The elevation of Scott McDonald to the starting XI at the expense of Berisha was the sole change to Rudan’s starting XI for the visit from the A-League champions, the 34-year-old striker eventually entering the game as a half-time substitute for Kwabena Appiah-Kubi.

Berisha’s wide-eyed reaction to his 62nd-minute substitution in United’s 1-0 loss to Central Coast Mariners the week prior quickly became the talk of social media in the wake of the incident, as did his refusal to shake hands the hands of Rudan as he departed.

Though the striker posted an apologetic Instagram post during the week and the club had moved to hose down speculation, his absence from the XI provided fuel for rumours to potentially reignite.

Rudan, though, was on hand with a bucket of water post-game.

“Had nothing to do with last week,” the United coach said.

“We moved on very quickly. Besart showed a lot of remorse the day after, spoke to his teammates at the airport when we got to Melbourne and spoke to the coaching staff as well.

“He understands the culture and the environment that we’re creating here, absolutely no issue here, never has been a personal issue. We don’t want to take that away from him, that winning mentality and that fighting attitude.

“It was purely tactical this week, we wanted to stretch them. We wanted a bit of pace; we played with the two tens and the one striker to try and get in behind them. We know they play with very compact lines as well, so we believed by overloading that midfield area we needed someone off the shoulder.

“And that’s my fault, if you want to call it a fault. I purely am responsible for that. And today’s result, that’s my responsibility – 100%.”

United fell to their third-straight defeat against Sydney FC on Sunday, undone by first-half goals from Harbourside talisman Adam Le Fondre.

The defeat also stretched the club’s goalless run to five hours, Rudan’s side profligacy in front of goal becoming a concerning habit for the A-League newcomers just eight weeks into the season.

It was something the United gaffer reflected upon post-game.

“Yeah look, we get into that penalty box quite often,” began Rudan.

“We had four times the number of shots that they did but it’s just about composure and it’s about taking the right options as well.

“It’s about being in the right place at the right time. There was one moment there when [Dylan] Pierias cut the ball across the face of goal and, we talk about strikers hitting the near post, and Bes, you know, he’s not there yet.

“As good as Bes is, he normally swallows that up. He’s usually the first to the front post, gets a toe in or a foot in and you’re back in the game.

“But we’ll keep working. That’s just one moment, we need to go back.

“We’ve analysed a lot of the options, goalscoring options that we’ve created or entries into the penalty box, and making sure that we’re in the right place at the right time.

“We just happened to come up against a desperate side [today] that blocked everything that came their way.

“I’ve got to give them a lot of credit. We need to work more on that area.”

In particular, Rudan identified one moment that summed up Sydney’s defensive effort.

“It’s not normal that I sit here and talk about the opposition,” he said.

“But there was one moment in the second half when we broke away and there was something like six or seven blue shirts hounding one of our players to try and win the ball back.

“They’re the champions for a reason and I think that action tells you a lot about that football club and what they’re about.”