Western Sydney coach Marko Rudan has questioned the mental strength of his players after watching their shock 1-0 loss to last-placed Perth Glory at a windswept Macedonia Park.

The Wanderers entered Friday night's match full of confidence on the back of last week's 4-0 thrashing of Macarthur, and they were expected to sweep aside a struggling Glory outfit missing key players Ryan Williams, Mark Beevers and Aaron McEneff.

But Glory flipped the script on its head, dominating the first half before scoring the winner in the 59th minute in what was one of Western Sydney's worst performance of the A-League Men season.

The result put a major dent in Western Sydney's hopes of catching ladder leaders Melbourne City, and has also left them vulnerable to being leapfrogged by the likes of Central Coast, Adelaide, and Brisbane.

Rudan said the performance against Glory wasn't good enough.

"We are not going to keep building if our mentality isn't right," Rudan said.

"And it's games like this where we've struggled.

"We come to Perth, poor lighting, strong winds - so what. So what.

"These external factors, if we're going to be a good side, need to be forgotten about.

"We need to be mentally better, and we're not. We're not there."

Rudan wants to see his players show their mental strength during the tough moments.

"That's a process. It's not a magic wand," he said.

"You put them in certain positions or moments to try to challenge them.

"But ultimately the most important day of the week is game day, that's where you get judged, not at training

"A lot of people can do it at training. But can you come to Perth on a windy night and do it? We're not there. Maybe a handful are."

Rudan said captain Marcelo Guedes had some "strong words" to his teammates after the game.

"He understands what winning means and what it takes. It's easy to win at home or when things are going well," Rudan said.

"That's easy, anyone can play the game. But the challenge for this group of players is switching on the mentality (when it's tough), and the attitude needs to be right as well."

The Wanderers are sweating on the fitness of attacker Kusini Yengi after he limped off with a quad injury in the first half.

Yengi only returned a week ago from a similar injury, and it's unlikely he will be able to face Melbourne City at CommBank Stadium on Sunday.

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Rudan critical of brittle Wanderers - The West Australian