Enjoyed this interview where he's tearing into the modern game.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5002144/Graeme-Souness-won-t-football.html
There is very little Graeme Souness does not understand about the modern game. There are elements that bemuse or irritate him.
He is no fan of the jargon, the technical cages, and expected goals that would have brought chuckles from old football men like Joe Fagan and Bob Paisley.
But, at 65 next birthday, Souness's insights from the confines of a Sky studio are every bit as sharp as the mind that helped drive Liverpool to three European titles and five league championships during his time at Anfield.
'But there's one thing I don't get,' says Souness, his brow furrowing, although not entirely quizzically, because he's making a point, not asking a question.
'I don't know how Jose Mourinho gets that message across to his players. You know the one I mean. At the final against Ajax; at Anfield last week. "We're not good enough to take them on in a game of football. So we're going to go long and stay behind the ball."
'I don't know how you say that to players — because when I played at Liverpool, it was the opposite. We were made to feel unbeatable.'
Souness had a German shepherd called Jock during his time at Anfield. His friend, Bob, was a dog handler at Walton prison.
Souness used to run for Bob's dog, with a sleeve, to train it to attack, and Bob repaid the favour.
'And at Liverpool we were like that dog,' he explains, 'because at the end of the training, it was essential that you walked away, as if you had lost.
'The dog had to win, because it had to be trained to believe it was invincible. Every time. It could never be beaten.
'And that was us. Before each game we were told, "In that dressing-room across the corridor, it's the biggest game of their season. It's not the biggest game of your season, but if you are at it today and play, there is nothing in this game for them".
'There were no tactics, no fear of the opposition. It was all about us, what we did and what we were going to do.
'There was one game, against Bayern Munich in the European Cup, when Sammy Lee was asked to mark Paul Breitner, and we were all laughing about it because it was unheard of.
'Mind you, we'd had two weeks to work on it and Sammy got told in the tunnel, as the buzzer went for us to go out. Can you imagine that today?'
There are a lot of Souness's memories that would be unimaginable today and he has revisited them for his autobiography Football: My Life, My Passion. Some argue modern coaching and sports science have made the old ways obsolete.
Souness disagrees. There is little that is new, he argues, just a lot of spoofing and bluffing.
He has a way of cutting through the bluster, of pointing out that if attacking full-backs are so modern, how did Phil Neal, Tommy Smith and Alan Kennedy score three of Liverpool's five goals from open play in their European Cup final appearances between 1977 and 1984?
It is why as a Sky analyst he is not just some old-stager talking about the glory days, but remains every bit as insightful and relevant as the younger men surrounding him. He gets it. He just doesn't have to agree.
'Everything is statistics-based these days,' he says. 'I was doing a Brighton game recently and we had figures on Pascal Gross, the German guy who plays in midfield.
'The statistic was he had created 95 chances for Ingolstadt last season, the most in the Bundesliga. And four assists. How the f*** is that possible?
'I hear fans talking. How did we not win today, we had 64 per cent possession? Yes, but 44 per cent of it was in your own half. They're all kidding.
'Expected goals. High press and a low press. What the f***'s a low press? A couple of years back we had figures on who had completed the highest rate of passes of any Premier League player.
'It turned out to be Per Mertesacker. Five yards this way, five yards that way. So what?
'We give statistics about the number of kilometres players cover. Here's my argument. At Blackburn I had two central midfielders.
'Robbie Savage would cover every blade of grass — 12, 13 kilometres a game. Tugay would stand in the centre circle, the ball was like a magnet to him. He made cute and clever passes and probably covered seven kilometres. Who influenced the game more?
'I got injured with Liverpool once. I was returning from a bad back. Joe Fagan said to me, "Today, son, obviously your fitness won't be where it should be. Try just standing still occasionally".
'I don't think I ever got as many touches. How did he know that? Years and years of experience.
'When you're a player or a manager, you're too involved for it all to sink in. Now I do the punditry thing I remember more of what these guys told me and I realise they were just the most fabulous football people.'
Leaving the funeral of Ronnie Moran earlier this year, it dawned on Souness who had been the greatest influence on his career. 'You know, there has never been a watershed moment with a coach when I've gone, "Wow, I learned something today",' Souness explains.
'No coach has done that for me, no single piece of information. But coming back from Ronnie's funeral I realised the effect he had on me as a player.
'His attitude, his message, which was always — "Yeah, you're a good team. Yeah, you might be a good player. But you're not like the players we've had here in the past".
'He always left the feeling there was room for improvement, that every game was vital, that you showed no mercy, but stayed humble when you won. He was ruthless, but he had a way of making you strive to be better.
'Three or four days into pre-season he would come in with any old box he had found lying around, dump it in the middle of our dressing-room and say, "Right, there's your medals. If you've played enough games and you think you deserve one, have one".
'And he'd walk out. And we'd all be counting in our heads: one, two, three, four… Then his head would pop back round the door. "And by the way, you'll get f*** all this season for what's in that box!" And exit.
'I can see him now, sharing a whisky with Joe after we'd won the league title again. "Well, Joe, looks like we've got a job next season, then". "Aye, Ronnie — up to Christmas, maybe".
