Article content continued

But there is plenty left to prove.

“Everybody has been getting used to each other,” Ryan says. “This is a brand new team with different individuals, different personalities, different types of football. So we have to be realistic. It has taken a little longer than we thought to jell.”

He puts on his captain’s hat as he talks about the intensity coach Marc Dos Santos encourages in his players.

“Everybody wants to play on the weekend and the only way to play on the weekend is by impressing during the week,” he says. “We all know how important it is to work hard every day and we have a good bunch of boys who want to work here, which is why it is the way it is.”

Mind you, he is equally prepared to address the lapses that have cost points during the season and he lays no blame at the door of the coaching staff.

“Everybody knows how much Marc (Dos Santos) studies the game. I don’t think he ever stops. It’s no fault of his that we have let ourselves down in some games. We need to take responsibility. We’re the ones on the pitch every week. We’re the ones that concede goals. I know we can’t concede goals, but we don’t take enough chances. either

“We concede together and we score together. That’s what teams do so we can’t’ go blaming attackers midfielder or defenders. We are all in it as one.”

Ryan leads his team by example and that includes speaking up when necessary.

“It’s not because I’ve got the armband that I do that,” he says. “If I give the ball away, I fully expect the fellow next to me to say: What was that? What’s said on the pitch is said and once we step off the pitch, it’s behind you. You shake hands. It proves we have a passion for the game. We want to win.”