An invitation to our supporters
In the opening chapter of his 2010 book, Focussed for Soccer, British sports psychologist Bill Beswick states "Behaviour = Personality x Environment".
Beswick has worked for Manchester United, Derby County, Nottingham Forest, FC Twente, England Under-19 and the England Under-21 sides. In 1999, Manchester United asked Beswick to build mental toughness and a competitive edge at Old Trafford. Results have proven that to be a roaring success, indeed that year they won the treble.
Now let's be clear if a player wants to succeed it is down to them whether they do or not, they can either choose to do everything in their power to make something happen or not. If someone supports something you'll get more out of them than if they don't. Sports psychology is no different, having said that you'll never convert a non-believer into a believer if they don't try and experience it for themselves. It is human nature to reject something we don't understand, more so than to have an open mind and accept it may have possibilities.
Top sportsmen and women use it all the time, it's been proven to work in every sport it's used in, even football. It may seem radical to some fans but you only have to look at the failure of our purchases to produce anything like their best for the club. Why, have they suddenly become bad players overnight and lost all their skill? Of course not but how they personally decide to behave within the environment of Tottenham does affect how they perform, drastically.
It is essential that Spurs create the right environment and that means having the right attitudes within the squad so that it is a happy place. Adebayor, Capoue, Kaboul, Lennon are said to have had an argument with the youngsters in November, the four have been ostracised since. When building a positive environment you get rid of all the negative elements, Paulinho has been the first this window.
If you have a group of youngsters all keen and hungry, all full of energy and positivity, what effect do you think a lazy player is going to have on them, a positive one or a negative one? The answer is obvious and too many of those negative influences drag others down. It's the same principle as successful people associating with successful people because it maintains your positivity and success. again it is human nature, despite what we say, to drag people down to our level to make ourselves feel better.
The mentality at Tottenham needed changing and a winning culture build, Rome wasn't build in a day the saying goes and nor is a winning culture. The process was the role of Andre Villas-Boas, but then poor purchases set us back before the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino put us back on the right track.
For a coach, there is more to coaching than coaching a sport, coaching a skill, in this instance in coaching football, as skill doesn't make decisions, the brain does. Skill is of no use if the brain keeps making the wrong decisions and the brain will make those wrong decisions when under pressure, under stress and time limited.
The brain has to be trained to cope with pressure and stress and channel it through confidence to make a decision. If that particular skill works, great, if it doesn't then hopefully the player will try to put it right and not be inhibited to try again. Roberto Soldado last season had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, was it in the UEFA Europa League against Fiorentina, where instead of taking responsibility and scoring he tried a simple sideways pass to Chadli and completely messed it up. That had nothing to do with skill and everything to do with the mind.
When Ricky Lambert was called up by England he was asked about Pochettino's methods.
The ‘fella’ was the motivational speaker and former coach of Barcelona’s handball team, Xesco Aspar. If you listen to Pochettino he talks about mentality a lot and you can see his influence rubbing off on the players.
Federico Fazio didn't have a great season but he is always positive and Hugo Lloris talks about us having to improve mentally. Harry Kane, I think, must have swallowed a manual because everything he says has the right underlying message. It is no surprise to me he was giving half-time team talks and has been reported to have been offered a vice-captaincy role. He has obviously improved this year and part of that is undoubtedly in my mind to the mental work Pochettino has been doing.
There are only so many hours in the day and if he can achieve what needs to be done with his coaching team great, if not he should bring in help. I have written before it is an avenue we must go down and a culture we must create at the club. When you then bring people into that culture and explain to them what is expected before they enter it, fewer mistakes will be made in the transfer market and a more popular destination for the right type of player we will become.
Chop away all the surrounding growth, build the foundations and grow from there. While that could be remarks about the stadium, it also applies to the club and the football, from bottom to top. Last season we started that process, our progress should be evaluated with that in mind and not one expecting us to run before we can walk.
The club has regained that positivity, supporters are picking up that positivity and so I invite the negative among you to join us. We know you have the good of Tottenham at heart and feel a money messiah is the way forward, but until that day arrives, why not help create the right atmosphere, the right environment surrounding the club as well.
A positive environment breeds success, a negative one breeds failure, which do you want?
Beswick has worked for Manchester United, Derby County, Nottingham Forest, FC Twente, England Under-19 and the England Under-21 sides. In 1999, Manchester United asked Beswick to build mental toughness and a competitive edge at Old Trafford. Results have proven that to be a roaring success, indeed that year they won the treble.
Now let's be clear if a player wants to succeed it is down to them whether they do or not, they can either choose to do everything in their power to make something happen or not. If someone supports something you'll get more out of them than if they don't. Sports psychology is no different, having said that you'll never convert a non-believer into a believer if they don't try and experience it for themselves. It is human nature to reject something we don't understand, more so than to have an open mind and accept it may have possibilities.
Top sportsmen and women use it all the time, it's been proven to work in every sport it's used in, even football. It may seem radical to some fans but you only have to look at the failure of our purchases to produce anything like their best for the club. Why, have they suddenly become bad players overnight and lost all their skill? Of course not but how they personally decide to behave within the environment of Tottenham does affect how they perform, drastically.