'If they were about now, those guys, they'd be chuckling about this modern stuff. The false No 9s, technical cages — all of this terminology. They wouldn't buy into that.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5002144/Graeme-Souness-won-t-football.html
There is very little Graeme Souness does not understand about the modern game. There are elements that bemuse or irritate him.
He is no fan of the jargon, the technical cages, and expected goals that would have brought chuckles from old football men like Joe Fagan and Bob Paisley.
But, at 65 next birthday, Souness's insights from the confines of a Sky studio are every bit as sharp as the mind that helped drive Liverpool to three European titles and five league championships during his time at Anfield.
'But there's one thing I don't get,' says Souness, his brow furrowing, although not entirely quizzically, because he's making a point, not asking a question.
'I don't know how Jose Mourinho gets that message across to his players. You know the one I mean. At the final against Ajax; at Anfield last week. "We're not good enough to take them on in a game of football. So we're going to go long and stay behind the ball."
'I don't know how you say that to players — because when I played at Liverpool, it was the opposite. We were made to feel unbeatable.'
Souness had a German shepherd called Jock during his time at Anfield. His friend, Bob, was a dog handler at Walton prison.
Souness used to run for Bob's dog, with a sleeve, to train it to attack, and Bob repaid the favour.
'And at Liverpool we were like that dog,' he explains, 'because at the end of the training, it was essential that you walked away, as if you had lost.
'The dog had to win, because it had to be trained to believe it was invincible. Every time. It could never be beaten.
'And that was us. Before each game we were told, "In that dressing-room across the corridor, it's the biggest game of their season. It's not the biggest game of your season, but if you are at it today and play, there is nothing in this game for them".
'There were no tactics, no fear of the opposition. It was all about us, what we did and what we were going to do.
'There was one game, against Bayern Munich in the European Cup, when Sammy Lee was asked to mark Paul Breitner, and we were all laughing about it because it was unheard of.
'Mind you, we'd had two weeks to work on it and Sammy got told in the tunnel, as the buzzer went for us to go out. Can you imagine that today?'
There are a lot of Souness's memories that would be unimaginable today and he has revisited them for his autobiography Football: My Life, My Passion. Some argue modern coaching and sports science have made the old ways obsolete.
Souness disagrees. There is little that is new, he argues, just a lot of spoofing and bluffing.
He has a way of cutting through the bluster, of pointing out that if attacking full-backs are so modern, how did Phil Neal, Tommy Smith and Alan Kennedy score three of Liverpool's five goals from open play in their European Cup final appearances between 1977 and 1984?
It is why as a Sky analyst he is not just some old-stager talking about the glory days, but remains every bit as insightful and relevant as the younger men surrounding him. He gets it. He just doesn't have to agree.
'Everything is statistics-based these days,' he says. 'I was doing a Brighton game recently and we had figures on Pascal Gross, the German guy who plays in midfield.
'The statistic was he had created 95 chances for Ingolstadt last season, the most in the Bundesliga. And four assists. How the f*** is that possible?
'I hear fans talking. How did we not win today, we had 64 per cent possession? Yes, but 44 per cent of it was in your own half. They're all kidding.
'Expected goals. High press and a low press. What the f***'s a low press? A couple of years back we had figures on who had completed the highest rate of passes of any Premier League player.
'It turned out to be Per Mertesacker. Five yards this way, five yards that way. So what?
'We give statistics about the number of kilometres players cover. Here's my argument. At Blackburn I had two central midfielders.
'Robbie Savage would cover every blade of grass — 12, 13 kilometres a game. Tugay would stand in the centre circle, the ball was like a magnet to him. He made cute and clever passes and probably covered seven kilometres. Who influenced the game more?
'I got injured with Liverpool once. I was returning from a bad back. Joe Fagan said to me, "Today, son, obviously your fitness won't be where it should be. Try just standing still occasionally".
'I don't think I ever got as many touches. How did he know that? Years and years of experience.
'When you're a player or a manager, you're too involved for it all to sink in. Now I do the punditry thing I remember more of what these guys told me and I realise they were just the most fabulous football people.'
Leaving the funeral of Ronnie Moran earlier this year, it dawned on Souness who had been the greatest influence on his career. 'You know, there has never been a watershed moment with a coach when I've gone, "Wow, I learned something today",' Souness explains.
'No coach has done that for me, no single piece of information. But coming back from Ronnie's funeral I realised the effect he had on me as a player.
'His attitude, his message, which was always — "Yeah, you're a good team. Yeah, you might be a good player. But you're not like the players we've had here in the past".
'He always left the feeling there was room for improvement, that every game was vital, that you showed no mercy, but stayed humble when you won. He was ruthless, but he had a way of making you strive to be better.
'Three or four days into pre-season he would come in with any old box he had found lying around, dump it in the middle of our dressing-room and say, "Right, there's your medals. If you've played enough games and you think you deserve one, have one".
'And he'd walk out. And we'd all be counting in our heads: one, two, three, four… Then his head would pop back round the door. "And by the way, you'll get f*** all this season for what's in that box!" And exit.
'I can see him now, sharing a whisky with Joe after we'd won the league title again. "Well, Joe, looks like we've got a job next season, then". "Aye, Ronnie — up to Christmas, maybe".
'If they were about now, those guys, they'd be chuckling about this modern stuff. The false No 9s, technical cages — all of this terminology. They wouldn't buy into that.
