DISSENT TEST FOR LAMBERT
Five Stoke stars fall foul of get-tough regime
PAUL LAMBERT’S grip on the Stoke City dressing room has been tested after a show of dissent from FIVE players.
Saido Berahino has been fined and ordered to train with the Under-23s for poor time-keeping and Ibrahim Afellay was banned from the club for the rest of the season last week.
Erik Pieters was disciplined after being pictured out with his partner 24 hours before a game and Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri and Egypt’s Ramadan Sobhi have questioned their futures in interviews back home.
Berahino fell foul of Lambert after twice turning up late in three days, last Saturday for the trip to Arsenal then again for an Under23s fixture against Aston Villa on Monday.
Lambert’s stricter code of discipline has been welcomed by most players after a more relaxed approach under Mark Hughes, but a minority have reacted badly.
It’s understood the Potters chief took action against Afellay after his comments unsettled the dressing room.
Berahino would appear to be in the last-chance saloon after falling short of the standards the tough Scot expects, especially as he has already been placed on a stricter
training regime after two years without a goal.
Lambert says he is happy with the attitude shown by most players but is determined that a more disciplined way of working is the only way to succeed. “The lads have been great – I can’t ask any more from them,” he said. “We’ve got guys playing at the top of their game – the whole team was excellent last week.
“You’ve got to be fair to everybody and I don’t like it when the discipline is not there, or there are things going wrong. “I think Shaq’s article was done in November. Ramadan spoke on TV in Egypt in Arabic, so whether it was lost in translation I don’t know, but I don’t think the kid wants to leave.”
And on Affelay, Lambert added: “If you’ve one chink in that team spirit, it’s no good. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”