We need to arrest the decline with small improvements
As a sports coach the question you have to constantly ask yourself is, how can I improve myself, what more can I do to improve my coaching?
That approach is the same approach the coaches at Tottenham should be taking and the same approach that every player should be taking, unfortunately however, it is not.
Are the seven players signed last summer better players than when we signed them? Certainly none of them have improved anywhere near what we were hoping for when they were purchases and quite frankly don't look like they are going to either.
Improvement does not have to be one big improvement but a series of tiny improvements. When you add up continual tiny improvements they make a significant difference, they can then equate to major improvement. Japanese manufacturing used this method to lead the world, it is known as the Kaizen method.
The process is like taking a car engine apart, analysing how every piece can be slightly improved upon and putting it back together to have a more powerful, more efficient, faster vehicle.
It's how Formula 1 teams approach the sport. Each season there are improvements, advances in technology which then find their way into the road cars that you and I drive. Without the research and development cars wouldn't be as safe as they are.
A player or a coach is no different. A coach should be analysing their own performance and making continual improvements to every aspect he can. He or she should be doing the same for each player and each player should be doing the same for themselves.
Football coaching is very much a case of this is what we did so this is what I'll coach, without looking and continually analysing how it can be improved. Yes there are analysts now who use a more technology based method of evaluating the opposition, their strengths and their weaknesses, what an individual player is likely to do in a given situation.
But then there are aspects of coaching that haven't changed and the mentality of a player is one aspect that is neglected. It's largely left to the individual and thus is an area where significant improvements can be made.
Players are paid a high wage to be the best they can be, not to go through the motions or perform at what they believe is their best as that is merely a glass ceiling.
Spurs have significantly improved the training facilities, the medical care, the nutrition available over the years. However any improvement is offset if a players mental approach is not that every game is a big game. A player who gets himself up for Manchester United but not for Crystal Palace is a player who is going to let you down.
We see with the current Spurs team, they do not trust the system, they don't believe in it and thus it isn't working. Something has to give and unless the players minds are changed it will mean a lot more buying and selling again. It's like a hamster running on a wheel, plenty of effort but going nowhere, Spurs have been stuck on a hamster wheel for years.
Not only must a players physical and technical aspects be broken down and continual fine improvements made but his mental approach must be taken apart, improvements made and rebuilt with these lasting upgrades. That takes specialist knowledge, that takes a sports psychologist, a football coach doesn't have the capacity to do that.
Analyse, collate, evaluate, improve. We have a first team coach, a goalkeeping coach, a fitness coach so why not a mental coach.
If you look back over the past few years where we have been striving for UEFA Champions League football, we have been the nearly men, the team who have bottled it at the crucial stages again and again. We have bottled it in the big games because players in their heads players believe themselves, as a whole, to be inferior. We have bottled it against perceived lesser teams because players don't have the internal motivation, the game isn't important enough for them.
Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final was a case in point. We have succeeded in some perceived bigger games yes, that will always happen but overall there is a clear pattern, overall the team with the better mental approach will win.
Two players of equal ability will have contrasting careers if one has a winning mentality, if one sees every game as a big game and the other does not. One will be consistent one will not. One will earn more, achieve more, play for bigger clubs and win trophies, one will remain stuck at a lower grade, a nearly man. Tottenham are a nearly team.
If you haven't done so read the above graphic and take it in, take in what it means. Nobody else can tell you a game is a big game or an important game, you have to believe it yourself. A mental coach will teach a layer to reprogram his brain.
Take someone like Danny Rose. Mauricio Pochettino told him four times during the summer he could play for England. That's just the approach a mental coach would take except he'd back it up with mental exercises every day and regular evaluations towards achieving a goal.
To play for England he has to improve his game and if that is his motivation to improve then you use it and you explain how important each game is because you don't know who is watching or who will watch. Each performance therefore has to be top drawer, each game is thus perceived as a big game.
Danny Rose has improved but that key needs to be found for all players not just one or two and Pochettino doesn't have the time to do that. Hand that aspect over to a professional instead of as now, leaving it largely to luck.
