OPINION: So how does Jose Mourinho manage to be in two places at the same time? Is this what he means by being the special one? One moment Mourinho is in charge of Manchester United and trying to chase a Chelsea coach down the tunnel. The next he is in Wellington, calmly clenching his right fist in acknowledgement of a victory that only he had the power to prophecy.

It is hard not to look at Mark Rudan, the new man in charge of the Phoenix, and not be instantly reminded of Mourinho. Rudan is in a dark suit of sorts, although it may not be Armani or Boss or Zegna, the couturiers of Mourinho. The shirt is black. The shoes need a bit of work on, as they are more trainer than dress shoe. But this look is classico Mourinho.

There is the prominent watch, because as the special one tells us, "a watch is the only jewellery a man should wear." There is the prowling touchline body language. There is the firm handshake with the opposition coach and the slightly dominant, patronising arm round his back. And there is the mahogany tan with the silver streaks in the hair. It's Saturnine Sunday at the Cake Tin.

GETTY IMAGES Mark Rudan barks orders during the round one A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and the Newcastle Jets at Westpac Stadium on Sunday.

But it's not just the look. When you listen to Rudan, you can hear Mourinho filtering through. Mourinho loves the siege mentality. He will have Roger Daltrey belting out, "people try to put us down," over the tannoy before the match. It is Mourinho and his players against the world.

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And this is just what Rudan has done on arrival at the Wellington Phoenix. He says, "We're not a big club ... I wouldn't be here if I didn't love a challenge. This is probably the biggest one in the 'A' league. Everyone talks about who wants the Wellington Phoenix. Who wants that job."

Rudan portrays the Phoenix as the club that Australia can't wait to see the back of. He portrays himself as the last coach to be assigned to a club this year, meaning he started "behind the eight ball." He speaks of the "negative vibes" and "the talks about two years and non existence." He talks of "sacrifice."

He says, "The biggest challenge initially was the lack of confidence around the club. There were a lot of people that were burnt by what happened last year...There were a lot of long faces. A lot of people had had their confidence shot."

And that was just the fans.

But you get the picture. Everyone hates the Phoenix and they don't care. The gods of football are always against Mourinho. There are campaigns and conspiracies designed to overthrow him. And so it is for Rudan, a man who survived his own corruption scandal over illegal transfer payments. It is the Phoenix against the world. Or, um, Australia.

But like Mourinho, the signs are that Rudan could turn out to be a very shrewd coach. Half of the team are Kiwis and the younger players, like 18-year-old Liberato Cacace and 19-year-old Sarpreet Singh, have been given a voice.

Rudan says, "Leadership groups just don't work. They feel entitled. Everyone is entitled to be a leader."

Rudan likes to set up his teams to play a narrow diamond formation in attack. The striker leads the point of the diamond, the two wingers come in behind, and the attacking midfielder sits at the base of the diamond. The narrowness of the wingers allows the full backs to come up on the outside, giving the opposing fullbacks the problem of whether to take the attacking wingers or the overlapping full backs.

The current dilemma for Rudan is that he hasn't get a centre forward so he has adapted his system to more of a revolving triangle than a diamond. The defence is also flexible. At times it is a five-man defence, but it will slide into a four-man formation when one of the full backs makes the call to push up and supplement the two deeper midfield players.

The formation requires intelligence, discipline, speed and hard work. At times it fell apart against the Newcastle Jets. The space in behind Louis Fenton in particular was exploited and on occasion he was slow to get back.

But you saw what Rudan is after from the disallowed goal. Tom Doyle pushed out of the defence to pressure a pass. Mandi won the ball back with help from Singh. Cacace went wide to give Doyle the out ball and then played the ball up quickly behind Newcastle.

The pace of Krishna exploited the defence and after a poor shot by David Williams, Singh bundled in the rebound. The goal was disallowed by a naive official who should have ruled the replay in real time rather than slow motion.

Of course Rudan was incensed by the decision. You can't channel your inner Mourinho without some sideline gesticulations.

"Unbelievable, mate," said Rudan, before embroidering the next unbelievable with an expletive, and following up with a couple of thespian penalty appeals.

It was all good stuff from the Ocker Jose. And like the great man, Rudan is showing every sign of being able to adapt to any environment. As a player he turned up in Germany, China, Malaysia, Japan and Switzerland. Now he is an Australian Croatian morphing into a Kiwi.

Rudan said, "When I see the results at the weekend, with the netball and the rugby league, I'm a Kiwi. I'm almost like 'Unlucky, Aussies,' because that's how I'm feeling right now. I said right from the start, if you get me, you get me 100 per cent. I'm as Kiwi as I come right now. This is home for me now."

Please do not call Mark Rudan arrogant because what he says is true. He is Kiwi champion. He is not one out of the bottle. He is a special one.