Ricki Herbert has dismissed suggestions midfielders Tim Brown and Leo Bertos are suffering post-World Cup blues after some lacklustre performances for the Wellington Phoenix in recent weeks.
Bertos was dropped to the bench against Perth Glory last weekend with Daniel preferred ahead of him, while an out-of-sorts Brown, who did not play in South Africa because of a shoulder injury, made way for new signing Nick Ward at half-time in the 2-1 loss at nib Stadium.
But Herbert is backing New Zealand vice-captain Brown to return to form quickly.
"(Brown) is a quality player. He was a great player for us last year and scored eight goals. You've got to manage these people," the Phoenix coach said.
"I think it's easy to drop them quickly but that's not my style. There is a strong loyalty to whoever it may be in the team and we've got to work through it. But they are accountable and they need to deliver at certain times."
Herbert also pointed out it was not the first time he had benched Bertos in order to "freshen up" the usually livewire midfielder.
"We had to freshen him up last year. I think at times he slips into these things," added Herbert.
"But I think he'll be fine on Saturday night. If he's selected I think you'll see the true Leo back."
Paul Ifill, another who admits he has yet to hit top form, also felt it was easy to look for something to blame when a team suffered a couple of losses like the Phoenix had against Brisbane and Perth.
"When something goes wrong everyone wants to read something into it," the striker said.
"If they didn't go to the World Cup they might have come back and not played well. It can be any number of reasons (for a drop in form)."
"It's the same with me. People like to speculate. In two weeks' time you might be saying how well the boys have done to turn it around and want to know the reason. There might be no other reason that we've been working hard on the training ground."
Ifill conceded after his success in his debut A-League season he was under more scrutiny this campaign, which had blunted his effectiveness.
"I am getting more attention but it's down to me to release the ball quicker and keep it better. I just don't think I've been on my game the last two weeks for whatever reason," said Ifill, who was the club's leading goal scorer last season.
"I need to look at myself. Am I in the right position to receive the ball? When I do get it am I doing the right things? Am I doing the wrong things? Have I changed something I was doing last year that I'm not doing this year?" Ifill mused.
"I've spoken to Ricki in depth about that and we've come up with some ideas and maybe I've become a little bit too predictable so maybe I need to change a few things."
"For me it's knowing when to pass and when to take people on and more importantly taking people on in the right areas. It's no good taking them on on the halfway line. I need to be taking people on around the box and be creating chances and scoring."
Saturday's match against an out-of-form Sydney side is the first of three games