them, the mentality.
‘‘That’s why we tried to work so hard to turn that around in the offseason. We’ve got mental coaches at the club as well that we’ve brought in on that side of things.
‘‘We all need to take responsibility because it’s an area I felt strongly about to try and change around and we’re still not there yet.’’
Rudan said there was a sense of inevitability about Adelaide’s second goal after his side came into the changing room at halftime with their heads down.
Some players remained positive but others needed to be lifted up.
It was something he said they would continue to work on but did not know when a shift in collective mentality would take place.
‘‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s going to take a year. Maybe it’s going to take two years. It’s been a constant at this club, as you know. I can’t answer that, but we’re going to stick through it.’’