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Response is right for Keane
SUNDERLAND manager Roy
Keane acknowledges he has seen
a positive reaction from his players
in the light of his decision to
exclude four first team regulars
from his squad that faced
Chelsea.
Keane left Kieran Richardson,
Daryl Murphy, Anthony Stokes
and Michael Chopra out of the 16
for the Blues' visit to the Stadium
of Light last weekend.
Rumours began circulating
that the players had been
dropped for disciplinary reasons,
although the Black Cats boss
shot down the suggestion immediately
after the 1-0 defeat.
Keane made it known the four
players were left out because of
a drop in standards on the training
ground.
Despite a huge improvement in
training this week, the 36-yearold
Irishman made no guarantees
the foursome will be in the
squad which travels to Aston
Villa tomorrow.
"There has been a good response
and the players who were
left out have shown me that they
want to get back," said Keane,
looking to win for the first time
in four games. "And the rest have
shown me that they want to stay
in the team. That's perfect. I want
that every day.
"I'm not sure if what I did last
weekend shocked a few people
but we will probably see whether
there has been a reaction from
the lads over the next few weeks
if they come back in.
"But I have tended to do that
(in the past) anyway. I look at
how the 11 lads that started did
last week, as well as Yorkie, Rade
and Hartey. But I have been
known to change that as well.
"In terms of last year, for example,
certain teams won certain
matches. Then I gauge it by what
is going on out on the training
pitch. I have left people out when
they have been thinking they've
done quite well or they might
even have scored, but that's my
decision to make. I gauge it from
my gut feeling.
"The tempo in training has
been a lot sharper. We've just had
a training game and the quality
was outstanding. We've got a lot
of quality players and I suppose
I like keeping the players on their
toes."
Keane revealed the four players
were not told face-to-face last
week they were going to be
dropped. He prefers to use a system
employed by his old mentor
Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest,
a procedure he feels keeps all
players on their toes.
"I don't pull anyone aside individually
when they're left out,"
said Keane. "I just put the squad
list up.
"And put it this way - there are
a lot of heads looking at that
board. Nobody is walking out
without checking the board.
You've got to check the board.
"It was the same at Forest.
When the team went up on Friday
you had to check the team -
but everyone is different.
"Sometimes I might pull one or
two of the senior players I am
leaving out because they maybe
deserve to be told. It's a case of
different horses for different
courses."
The Sunderland chief admits
it's not universally popular with
his players but says he is not in
the business of trying to win popularity
contests.
He added: "It's true enough to
say that one of the difficulties is
how you keep everyone happy
and create a spirit where everyone
is desperate to play. That's
the secret, that's the balancing
act.
"But it does not matter what
you do to leave players out, they
are not going to be happy.
"You can pull them into your
office and have a chat with them.
You can do anything you want
but they are going to be disappointed.
And I like the players to
be disappointed.
"I know Grant Leadbitter was
disappointed when I took him off
against Chelsea, but he'd not
played much football beforehand
so I had to take him off. It was the
same with Carlos Edwards.
"But I have never been in this
business of making people
happy. Even as a player. I'm not
in it to make people happy.
"Don't get me wrong, players
come in to see me and I'm quite
happy to help players out, but I
don't go and make a big effort to
be down in the dressing room and
have any banter or anything like
that. But everyone is different. I
never had any banter with any of
my managers. And that's the way
I work."
8:58am Friday 21st March 2008
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