To change a players mental approach you have to pay attention to every little detail, family life, food, physical, mental, tactical, social, everything. You can't just turn up for work and say OK now I'm going to be motivated. If you are out getting drunk and falling over you are not ensuring you are in optimum shape to perform your best regardless of recovery time.
That is hardly the act of a motivated professional sportsman staying in optimum condition to be able to give his best every time. There is no excuse for a professional sportsman getting drunk, their body is the tool of their trade and it should therefore be of paramount importance.
As I pointed out with Paulinho, a streak in one aspect of your life will impact and affect other areas. Admitting he was too lazy to learn English demonstrates clearly the wrong mental approach. Communication is vital, understanding what your coaches want, what your team mates want during a game has to be enhanced if you can understand what they are saying.
Lazy in one aspect of life will surface as laziness in another area. A character trait like that is not conducive to staying at the top of the sport but getting to a level, a comfort zone, and staying there. There is so much money in the game that a player can earn an excellent living without ever being the best he can be but maintaining a comfort zone level.
In this day and age there is software available that can instantly isolate a players performance during a whole game, whether that be on the ball or off the ball. The first step would be to take a series of these games and analyse exactly what the player does. You will find repetition such as the Assou-Ekotto back heel when near the touchline in defence.
Andris Townsend is another who springs to mind, he likes to backheel and then run down the line outside an opponent, except when he came on against Liverpool their left-back, Alberto Moreno, knew what he was going to do. The result, he won the ball, ran half the length of the field unchallenged and scored. Townsend first touch, first contribution was to give away a goal.
But this is not all you can use it for, you can watch his body language and movements to assess his mental state.
Now remember you are looking for every aspect of the players performance, for instance if he puts his hands on his hips he is indicating to the opposition he is tired, he is indicating a weakness.
This was part of the reason I suggested you watch a game with the sound off, not always watching the ball but watching a player off the ball. That Moreno goal by Liverpool saw Capoue not anticipate or react to the danger until it was too late and against Aston Villa he was again at fault with his positioning and leaving the goalscorer unmarked.
Watch the goal again but this time look further forward and watch Mason, he's ambling and taking no interest in defending, simply leaving it to others.
When a player goes for a header, is it with total determination to win the ball or to just be involved in an aerial duel. The approach of Dawson and Chiriches in that respect is markedly different. There is no doubt Chiriches is a more talented player than Dawson but Dawson has the mental approach that every game counts, every challenge counts, Chriches doesn't and is thus the lesser player.
Players like Chiriches or before him Giovanni Dos Santos, Adel Tarrabt could have gained so much from a mental coach if we had had one. All three have talent of that there is no doubt, but could be far better players than they actually are. I've no doubt most of Chiriches problems could be solved if someone could sort out his head, instead he'll be sold and we'll buy someone else, hoping they have a better mentality.
In this day and age we shouldn't be relying on hope so much, it's about time we moved into the 21st century.
You all see defenders like Dawson or John Terry dive in front of a ball to block it in any way they can. Others stand off, turn their back when there is a shot, stopping the ball is not everything to them, they actually don't want to get in the way. Is that the right mental approach?
If a sports psychologist could get hold of Chiriches and change his mental approach then he could become a top top player, without an improvement in his mental game he won't.
Mentality is what makes a top class player, a player who stands out. Look at Jan Vertonghen and compare him when he was motivated every game to now (this was written in April remember) with no motivation at all, it's not the same player.
Gareth Bale has the mind of a champion, a childhood dream to play for Real Madrid. He learnt and improved along the way to achieve his goal and then promptly won the UEFA Champions League. Ask yourself, how many current Spurs players are mentally tough, how many display the mind of a champion.
As part of my preview for the Fulham game I looked at how many times we have conceded the first goal in a game recently, 10 out of 11 was the incredible answer, before Fulham it was 8 games on the trot. That has nothing to do with ability, the players have the ability, that is solely a mental approach problem.
