Rudan wants players to keep grounded
SYDNEY: Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan does not want his young players to get ahead of themselves following the side’s 31 upset win over Sydney FC in the ALeague.
Three firsthalf goals, two to Roy Krishna and a third from Steven Taylor, secured the boilover of the season in Sydney on Saturday, as the Phoenix ended a run of five games without a win.
Rudan, who was coaching an ALeague game for the first time against the club he captained to the inaugural title in 200506, feels his players are starting to believe in themselves following last week’s draw with early season pacesetter Perth and Saturday’s win over Sydney.
‘‘The challenge for our players is consistency. We’ve been up and down. We certainly don’t want to be an inconsistent team,’’ Rudan said.
‘‘But belief is the big one for them. We’ve got to calm down, enjoy tonight, but calm down.’’
Rudan also hopes to contain hype around around teenager midfielders Sarpreet Singh and Liberato Cacace, each of whom supplied a goal assist on Saturday with pinpoint delivery.
‘‘He [Singh] is a confident young gun, but he needs to continue to work,’’ Rudan said.
‘‘We can’t hype him up too much but I certainly like the young kids and I’ll throw them in.
‘‘I’ll keep working with them. They are Kiwi boys as well, which is important.
‘‘But again you’ve got to put them in a bit of a cocoon as well, because a lot of people might start talking these guys up, and rightly so, they deserve it.’’
With Fijianborn Krishna getting New Zealand citizenship, Rudan has the opportunity to bring in another import, amongst any signings the club makes in the January transfer window.
‘‘We don’t stop at one, as well. I think it’s always important to freshen the place up with a couple of new faces,’’ Rudan said
Wellington has successive home games over the next two rounds against Central Coast and Brisbane, both of which are in the bottom three. — AAP