Mignolet: Boss gave me belief

Mignolet: Boss gave me belief

Simon Mignolet: Feels Sunderland are finding their football easier under Martin O'Neill

Simon Mignolet has revealed Martin O'Neill's personal touch has been the key to Sunderland's dramatic turnaround this season.

The Belgium international will always be grateful to former Black Cats boss Steve Bruce for handing him his Premier League bow.

But the 23-year-old has acknowledged that his replacement's ability to get "the players' heads right" has been the key to Sunderland's success.

And with Mignolet playing an important part in the club's revival, it has capped a remarkable rise for the 2010 signing from Sint-Truiden.

"I was a kid and I'd come here to learn from Craig Gordon but then Crai g got injured and I was given a chance," he told The Guardian.

"If you're given a chance you have to show yourself in the best light and I did well in my first couple of games. The old gaffer (Bruce) was quite pleased and he stuck with me."

Tough times

There have still been tough times for the young goalkeeper and a collision with Aston Villa's Emile Heskey at the Stadium of Light in October resulted in a shattered eye-socket and nose for the Belgian.

But Mignolet showed his resolve by playing in a protective face-mask to help his team when circumstances dictated he rush back from injury.

Keiren Westwood, his replacement, fell ill on the morning of Sunderland's match against Manchester City on New Year's Day.

With Gordon's knee still not 100, O'Neill elected to thrust Mignolet back into the limelight.

"Luckily I didn't have too much time to think about things," Mignolet said. "Keiren was ill and I had no choice, I had to play. Fortunately I did well and stayed in the team.

"Before the game I wasn't really sure what was going to happen.

"I'd only trained four times and my performance could have gone either way but the new gaffer gave me so much confidence that I felt really comfortable going out on to the pitch in the mask."

Praise

It was an early taster of life under O'Neill and the young goalkeeper is full of praise for the belief the new manager has instilled in the Sunderland players.

"When he arrived I was injured," added Mignolet. "But when I came back into my first training session I could immediately see that he gave a lot of confidence to all the players.

"The new gaffer spoke to me privately off the field - it's something he still does - and, personally, he gave me great self-belief.

"When you've got that you can always give something more on the pitch, you find you can do something extra in games. It's really, really important.

"The changes the gaffer's made here have all been small things but he's got the players' heads right.

"Sometimes changing little things can make a huge difference and the gaffer talking personally to people has been a big part of our improvement.

"His understanding of the mental side of things has been very important. We find it a lot easier to play football now."