Injuries are another example during a game, fake injuries I mean. The player who goes down when hardly or not even touched and then clutches an imaginary injury, especially if the game is continuing is another sign of weakness. The guy on the floor is being dictated to by the opposition and he is of no help to his team on the floor at all.
You see mentally weak players arguing with the referee because the player knows they have make a mistake and they want someone else to blame, the referees for not giving them a free-kick. That is a weak mind.
Erienne Capoue was doing it all the time against Aston Villa when we were losing. Aston Villa are attacking and he is too interested in moaning to the referee than rushing back to help his side. he makes a mistake or is challenged and he wants someone else to blame, it's not my fault mentality. He has to be mentally stronger than that, he has to take responsibility for his actions.
Will anyone at Tottenham pick him up on it, highly unlikely, otherwise they would have stopped it already. That's just another aspect of a weak mentality that a mental coach would change.
If a player goes over to easily it is a lack of physical strength and the opposition will just exploit that, knocking him off the ball continually. He will either then become a terrier or a player who moans to the ref all the time.
Some players will fight for the ball back others will whinge and moan while sitting on the floor. You can almost hear them crying, it's not fair mummy. Frustration leads to a lack of concentration which leads to mistakes.
Sorry to say but Erik Lamela gets knocked off the ball all the time and his body language is always I want a free-kick, it's not my fault I've lost the ball. He may have the talent of a £30 million pound footballer but he doesn't have the mentality of one I'm afraid.
He is not to blame, the people who bought him and didn't do the mental checks we should be doing before any purchase and the culprits for wasting a fortune. For the sake of a few thousand pounds we look as if we have blown £30 million.
Change the mental attitude and you will eliminate some of the mistakes, no football technique will change them, it has to come from his mind.
Strikers are subjected to mental pressure constantly. They are paid to determine the result of games by putting the ball in the back of the net. If a striker misses an opportunity and then a series of opportunities, his confidence can start to dip because he is letting his team-mates down.
Two things will happen. He will either hide and avoid chances, playing in areas of the pitch where he contributes but doesn't appear in the box too often or he'll keep putting himself in the position to score again and face further ridicule if he misses.
Regardless of whether he keeps missing, if he is still constantly in the box he is demonstrating the right mental approach, don't back down from the challenge, don't hide, stand up to be counted. Eventually the tide will turn. You can add to the other aspects of his game to improve him but the player who hides is mentally weak and you have to work on that.
Roberto Soldado has had a bad season (2013/14 although little better this season) but the one thing he has not done is hide, he has still been prepared to put himself in the position to try again. After a summer of relaxing the mind he'll start next season without the pressure he has put himself under this season and we hope we'll see a different player.
Sandro's tweet on Saturday morning was a mistake, yes he is telling the fans he has not been picked, which he doesn't deserve at the minute anyway, but it's just his hurt pride and his desire to play in the World Cup. He knows he has been poor, he knows he has been off the pace, easily beaten, he wants games to get himself ready for a chance of making the Brazil squad but that is not our problem. It shouts me me me although I must say he normally gives us 100% so I can understand his frustration, he is letting off steam.
Take a look at the substitutes next time. How many subs do you see simply going through the motions warming up, smiling and waving to the crowd, watching the game, chatting to the officials, not at all focused on what they are doing. They are saying I don't want to warm up I just want to play but it is something I am required to do so I'll just make it look as if I'm warming up.
It's the equivalent of not being ready for the start of a second-half, as we weren't against Newcastle last week.
They (the subs) are not psyched up for taking part in the game, they are not getting themselves in the best possible physical shape which could prevent them pulling a hamstring soon after coming on. The sub coming on now has to take the time to try and mentally attune himself and get motivated while the game is already going on around him. The result is a lack of consistency, an inability to get into the game. He then usually offers an ineffectual performances that both he and the crowd will then say was down to him not having enough time on the pitch. The truth is it is entirely down to his poor mentality.
