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Everton's Tim Cahill: Dennis Wise and Duncan Ferguson taught me to be mentally strong
The Socceroo finally ended a 13-month goal drought and stated that it was his mental toughness he learnt from his mentors that allowed him to get through this difficult period
1 Feb 2012 07:36:00
By Joel Sands
Getty Images
Everton midfielder Tim Cahill has revealed that the mental toughness he learnt from some of the Premier League's greats allowed him to get through his extended dip in form.
Cahill had come under-fire due to his lack of goal-scoring prowess recently, but ended his 13-month drought in the Toffees' 1-1 draw with Blackburn last week.
Now, after helping his side defeat league leaders Manchester City at Goodison Park on Tuesday, the 32-year-old has praised the influence of former Everton striker Duncan Ferguson, as well as that of Dennis Wise, who Cahill played under at Millwall.
"I am training every day, working hard and I like to think one of my attributes is being mentally strong,” the 32-year-old told Sky Sports.
"I have played with players like Dennis Wise and Dion Dublin and Duncan Ferguson, players that teach you to be mentally strong.”
The player has responded to recent criticism regarding his poor goal-scoring record of late stating that he has not been worried by the negativity surrounding his form as he is still living his dream.
"One year you might score 10 or 15 goals and you are the king but the biggest thing is when you are not scoring which is what I went through,” Cahill said.
"People would turn around and say 'you have not scored for a year'. I would turn around and say 'I am a professional footballer living the dream'.”
He added: "But it did not faze me because I go back to a good family, I have good people here at the club.
"It just means that I stay out on the pitch a little longer with [Everton assistant] Steve Round [at training]."
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Cahill had come under-fire due to his lack of goal-scoring prowess recently, but ended his 13-month drought in the Toffees' 1-1 draw with Blackburn last week.
Now, after helping his side defeat league leaders Manchester City at Goodison Park on Tuesday, the 32-year-old has praised the influence of former Everton striker Duncan Ferguson, as well as that of Dennis Wise, who Cahill played under at Millwall.
"I am training every day, working hard and I like to think one of my attributes is being mentally strong,” the 32-year-old told Sky Sports.
"I have played with players like Dennis Wise and Dion Dublin and Duncan Ferguson, players that teach you to be mentally strong.”
The player has responded to recent criticism regarding his poor goal-scoring record of late stating that he has not been worried by the negativity surrounding his form as he is still living his dream.
"One year you might score 10 or 15 goals and you are the king but the biggest thing is when you are not scoring which is what I went through,” Cahill said.
"People would turn around and say 'you have not scored for a year'. I would turn around and say 'I am a professional footballer living the dream'.”
He added: "But it did not faze me because I go back to a good family, I have good people here at the club.
"It just means that I stay out on the pitch a little longer with [Everton assistant] Steve Round [at training]."
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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