Worst

Wellington Phoenix’s performance

This was just a really bad performance from this season’s uplifting story.

Sure, Rudan opted to play some of his fringe players and giving the likes of Filip Kurto and Roy Krishna a rest. Even then though, this display did nothing to convince the outgoing manager that he should look to replace anyone else in the squad.

This team played much like the Central Coast Mariners did when they were on the other end, during the 8-2 shellacking. Although the players might be different, it seems like there are deeper issues in the squad tactically, which might be because of Louis Fenton’s season-ending injury.

It is also a worrying trend for Phoenix fans going into the finals as they’ve lost three of their previous five matches in the league. Perhaps the announcement of their head coach leaving has demotivated the players at the worst possible time.

Mark Rudan’s announcement to leave early

As every week goes by, it looks like the decision for Rudan to announce his departure from Phoenix before the season has ended looks more disastrous as every week passes.

The players look lost and a lot of it is surely due to them losing faith in a manager that has jumped ships just when things were starting to look good for the perennial bottom of the table dwellers.

As final approaches, if Wellington fall at the first hurdle, now against Victory, there might be serious questions being asked on Rudan’s actual pedigree as a coach.

With Rudan reportedly moving to Western United next season, might the new team arriving even regret hiring the in-demand manager if his team’s form has fell off a cliff like this?

David Williams as a wing-back

This is through no fault of his own, but Williams is a striker, not a wing-back. He’s performed excellently when leading the line, instead he’s being caught out repeatedly in defence with Fenton injured.

Ikonomidis, Davidson and Castro all had plenty of joy on William’s end as they constantly pressured Williams when going forward and the out-of-place defender had no idea what to do.

Although Rudan has been forced to experiment following his important right-back’s injuries that ruled him out for the season, he might be better off playing a defender there than an attack minded player.