A sub should be watching the play, earning about his potential opponent, watching for a weakness, watching what his team-mates are doing in certain situation. He should be gleaning as much as he can before he comes on, not trying to get up to speed after he has come on.
Success comes from the mind and transmits itself to the heart. Every action is a positive or a negative so next time you are watching a purported transfer target, watch every aspect of their game closely, indeed watch each Spurs player closely. You'll spot loads of examples of a positive or negative mind.
I'm going to harp back to Nabil Bentaleb again because that lad has the right mental attitude, he doesn't hide, you can see the fight and desire from him all the time. If we had 11 like him we would be winning the title. Sandro is usually another, Dawson has only got where he is because of his mentality. We need players in every position with their mental approach, every game matters, every game is big.
Who are the players with his mental approach in this team, who are the leaders on the field? Adebayor is not a leader, nor is Vertonghen or Kaboul and Lloris is to far from play. There aren't any, all Indians, no chiefs.
Football is a team game with 11 players. A club should have a playing philosophy from child through to the first eleven, they should all play the game in the same way, to the same formula, the same system.
Louis Van Gall has a system, the system is everything to him but and this is the vital aspect, he wants players who will buy into, listen and accept how he says it has to be done. Each player has a role and each player must have the right mentality.
The Spurs players are looking as if they haven't bought into Pochettino's system, his frustration on the sideline is evident, thus we have an ineffectual team, playing, but with no heat, no sole. They are trying but trying without any belief that what they are doing will work. You either change their mentality or you change the team, one is cheap, one is expansive with no guarantee of any improvement.
Football coaching has it's limits and mental coaching is one of them. The club needs to push past the limits tradition and general opinion dictate and use mental coaching to unlock the true potential in every player.
If you have two teams of equal ability where one has 10 players with the right mental attitude and one has 5 players with the right mental attitude, which side is going to win 9 times out of 10? The answer is obvious.
Let me tell you of a cricket game I was playing in, a meaningless friendly against a Stars XI for want of a better name. I was a second or third team player, I can't remember which, bowling against a West Indian test match opening batsman. I was giving it my all, trying my absolute best, as I did for every game. The batsman edged the ball and it went sailing through the slips (they are the people standing in a staggered line behind the batsman waiting to catch the ball) and not one of them moved.
The all stood looking as it flew past them. Prior to that they had been laughing and joking so i gave them a verbal volley about lack of effort about always trying to give your best. I was basically telling these star paid first XI players that their mental approach sucked.
It worked, the batsman took my words to heart and promptly hit my next four balls for four! My team-mates mentality cost me and the side.
That example shows the difference between winners and losers, winners try all the time at whatever level they are playing, losers try when it matters to them, but nobody knows when that is.
A football team is just that, a team, but it's a team of individuals and those individuals must work for the good of the team, which will mean doing the best for themselves every single game.
As individuals they should be asking how they can improve, Gareth Bale didn't suddenly find he could move the ball both ways from a free-kick one day. He practised and practised to slowly improve.
Nobody had done that before, another barrier broken. That's all something new is, a barrier. Sports psychology is not new, sports use it all the time, top sportsmen an women use it constantly, why then don't footballers? Until it does coaching will remain less than it can be. I want the best for Tottenham, mediocrity is not good enough, simply doing something because that's the way it has always been done is not good enough.
It hasn't worked for the last 20 years, why is it suddenly going to work now? We don't have the money other sides have so we have to look for other areas we can improve upon, other areas where we can beat them and improving players through improving them mentally or assessing them mentally before we buy them is an obvious area we can have the edge.
How many players after a defeat can hold their head up and say I did my best, I gave everything I had? In that situation all the talk is about we didn't do this, we were poor, nobody taking responsibility saying I was poor, I let my team-mates down.
Eleven men giving everything when you are losing will have the chance to turn a game around, if only half a dozen do it you are playing with half a team and have virtually no chance. Everyone must totally believe that the result matters, that the result is important, that the three points are essential.
If a side has that total belief in every game they will win 9 out of 10 of them. If you have total belief in something then it becomes possible, if you don't it isn't.
