While O’Neil and the players have taken the plaudits in recent weeks for a run of four wins from five, Cherries’ head coach was keen to praise other members of staff for their role. Victory over Leeds United on Sunday, a resounding 4-1 success, moved Cherries up to 13th in the Premier League table, nine points clear of the relegation zone with just four games to play.
That win came just three days on from a 1-0 triumph away at Southampton.
Asked if he feels some of the behind the scenes work can go unnoticed from people on the outside when there is such a quick turnaround between fixtures,
Gary O’Neil said: “I don’t think it gets overlooked on purpose, or I don’t expect people not to overlook it because it’s just part and parcel of what we do. If you’re not in it, you wouldn’t know. There’s an awful lot of work that goes into prepping a team for a Premier League game, because the game has moved to a point where there are huge tactical changes all the time. You need to be extremely well-prepped. The guys that I work with are dedicating their lives to trying to keep the club in the Premier League at this moment, every single one of them. There’s an incredible amount of work that goes in from so many members of staff. The amount of work that goes into prepping for an opposition – I think Southampton changed shape four times in the first 30 minutes. We’d prepped for every single one and we managed to move people around in every single scenario to help the lads cope with that. So the amount of prep that went into that Southampton game in such a short time to cover all the tactical aspects was huge. To have to repeat that again, for the coaching staff and the analysts and the boys that work on it to make sure we’re as well prepared for Leeds as we were for Southampton, obviously takes a lot of effort.”
