Mark Judan: Family Time

We have a history of leaking goals late in the second half. I hope this approach from Rudan might help to fix that.

Anyone else note the argument in this article that we lost to Bentleigh due to exhaustion from Rudan's hardarse training methods?

As long as there are no oranges at half time we should be ok!

#eatingischeating

'Before season start an ex-SAS friend of mine challenged me to go on a fifty mile run. So I did. And nobody could keep up with me for the rest of the season.' Kevin Keegan, in UK Sunday Times

50 miles = distance from Wellington to Martinborough.

Ernie tested the team under fatigue pre-season too

The team will be able to cope with amy abuse shouted at them by the fans if they survived the army grueling. Of course we hope there wont be necessity for abuse shouting anyway.

All whilst lugging around 10kg of hair.

Need to work on a 'sound off' - style chant.

That's what Rudan said in the post match press conference after the Bentley greens game.

A decent Martinborough pinot is worth going the distance.

LOOK FOR THE GOOD O-B1

Rudan still saying all the right things. Nothing too new in here, but good to see his attitude hasn't changed one bit.

New Phoenix manager Mark Rudan's full interview with 1 NEWS

Berbatov oozed class, but his style is lazy looking and wouldn't go down that well at nix, especially now he is older and likely less work rate, as evidenced by a lower strike rate in last few years

Robbie Keane would be nice. Always looked like he wanted it and no doubt would still put a shift in, just that sort of player. And mostly banged them in around 1 every 2 games

The others are all much younger. So may have more left in their legs. 

No one has heard of Anisarifard, so less likely to spend big on him. Agbonlahor, Anichebe and Rossi have pretty average strike rates.

Treetrunk Traore also low strike rate of late, but allows us to pump high balls in the box, and we can sell him to the Breakers when we're done.

I've heard of Ansarifard, he played for my Greek League team for 3 years. 41 appearances, 13 goals. He was more threatening than that sounds.

I just love how straight up this guy is! he tells it like is, no mucking around - gives me hope!!!

Having just listened to the entire interview, If you do and are not motivated to show up or get behind the team, then there is something seriously wrong. The last 2 minutes especially. This guys could well be a legend and deserves our full backing. Top interview in my humble opinion.

All I hope now is that the players deliver for him, and that the players we have are sufficient enough quality to at least get us into the top 6

Rudan is the Nix's first Aussie born coach. 

Pretty sure some of the Warrior's best seasons were with Australians in charge. Daniel Anderson & Ivan Cleary, took them to grand finals??

I'm not a basketball fan, so not sure if Breakers had an Aussie in charge when they won those NBL titles. But have an inkling they did.

The hard nosed, no excuse - magic dust just may work in NZ.

the part of that interview that impressed me was that he's saying he's a kiwi and he's in this 100%

We have to get rid of that top 6 fixation. Aim for number one and that's it.

been a Queensland kind of koiwoi, but Rudans reminding me of Stephen Price and the reliability and professionalism he brought to the Warriors.

Proof of the pudding will be results, but also how the team plays. 

No, you have to have a plan to get to #1 but it's pretty much impossible to aim for #1 in the short term when you're competing with the budget of the Victory.

The only way the Phoenix will get to #1 is to build up to it over a few seasons, aiming for #1 this season is delusional.

Alright, cool, but let's be realistic considering the last two seasons

There is nothing wrong with aiming high. There is manything wrong with accepting mediocrity before you even begin.

Way to take one comment in isolation, you aim for the top of course - but you have to build towards it.

Merrick wasn't #1 and lighting does strike, I doubt Merrick told his team to aim for #1 considering his message was about personal goals in Wellington.

At this point in the Nix track record, sixth spot is not "mediocrity".  Now if we get to sixth spot this season, then aiming for the sixth spot the following season would be mediocrity.

Had the question posed to me on Twitter, what is a pass mark for Rudan this season?

I've gone with concede less than 40 goals. Our biggest weakness these last seasons has been the defence, if Rudan can sort that out we can build on that for next season and push towards the top six. Expecting that we will make the play offs with the squad we have seems rather optimistic.

30 points

I just want us to be genuinely competitive with no huge controversies. Don't think that's too much to ask.

Hyslop had us at 6th in his preview which I thought was quite optimistic. I think a lot of fans (me included) will be happy if we play positive football, show some ticker on defense, and bring a few back through the gates, all while picking up a few wins along the way. If we finish 7th or 8th but achieve all of the above and get our long-term future sorted then it won't have been a disaster. I think we will find it much easier to recruit going forward if/when the A League becomes independent and we get some certainty as to our license. 

Think our seasons success will depend very much on us avoiding any long term injuries to our key players. Avoid those and i wouldnt be surprised to see us  make a real push for the finals.However should the opposite happen due to our lack of quality depth things could get dire.

A season without a 5-0 or 5-1 battering would go along way and the players to show the same commitment to the cause as the faithful have shown.

I had a quick chat with Wellington Phoenix Coach Mark Rudan on advice from Ancelotti, Emery and the upcoming A-League season https://t.co/eBv2wvEPRV

— Nick Stoll (@NickStoll) October 18, 2018

ICYMI: @WgtnPhoenixFC Coach @MarkRudan was our special guest ahead of the #ALeague season kicking off this weekend https://t.co/ktpqKWZEwF #RadioTAB? @UBETmedia ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/h2lAQD313R

— RadioTAB Australia (@RadioTABAus) October 18, 2018