AFTER Sydney FC missed the finals last season, Graham Arnold didn’t just dislike what he saw on the A-League table.

He wasn’t happy when he looked at himself.

In an honest admission of the biggest changes at Moore Park this season, the Sky Blues boss has revealed that the biggest lesson that came from Sydney FC falling out of the top six in the opening months of 2016 came when he looked within.

The Sky Blues top the table, undefeated after 12 rounds, ahead of their clash with Brisbane on Friday night.

They are almost unrecognisable compared to last season.

And so is ‘Arnie’.

“The biggest thing I learnt last season was about myself,” he explained.

“I’ve always been someone who looks at my own performance first. I’d never throw a player under the bus or criticise an individual in public because we’re all in it together.

“The biggest thing for me after last season was, we went away for three weeks and I looked at myself.

“I wasn’t happy with things I did last year.

“I wasn’t happy with the way I reacted to certain situations.

“I wasn’t happy with my recruitment.

“So my performance wasn’t great. The biggest thing I had to do was work on myself and re-invent myself and change my own habits and performance.”

Arnold decided, then and there, that he had to go back to what he knew worked best in his quest to build a culture and change the mentality at Moore Park: so he surrounded himself with good people on and off the park – attributes he sees as just as important as playing quality.

Sydney FC Coach Graham Arnold. Source: News Corp Australia

But there was one thing he had to get right before any of that happened.

“A big part of the media side of it and the outside of what we do is a perception and that starts with me,” he admitted.

“If I’m not sending out the right message, if I’m not behaving properly, if my leadership is not right, that filters right through the whole thing.

“The biggest change for the whole thing has been myself.

“I feel much better in myself.

“I wanted to show people the true me, the person I really am. I didn’t want to show people the actor that I was.

‘The biggest change for the whole thing has been myself’. Source: News Corp Australia

“The players know how I am. Any player that’s played under me hasn’t come out and said anything bad about me, internally I’ve showed that, and I wanted to show that externally.”

Indeed, when asked whether the rare failure - and the stress that came with it - was something he didn’t handle, Arnold admits that last season, his first bad one in the A-League, might have been what he needed.

“It was probably the kick up the backside I needed because … last year was the first time I haven’t made the top two.”

Arnold sat down with foxsports.com.au for a candid chat about how the mood and atmosphere has shifted at Sydney FC this year.

Graham Arnold reacts. Source: Getty Images

NO D***HEAD POLICY

Arnold’s recruitment this season has reaped rich dividends for Sydney FC – but he admits it wasn’t just all about quality or talent that he was looking at.

“I went back to what I truly believe in: you only can achieve success with good people. A no d***head policy. That was a big part of our recruitment policy: make sure we got good people, who understood the team comes first, not the individual. That was a big part of the recruitment part.”

Bobo with Graham Arnold. Source: Getty Images

‘THE TEAM WAS NOT ONE LAST YEAR’

Arnold admitted that it has taken “strong leadership” to change things at Sydney, and his biggest challenge in moulding his group this season was taking a team that had become fractured during a season that also involved AFC Champions League commitments.

What had to change first?

“(I had to) bring that team back together as one.

“That team was not as one last year –for whatever reason, the Champions League where you had to leave six or seven behind who couldn’t travel. Two foreigners were out of the squad. We weren’t as one. You look at middle of last January, we were sitting in second spot. Once I had to announce the Champions league squad, it segregated the foreigners and it was hard to bring them back. We’d travel with 25-26 players, eight stayed behind and they didn’t train properly.

“Whether they were players who I was saving for the A-League – but they wouldn’t train properly because it was so busy.

“I looked at myself and it was about bringing everyone back together.”

Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold. Source: Getty Images

HOW DO YOU MAN MANAGE SUCH A DEEP SQUAD?

With the likes of Milos Dimitrijevic, Bernie Ibini and David Carney no longer regularly starting, is man management now Arnie’s biggest challenge?

“I’ve never had problems with that. But that’s why expansion is ready – because I’ve got players on the bench who should be playing,” he said.

“I talk more to the players 12-20 than I do to players 1-11. They’re happy; 12-16 are reasonably happy, not thrilled. The ones you leave out I (talk to them), or I talk to Stevey (Corica) to keep them close, to understand. But when you have a mentality of ‘it’s all about the team’ (it’s fine).

“I said publically I wanted two players per position. They are pushing each other. I’ve never seen A-League training session levels of what they’re doing, pushing every day. It’s the reason for their performance.”

Sydney FC winger Bernie Ibini. Source: News Corp Australia

WHY 2017 WILL BE DIFFERENT TO 2016

Don’t forget, Sydney were in the top two to start 2016, before tailing away.

“This is a different group.

“Last year there was a lot of loose ends, this year, they’re as hungry as I am for success. For me the Christmas period is not our festive season. That’s what we’re driving now: that’s for family, friends. They work all year to party now. We party in May and June, to ensure our standards remain high.”

SCoach Graham Arnold watches his team. Source: News Corp Australia

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE AT THE CLUB AT THE MOMENT?

After the success of making a grand final in year one, Arnold admits trying to balance two competitions – succeeding in Asia, struggling domestically – didn’t work. The biggest difference now, he says, is everyone is happy.

Add in strong leadership, and unrivalled professionalism, to the extent of having a chef that cooks breakfast and lunch for the players, and Arnold is satisfied that the culture and mentality he is trying to develop is on its way.

“It’s no secret there was a bit of instability at the club and since I’ve been here I’ve worked extremely hard to have good people around me, on the staff side of it. But from day one, everything I’ve tried to drive is about professionalism and high standards.

Sydney FC players Alex Brosque, Rhyan Grant and Michael Zullo at Sydney’s training ground. Source: News Corp Australia

“For that, you need backing from the board, the chairman, and money provided. Scott Barlow and the board have done that. I’ve got now probably 12-13 full-time staff with me all the time. We give the players everything they possibly need: from my experiences with the national team and playing overseas. If you want to set high standards, and expect it, we provide it. Then it is a matter of changing the mentality of people, and the attitudes, and getting the right characters in.”

He added: “There’s the lessons you learn along the way. For me, it was this year, we’ve got such a happy group of people, the culture is so good now. The first year I felt like I was a traffic cop – pulling players up for everything, from being 30 seconds or a minute late, be it in the dressing room, or for lunch, or video, or wearing the wrong clothes. Now, the rules are set and the players control it. You need leadership within the dressing room. I don’t think the armband sat on Alex Brosque as comfortably as it does now. His leadership now is exceptional, that helps.”