Gloves Off

The exodus of 2011 (which I promise never to mention again) left us very short on experienced footballers. The Pan-Euros could have been a disaster as a result but we found an approach to survive and at least stay in touching distance of the top teams.

The group needed to be handled with care as we were trying to bring alot of guys up to a level they weren't used to playing. Guys were cut more slack so as not to negatively affect what would have been fragile enough confidence levels.

With each third place finish, we put a positive spin on it so as to try and build that confidence.

We may have persisted with that approach too long (basically up until last week) and allowed guys to slip into a comfort zone and lose the hunger to improve. With no-one cracking the whip, we haven't made the progress required.

On Thursday night, we had a team meeting. Generally I think these achieve little as they just turn into a forum for ranting and chest beating. However, this was towards the more positve end of the scale but highlighted one of the more frustrating aspects of this group of players. Whilst opinions may have differed, the comments were structered and thought out, reflecting the fact lads generally have their heads screwed on. When I link this to the fact that if you asked them to run up a mountain, they would do it with all their might, i get p1ssed off.

The intelligence is there, as is the effort when they tog out. However, what we lack is precision. By that I mean looking after the small things that add up to big things i.e. time keeping, hydration, warm-ups, dropping balls, loose passes, not properly listening to instructions etc. We haven't grasped how a winning team prepares.

On Monday's the hurlers train until 20h15. The footballers start in a corner at 20h and do their warm-up with the idea being that as they finish the warm-up, the hurlers can flow seamlessly from one session to the other. With me at hurling, the warm-up was delegated.

At the team meeting, I mostly listened. The one main comment I made related to the players taking ownership. On Monday, the warm-up was loose and we had fallen at the first hurdle after the meeting. It may not seem like a big deal but if this week was about drawing the line, then it needed drawing.

We've become 'nice', as the players say themselves. The club is losing its cutting a bit. We're 'ok' with third because we can concoct a story to make ourselves feel ok about. But its not ok and we've got to start calling eachother on things like that.

There should be a social element to every club but we should not be a social club. The minute that happens, the more serious guys will walk away you and the rest are going for a spin on the slide.

We've already taken some action since the players meeting in terms of organisation and training. Now the players must stand up, raise their standards and get serious about moving out of the comfort zone and putting a serious challenge together.

This year is all about the three Pan-Euros. We have three months to the first one. From Monday night, the gloves are off. We can't tolerate sh1tty standards anymore. 3rd isn't worth a damn. It's time to take ownership, to step up.