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Winning Factors That Prove Souness Is Doing A Great Job |
March 18th 2005
In my opinion of course...
1 - Team Discipline:
Regardless of where you stand on the Craig Bellamy 'issue' nobody
can deny that Graeme Souness has done what he promised to do right
at the very beginning, what he was initially hired to do - sort out
a dressing room short on discipline. Those in Black & White are now
letting their football do their talking for them. There is no back
biting, disgruntled looks, hands on hips, bad apples or malevolent
glances towards the dugout and no bad press.
The Bellamy situation could have been handled better of course but
isn't the end result the be all and end all of football? 8 wins in
succession since the Welshman was jettisoned across the border to
Celtic Park speaks far louder than any words uttered to Sky Sports
News. Far far louder.
2 - Team Spirit:
The spirit within camp United is evident for all to see. During the
final chapter of Sir Bobby's reign it had all but disappeared. When
I see my team play today, I see just that, a team. No longer is it
a loose fraction of individuals all playing for themselves, it's now
a team of individuals all playing for one another, for a greater cause
- namely the badge they now wear on their puffed out chests with pride.
The camp is a happy one. Every pass good or bad is being applauded.
Far more players than the usual suspects are now vocally encouraging
each other. Heads don't drop when the going gets tough they rise to
the challenge. Players enter the field with smiles on their faces
and leave with even bigger ones.
3 - Team Work Ethic:
With each game comes a higher rate of work ethic. For far too long
it was individuals putting in a shift, often for their more lazier
team-mates too, but now each and every player wearing a shirt we would
all give our right arm for just to pull it on for a fleeting moment
is putting in the shift that we all demand. Laurent Robert has sweated
more in the last few weeks than he has done in the last 4 years and
he more than anyone is reaping the rewards.
The work rate from left to right, back to front is absolutely phenomenal
and with it, fitness and energy levels have improved.
4 - Team Organisation:
We have now become a solid, hard to beat team and that is down to
organisation out on the pitch more than any other ingredient. One
of my biggest complaints about Sir Bobby's side was how ragged and
shapeless it become when not on the ball, when the opposition had
the ball and were heading towards our own goal. That is why we conceded
a lot of sloppy and needless goals and where all these "headless chicken"
phrases came from. When on and off the ball, we now have a shape about
us and haven't been overrun for a long time. Souness has knitted together
not only 3 units - the back five, midfield four and the forward two
- but managed to make them dovetail as one. The defence now work with
the midfield who in turn work with the forwards at getting on the
ball and getting it back when we don't have it.
5 - Man Management:
Every single one of us would have had concerns about Souness' man
management skills and with good reason given his reputation. A reputation
that was enhanced with the Bellamy fiasco and along with it our concerns
just increased. Well lets forget about that incident because it's
over with and the end result has justified the means.
His man management has been fantastic and with each individual his
tactics are working. He's been a bully to Robert, often criticising
him, even when playing well. Now he is praising him but not to the
extent he deserves but that is the key. Keeping the Frenchman on his
toes, constantly getting at him, demanding more from him, and forcing
him to re-evaluate his own game will, if Robert has any spunk in him,
mould him into a top-class winger. And if he goes and hides, well
I don't want those players at my club so he will be no big loss. Thankfully,
and to his credit too, he hasn't hid, he's came out and met Souness'
challenge head on.
Kieron Dyer's performances and the subsequent total turn around from
villain to hero with a standing ovation last night confirming he has
now been forgiving... but not forgotten, is by far the biggest single
success of Souness' man management techniques. Dyer now looks like
a top-class player and is fast becoming an important one which we
can't do without. Regardless of where I or you stand with Dyer, hand
on heart, he's playing extremely well and has been a big factor in
our recent upturn in results and I for one can't help but be impressed
by this.
Titus Bramble is another player who has under performed in recent
years but prior to his injury, he had been outstanding and had put
in a succession of consistently top performances. Gone are the jitters,
the concentration lapses and goal giving mistakes. He now looks like
a top-class defender.
Lee Bowyer has struggled for the past 2 and half seasons but he is
back to the kind of form he showed for Leeds and his goals from midfield
could well be the difference between European football or not next
season.
Other examples of Souness' fantastic man management skills came in
Wednesday's Chronicle where he praised Amdy Faye to the high heavens.
Softening him up for the bombshell which was to later be delivered:
'You aren't playing son'.
After a run of games to then suddenly not feature, it can leave doubts
in players minds and dampen their confidence. Faye will know that
his manager rates him, that's he's happy with him because he said
so publicly. Praise for any player, especially a new player is always
going to make that player feel special, even when they are dropped.
Allowing Steven Taylor to play in the heart of defence last night
after the England Under 21 man initially started out at left-back
is also good man management. By not trusting Taylor at the back alongside
O'Brien the Scot sent out a message to the others that Olympiakos
were not to be taken lightly, that they can still cause problems.
A ploy to keep them on their toes, to not ease up, to not take the
visiting side lightly - which we didn't.
3-0 up Souness switched Taylor to the centre, his preferred position
and I bet he loved every minute of it. He'll want to experience that
again and will be doing his utmost in training to force his manager
to stick him in more often. That can only be a good thing for Souness
- to have players training hard to impress and wanting him to pick
them. It's called options. It's called hunger. Which takes me onto
my next point.
6 - Collective Hunger:
The collective hunger of the whole squad is what has impressed me
most, what stands out above all else and the one thing we have often
lacked. Not now it seems. From Shay Given in goal who is hungry to
keep clean sheets through to Bowyer in midfield who is hungry for
goals to Big Al up front who is hungry for, well you know what...
success. The whole team are hungry for success at last just as we
are on the stands. Is it any wonder why the team look hungry given
their manager is also hungry. Hungry to prove the doubters wrong,
hungry to prove he is the right man, hungry to be known as a good
manager and not this club destroyer has has been saddled with since
his days as Liverpool boss.
7 - Coaching:
From day one I said I will judge him on his transfer dealings and
his coaching - what he does off the pitch to improve results on it.
Slowly but surely players are responding in a positive way. Improved
performances from perennial underachievers is down to coaching too
and to hear the likes of Bramble, Bowyer, Jenas and Dyer talk publicly
about Souness' one-to-one sessions with them is very encouraging,
very encouraging indeed. With Sir Bobby you often got the impression
he left it up to the players themselves but with Souness it's different.
He ordered Bramble in for extra training and has also instructed that
the defender cut out the fatty foods he was susceptible of indulging
in. The result of extra hours on the training pitch and a supervised
diet is a defender finally showing why we splashed out 6m on him.
8 - Results:
Need I say more? Results speak for themselves. Nobody predicted that
prior to the Heerenveen match at the Abe Lenstra stadium Souness would
oversee an 8 game winning streak, nobody. But he has and as I write,
I'm extremely proud of my club and a very happy chappy.
And while we are by no means on the road to greatness and mustn't
get carried away as we have won nothing yet and still have the small
matter of League points to fight for to salvage what has been an unacceptable
Premiership campaign, I don't think it would be presumptuous of me
to say that we can at least all see that something is happening. That
something is changing. That we are improving week by week and considering
just what Souness has had to deal with, the obstacles and lack of
support, he is doing a great job from where I sit and it's nigh time
we recognised this.
Long may it continue. |
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