It is essential that Spurs create the right environment and that means having the right attitudes within the squad so that it is a happy place. Adebayor, Capoue, Kaboul, Lennon are said to have had an argument with the youngsters in November, the four have been ostracised since. When building a positive environment you get rid of all the negative elements, Paulinho has been the first this window.
If you have a group of youngsters all keen and hungry, all full of energy and positivity, what effect do you think a lazy player is going to have on them, a positive one or a negative one? The answer is obvious and too many of those negative influences drag others down. It's the same principle as successful people associating with successful people because it maintains your positivity and success. again it is human nature, despite what we say, to drag people down to our level to make ourselves feel better.
The mentality at Tottenham needed changing and a winning culture build, Rome wasn't build in a day the saying goes and nor is a winning culture. The process was the role of Andre Villas-Boas, but then poor purchases set us back before the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino put us back on the right track.
For a coach, there is more to coaching than coaching a sport, coaching a skill, in this instance in coaching football, as skill doesn't make decisions, the brain does. Skill is of no use if the brain keeps making the wrong decisions and the brain will make those wrong decisions when under pressure, under stress and time limited.
The brain has to be trained to cope with pressure and stress and channel it through confidence to make a decision. If that particular skill works, great, if it doesn't then hopefully the player will try to put it right and not be inhibited to try again. Roberto Soldado last season had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, was it in the UEFA Europa League against Fiorentina, where instead of taking responsibility and scoring he tried a simple sideways pass to Chadli and completely messed it up. That had nothing to do with skill and everything to do with the mind.
When Ricky Lambert was called up by England he was asked about Pochettino's methods.
“That was the easy part, walking on hot coals! That was a relaxing afternoon. Mauricio Pochettino took us away for 18 days, including 11 days in Portugal, to do all the conditioning work.
“It was all very specific, it wasn’t just run to a tree and back. It was very well organised. On the coals, he got some fella in to try and give us that winning mentality. It was very interesting. One of his methods was to walk across burning coal bare-footed. It was a challenge: mind over matter. You knew nothing worse could happen to you during the season.”
The ‘fella’ was the motivational speaker and former coach of Barcelona’s handball team, Xesco Aspar. If you listen to Pochettino he talks about mentality a lot and you can see his influence rubbing off on the players.
Federico Fazio didn't have a great season but he is always positive and Hugo Lloris talks about us having to improve mentally. Harry Kane, I think, must have swallowed a manual because everything he says has the right underlying message. It is no surprise to me he was giving half-time team talks and has been reported to have been offered a vice-captaincy role. He has obviously improved this year and part of that is undoubtedly in my mind to the mental work Pochettino has been doing.
There are only so many hours in the day and if he can achieve what needs to be done with his coaching team great, if not he should bring in help. I have written before it is an avenue we must go down and a culture we must create at the club. When you then bring people into that culture and explain to them what is expected before they enter it, fewer mistakes will be made in the transfer market and a more popular destination for the right type of player we will become.
Chop away all the surrounding growth, build the foundations and grow from there. While that could be remarks about the stadium, it also applies to the club and the football, from bottom to top. Last season we started that process, our progress should be evaluated with that in mind and not one expecting us to run before we can walk.
The club has regained that positivity, supporters are picking up that positivity and so I invite the negative among you to join us. We know you have the good of Tottenham at heart and feel a money messiah is the way forward, but until that day arrives, why not help create the right atmosphere, the right environment surrounding the club as well.
A positive environment breeds success, a negative one breeds failure, which do you want?
7 comments
People need something to cheer about, they need excitement, we dont win things, we dont qualify for Champions League, and Pochetinos football and style is turgid and disjointed 95% of the time.
Lamela, Soldado, Paulinho are all proven top players, just the players you suggest we buy, there is no guarantee that works at out financial level. Where do you propose this mystery money comes from to fulfill your dreams?
Soldado had a good record but was bought to play a lone striker in the Prem yet his atributes were a poacher, a poorly thought out transfer doomed to failure from the start.
Paulinho was the only 1 i thought made sense but over rotation from AVB too many cms just never got a chance to settle.
Its almost like some people love the fact the money signings flopped as to never be daring to buy again, thus fuelling this buying and talking up of noboddies
I do agree on Soldado, he was a strange buy, as it turns out most of AVB purchases were poor. I too had reservations about fitting our system but assumed we would be creative in midfield. We weren't, with the right service he would have been a fine signing but we didn't pass him the ball. From there it was downhill and blame is shared around.
We can't spend £30m on designer label players every year. Stars actually have to develop, Ronaldo was not always the Ronaldo of today, Bale was not always the Bale. What you are suggesting is that we should not buy the Gareth Bale's of this world, we should wait until they are worth £80m then buy with the money we don't have.
People are not talking up the players we are buying, they are talking up the fact we have a clear strategy and are working towards it, in general.
Manchester United have the money to emulate Real Madrid and be a Galacticos team or squad, we can't. Liverpool are below us with a far bigger budget than we have and thus the increased wages they can pay, that again we can't.
And i dont mean a cup 'run', i mean trophies? Or something genuine to cheer about?
We are doing nothing, going nowhere, plodding along, treading water.
And while we put our hard earned money in the board are buying 2nd rate footballers to thank us and turning big profits every year.
How long Clive with your bigger understanding of it all?
Exciting stagnating and slowly going backwards ?