2:00pm Friday 19th March 2010
By Andy Naylor
Tommy Elphick has revealed the competitive edge introduced to training by Albion boss Gus Poyet.
The centre-half believes it has played a big part in the improved form of Poyet’s side in recent weeks.
They have lost only three league matches out of 12 this year and conceded just nine goals over that period.
Elphick said: “It was more in the early days that we worked on the defending in training.
“Recently the gaffer has brought little rules in and tried to get a winning mentality into the team.
“We’ll have things like in a five-a-side where, if there is a four-goal difference between the teams, there will be a little punishment. It’s just getting everybody more tuned in and focused.
“We do little mini-leagues on a Tuesday. There will be four different teams and if you win it’s happy days, you don’t do any sort of running.
“If you are second you do a little bit, third a little bit more and if you are bottom of the table you do more than that.
“It’s little things like that. They sound simple but they do work and I think you can see that we have got it together.
“With the squad and back-up we have got now it’s competitive anyway but it adds a little bit of spice to it. It means more to players now.”
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