Publicly criticising a player !

I am on a new save wth Southampton and i started the season really badly and my main striker Rickie Lambert had only scored 2 goals in around 10 appearances . Then on my assistant managers advise i decided to publicly criticise him , risking him becoming unhappy .

But it did wonders for the lad and he has now gone on to score around 14 goals in his last 10 games and we have won 9 and drawn 1 of these catapulting us to second in the league .

Anyone else had any experiences like this ???

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, personally I steer clear of criticising in public, squad harmony can be hell to improve.