Nothing Is More Menacing Than a Cornered Beast

Wellington Phoenix skipper Alex Rufer has conveyed a strong message to the rest of the Isuzu UTE A-League: “There’s nothing more perilous than a wounded animal.”

Rufer made his remarks following Wellington’s dwindling hopes for the finals, which took another blow with a 1-0 home defeat to Melbourne City on Friday night.

Currently, Wellington finds themselves without a win in five matches, with three of those being losses, positioning last season’s semi-finalists in 11th place, nine points shy of the top six.

Rufer has acknowledged that the Phoenix face a tough challenge with eight matches left but he isn’t ready to write off his team just yet.

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“I believe we’re close,” Rufer said in a post-match interview with Sky Sport New Zealand when asked about restoring belief within the squad.

“Regrettably, it could be one of those situations where it’s too late now. However, we need to strive for eight wins, every game from here on, and that’s how we must approach it. We have to hold on to that belief.”

“At this moment, we’re struggling and feeling down. But there’s nothing more perilous than a wounded animal, and that’s what we are right now.

“Once we manage to secure a positive result, things might start to shift. I take pride in the team. We just need to keep battling.”

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Wellington was eager to bounce back following their 6-1 thrashing against league leaders Auckland FC in the New Zealand Derby.

The Phoenix did show some response but ultimately fell short after conceding a goal to Marco Tilio in the second half.

Rufer commented: “We did display some signs of reaction following last week’s result.

“It’s a very disappointing outcome but I still feel we were quite careless with possession tonight. There were really promising moments but we also made some costly errors.

“With a bit more composure, we could have applied greater pressure on them, but they’re a strong team and took advantage of our mistakes.”