Really nice interview with Alien Lucy in The Times today - seems a very sensible, grounded, smart lad. His renaissance really has been one of the stories of the season so far for us. I have to admit, I was very much of the opinion that he wasn't going to make it for us. Still a bit of a way to go, but we have a different player on our hands now, to perhaps the one we thought we might be stuck with... Mohamed Elyounoussi has been avidly watching the Winter Olympics from the Southampton training ground and “having a dig” at his team-mates because Norway sit comfortably top of the medal table. The forward, whose family left Morocco for Sarpsborg when he was two, even teases me. “Have you won a medal yet?” he asks, although, to be fair, he is not completely certain precisely how disappointing the Games have been for Team GB. “Growing up with snow in wintertime, of course you have to ski,” he says. “Norwegians are born to ski. I love it. It’s a good way of training. I prefer downhill, that’s more fun, but I haven’t done it for many years. As a professional football player you are not allowed to.” please log in to view this image Elyounoussi scored a hat-trick in the EFL Cup against Newport last year ATHENA PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES There is, though, something of the skier in Elyounoussi when he describes what it is like to play for Southampton as choreographed by Ralph Hasenhüttl’s 4-2-2-2 system, which, I suggest, looks like very hard work. “Especially the way we play it,” he says, laughing. “It’s a bit like how we play with Norway but that’s more like 4-4-2 and not as intense. The gaffer, he really loves players who have a high work ethic, that can go the distance but be sharp. It requires a lot but is something that I enjoy. I don’t want to go into more details in case some teams read about this.” After Hasenhüttl’s team fought for a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last Saturday, the Southampton manager said Manchester United had faded, unable to sustain their new pressing game. Can the players sense that happening on the pitch? “Especially against the biggest teams,” the player known as “Moi” says. “Against teams that are fighting against relegation it can sometimes be a bit tougher than against those at the top. please log in to view this image Elyounoussi says it is only a matter of time before Norway qualify for the Euros or World Cup QUALITY SPORT IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES “We are one of the teams you hate playing against because even if you manage to get away from the player who is pressing you, the next one is coming and the next and even the one you passed, he will come back. If someone goes by me, I will turn around. I think Manchester United could feel that.” Southampton had defeated Tottenham Hotspur in north London three days earlier in a thrilling contest. “Tottenham, in the first half, I don’t think they could really breathe,” the 27-year-old says. “The thing is, when we have the ball, we are playing it forward as well, so we are always coming at you.” In Morocco his father owned a small kiosk but decided life would be better in Norway, where Elyounoussi’s two uncles had settled after the country encouraged immigrants amid worker shortages. “I wouldn’t say we were poor,” Elyounoussi says, “we were a humble family.” please log in to view this image Elyounoussi scored in Southampton’s win over Spurs earlier this month ROB NEWELL/GETTY IMAGES His father worked at his brother’s restaurant and then ran a pizzeria. At home Elyounoussi spoke the Berber language and learnt Norwegian, which he now speaks best, when he attended nursery, but he retains an emotional connection to his mother tongue. When not playing football, the young Elyounoussi’s job was to do everything but make the pizza bases. Even when he had turned professional for Sarpsborg in 2011, he still helped out in the pizzeria. “A few times I played a match, and I was in the dressing room, and I got a message from my father saying, ‘If you’ve got time, could you come and help us out?’ So I got there in my tracksuit with the club logo and got changed and helped him out and fans would come in and say, ‘Didn’t you just score? You should be out celebrating.’ ” He wore No 24 for Sarpsborg and so his dad created the No 24 pizza in his honour. “When I moved to Molde, for some reason they gave me that number as well. For me it was not important. But I said, ‘Why not?’ and then the same thing happened again when I moved to Basel. They said, ‘We hold the No 24 for you.’ I was like, ‘Ah, OK, why not?’ ” When he came back to the south coast after his two-season loan spell with Celtic, “they said No 24 is free and I said, ‘Why not?’ “I wouldn’t say I’m superstitious but for some reason 24 has been working really good for me so maybe I should stick to that.” What was the No 24 pizza like? “That’s the funny part because the toppings are things that I can’t eat: pork, pepperoni or ham,” Elyounoussi, a Muslim, says. “Norwegians love ham. It wouldn’t sell if it had only things on it that I could eat. As long as I performed, it sold really well.” Elyounoussi did not mind that his pizza was smothered in pork as he rarely eats pizza anyway. As he explained, when you grow up around pizzas, after a few years you grow tired of “having whatever pizza you want”.
What a great article. Makes me want him to succeed with us even more now. Sounds really grounded and nice guy.
We’re beginning to get noticed ….. could be bad news as we know Saints like to remain below the radar. What with this and all the rubbish about the “energy drinks around the 70th minute”, plus the latest “JWP is the greatest dead ball player in the PL”, I’m getting uncomfortable. When I next travel to South Africa I want to be able to wear my Saints shirt and have people asking me who I support ….
I was always hoping that we'd give him a second chance (kind of harsh to judge him based on that one first season in England, especially when considering where the club was as a whole at that time). So I'm really pleased to see him taking it this season. I do think that he often disappears out of matches from about the hour mark onwards - possibly a fitness thing. But that doesn't particularly concern, because we have at least three substitutions every match. And similarly, I don't think he has the attributes to come off the bench to make an immediate impact (eg he isn't lightening quick, or built like a brick house). But whilst he is starting matches, that too isn't something to be overly concerned about right now. (But it does leave him susceptible to an unexpected sale, because if we were to ever sign a new player in his position who would be expected to start most matches, it would be a little difficult to relegate Ely to just a squad player.) Redmond is having his best season for some time. But Ely I feel is, just, having an even better one.
I do come on this forum sometimes and feel like I am in the 80s Dallas series. I am in the shower. It is like sometimes that all the crap and mud slinging wasn't real and it was just a dream
