New Perth Glory coach David Zdrilic says it will take more time to figure out his team's complicated "jigsaw puzzle", but he's confident there'll be big improvements in the coming weeks.
Glory followed up their disastrous 6-1 season-opening loss to Macarthur with a 2-0 A-League Men defeat to Wellington in Perth on Saturday night.
The results have left last season's wooden spooners on the bottom of the ladder and with a goal difference of negative seven.
Zdrilic's first senior coaching role has been a baptism of fire so far, with his job made harder by the fact that a significant chunk of the players in his new-look squad are either injured or still underdone.
Glory's defence has looked disjointed across the opening two games.
Zdrilic made four changes to his starting line-up for the game against Wellington, and there's likely to be plenty more swapping and changing in the coming weeks as the fitness of underdone players improves.
"It's that jigsaw puzzle that we're still working on to get a stable line-up and a fit, stable line-up," Zdrilic said.
"We're not in a phase right now where we have a settled line-up. There's still moving parts.
"Once we get the puzzle together and know who's better starting and also who's better coming off the bench (we will be more settled)
"I think we have weapons in this squad. We just haven't been able to put it together in the right place, and that's for various reasons.
"But when it does, it's going to be a very different energy and a very different side."
Glory travel to take on Central Coast next Saturday, and Zdrilic isn't panicking despite his team's tough start to the season.
"I know that things can change very quickly. This (game against Wellington) was a much different performance than last week.
"You can lose a couple games anytime in the season, but obviously at the start it's highlighted more.
"Every game we go into, we go to win, and that's been the mindset from day one. These results don't change anything.
"I think there was big improvement (against Wellington). There'll be a big improvement next week, and we'll tackle that with the same mindset."
Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano was proud of the way his players handled the challenge of facing a team coming off a 6-1 loss.
"The big fear I had coming into the game was our players underestimating Perth, especially at home," Italiano said.
"Throughout the week I saw training - I wasn't entirely convinced that we had gone over that hump.
"But the mentality was - especially in that first 20 minutes - I thought they were very focused and we overcame the pressure. So I was very happy."
