How Rudan changed

Agood rule to stick by when judging any A-League team is to wait until Christmas to assess how good they are.

At that stage, about a third of the season has gone and early form fluctuations should have started to flatten out.

This rule was particularly pertinent for the Wellington Phoenix this year. It would have been easy to write them off again after a three-match losing streak saw them second bottom after five rounds, given how previous seasons have gone after similar starts.

But coach Mark Rudan made a few changes, brought a few improvements forward and they were able to record their first three-match winning streak since March 2015, allowing them to enjoy their pavlova on Christmas Day firmly ensconced in the top six.

So what has changed in the short-term to get these on-field results? And what broader changes has Rudan made to get the whole club finally moving in the right direction?

MENTALITY

‘‘We’ve got to change the mentality of this whole football club.’’

The number of times Mark Rudan has said that since arriving in Wellington in May is astounding.

He challenged all his backroom staff, the management staff, the owners and even the media to change how they think about the club.

When you first heard it, it was hard to think mentality could play that big a part in on-field results.

But the biggest change this season has been the positive, tight-knit mentality of the squad, and the results have followed.

All through last season and early this season, when they went a goal down, it was a sense of ‘‘here we go again’’ as the shoulders slumped and heads dropped.

But now, they’re flying. Of course, they haven’t trailed at any time in their four-match unbeaten run, but they have conceded unfortunate equalisers and still picked themselves up to get draws or wins from matches.

The show of unity after their 4-1 win over Brisbane Roar last weekend, in which they all held hands and jumped about in front of their fans, was something few people could recall seeing from a Phoenix team.

If they keep that togetherness up, and individuals keep putting their team ahead of themselves, then they will continue to pose real problems for every team in the league.

TACTICS

It’s not all in their heads. Rudan has fast-tracked what he wanted his squad to do on the field and they’ve shown themselves adept at implementing the gameplan.

The 3-5-2 shape hasn’t changed since the start of the season, but what was a flat back five has changed to a genuine back three, with wing backs Louis Fenton and Liberato Cacace urged to push further up the field. That forces the opposition wingers to either drop deeper, or risk their midfield and defence being overloaded.

Centre back Steven Taylor