Alexandros Kyziridis reveals he nearly quit as Hearts star lifts lid on teammates and makes end of season vow
Greek reveals how psychology sessions stopped him giving up on football
The swagger characterising much of Alexandros Kyziridis’ play wasn’t always evident. Indeed, the Hearts winger struggled with confidence not so long ago. You would never know watching him dribble past Scottish Premiership opponents to shoot at goal with such venom. The Greek is very much a changed man thriving on self-belief, and much of it is down to psychology sessions.
As a Debrecen player in Hungary three years ago, Kyziridis sought help from one of his compatriots based in Sweden. He contemplated giving up football before learning how to gain confidence and believe in his own ability. Now he is a leading talent in a Hearts team leading the way in Scotland, and earning plaudits as one of the Premiership’s most dangerous attackers.
Five goals and seven assists from 23 appearances is a decent return, but Kyziridis’ ambition isn’t sated. “As a winger, I always try to score and give assists - as many as I can,” he says. “I said in the beginning, when I came here, if I scored 10 goals and made 10 assists, that would be okay for my first year. But until now, it's not enough. I hope that I will score more than 10 goals. I don't think that everyone can believe it because I have just three [in the league]. But I can say that, at the end of the season, I'm going to have more than 10 goals.”
‘The reason my confidence is so high’
That’s the confidence right there. He is honest when asked where it stems from. “My psychologist. Every player has his own way. When I was younger, I’m not talking about four or five, but when I started playing football, every time for me it was hard. There were times when I decided to stop playing football. And then when I decided to stop, I said: ‘There are two ways. I stop, or I will speak with a psychologist to help me.’ So, I was talking with a psychologist for two years, and he's the reason that my confidence is so high. I see football in a different way, the people, and everything. The world, actually.”
He is a marked man in Scotland, for defenders know he will destroy them if given space on his favoured left flank. The result is some hard tackles, physical treatment and a lot of aggression. “As you see right now, do you think I have a problem with that? No, that's the point,” he says, with even more belief. “Most of the defenders know that I'm going in and I'm trying to shoot, but even that they know, they cannot stop me. So, I will continue to do that. Usually in the games, the wingers play every time one against one. Because everyone knows me right now, they put more players on me, or the No.6 comes closer to the wing-back, I always play one against two. If I want to prove myself, I can adapt to that.
“Game-by-game, my connection with Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] in the field is amazing. He knows what I want to do, and I know what he wants to do. Every time when I see him to be close with me, I always try to play him, because I know that he was going to play me back, and if he's not going to play me back, he will score. That's the point for me. When I'm outside of the box, just play to [Claudio] Braga or Shanks, I know that at least one of these two guys will score.”
There may be a similar danger emanating from the Hearts right in weeks to come. New signing Islam Chesnokov is similar to Kyziridis in that he likes to drift inside and shoot with his opposite foot. Fans are excited at what the Kazakhstan internationalist might offer. “Yes, 100 per cent, it's good for everyone in the club,” says Kyziridis. “He plays from the opposite side than me, as I see, because he did training sessions with us. He’s amazing. He's a really good player. Even if he was playing on my side, it would be a very good competition for me. He looks similar. I believe that he will do really good things in the club.”
‘I don’t care about Celtic and Rangers’
If he causes as much havoc as Kyziridis, then Hearts’ chances of winning the title will only increase. Celtic have changed managers twice already this season, Rangers once, but the Tynecastle side are stable and steady under head coach Derek McInnes. Kyziridis pays little attention to what goes on in Glasgow. “To be honest, I don't care. My target is to win every game. I don't care if I play against Celtic, or if I play against Livingston, with all the respect, I want to win. It doesn't matter if they change coach, if they will change coach again, I don't really care. I just look at my job, as a football player, help my team to play well, and that's the most important thing. To win the games, we go every time game by game, and we will see.
“In my career, until now, I'm 25. I changed many clubs. I never had a better dressing room than our dressing room. The most important for me is, if the dressing rooms are good, you can do many, many things. And as I say, there are so many good guys. Good players as well. Every time I’m saying that we have good players but the most important for me is to be first, good people, good guys.
“And all of them, I swear it's all of them, are really good guys. That's why you see that everyone is happy. Even the players who are not playing. Of course, sometimes they will be angry because they are not playing, but they don't show it to the manager. They don't create bad stuff. Everyone is happy and everyone is trying to play.”
There are a few jokers in the pack, too. The funniest is difficult to identify. “I have to give a name? Shanks. Yeah, I go with Shanks,” smiles Kyziridis. “Beni [Baningime] as well. No, there are so many. I can say five names: Beni, Shanks, Spits [Blair Spittal], [Elton] Kabangu, Braga. I can tell you another five names. This is important, to make jokes. When the training starts, everyone is serious — there are no jokes. But when we finish the training, everyone can be an actor in this club, to be honest. All the players.”
The camaraderie is helping the Greek master both English and Scottish. “I think so. At least I understand everyone now because the Scottish accent in the beginning was, oh my days, it was really hard for me. But now, at least I understand everyone. I'm trying to speak a little bit Scottish. Do you know what I mean?”
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