The 4 minute mile wasn't possible before Roger Bannister achieved it, then everyone started doing it, indeed 2 months later two athletes ran under 4 minutes in the same race, John Landy and Roger Bannister. Once it was run the mental barrier that was stopping everyone had been taken down. It required total belief that it was possible, not hope, but total belief.
The Tottenham players next season have to have total belief in their coach, total belief in his system, total belief that they can win every game they play.
Put eleven men on the field in that frame of mind and it will be a successful one.
Unfortunately I don't see that total belief, there was belief during pre-season but that now seems to have evaporated and we are stumbling through a season with no improvement in our game despite having played more football than any other Premier League side.
That approach is the same approach the coaches at Tottenham should be taking and the same approach that every player should be taking, unfortunately however, it is not.
Are the seven players signed last summer better players than when we signed them? Certainly none of them have improved anywhere near what we were hoping for when they were purchases and quite frankly don't look like they are going to either.
Improvement does not have to be one big improvement but a series of tiny improvements. When you add up continual tiny improvements they make a significant difference, they can then equate to major improvement. Japanese manufacturing used this method to lead the world, it is known as the Kaizen method.
The process is like taking a car engine apart, analysing how every piece can be slightly improved upon and putting it back together to have a more powerful, more efficient, faster vehicle.
It's how Formula 1 teams approach the sport. Each season there are improvements, advances in technology which then find their way into the road cars that you and I drive. Without the research and development cars wouldn't be as safe as they are.
A player or a coach is no different. A coach should be analysing their own performance and making continual improvements to every aspect he can. He or she should be doing the same for each player and each player should be doing the same for themselves.
Football coaching is very much a case of this is what we did so this is what I'll coach, without looking and continually analysing how it can be improved. Yes there are analysts now who use a more technology based method of evaluating the opposition, their strengths and their weaknesses, what an individual player is likely to do in a given situation.
But then there are aspects of coaching that haven't changed and the mentality of a player is one aspect that is neglected. It's largely left to the individual and thus is an area where significant improvements can be made.
Players are paid a high wage to be the best they can be, not to go through the motions or perform at what they believe is their best as that is merely a glass ceiling.
Spurs have significantly improved the training facilities, the medical care, the nutrition available over the years. However any improvement is offset if a players mental approach is not that every game is a big game. A player who gets himself up for Manchester United but not for Crystal Palace is a player who is going to let you down.
We see with the current Spurs team, they do not trust the system, they don't believe in it and thus it isn't working. Something has to give and unless the players minds are changed it will mean a lot more buying and selling again. It's like a hamster running on a wheel, plenty of effort but going nowhere, Spurs have been stuck on a hamster wheel for years.
Not only must a players physical and technical aspects be broken down and continual fine improvements made but his mental approach must be taken apart, improvements made and rebuilt with these lasting upgrades. That takes specialist knowledge, that takes a sports psychologist, a football coach doesn't have the capacity to do that.
Analyse, collate, evaluate, improve. We have a first team coach, a goalkeeping coach, a fitness coach so why not a mental coach.
If you look back over the past few years where we have been striving for UEFA Champions League football, we have been the nearly men, the team who have bottled it at the crucial stages again and again. We have bottled it in the big games because players in their heads players believe themselves, as a whole, to be inferior. We have bottled it against perceived lesser teams because players don't have the internal motivation, the game isn't important enough for them.
Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final was a case in point. We have succeeded in some perceived bigger games yes, that will always happen but overall there is a clear pattern, overall the team with the better mental approach will win.
Two players of equal ability will have contrasting careers if one has a winning mentality, if one sees every game as a big game and the other does not. One will be consistent one will not. One will earn more, achieve more, play for bigger clubs and win trophies, one will remain stuck at a lower grade, a nearly man. Tottenham are a nearly team.
If you haven't done so read the above graphic and take it in, take in what it means. Nobody else can tell you a game is a big game or an important game, you have to believe it yourself. A mental coach will teach a layer to reprogram his brain.
Take someone like Danny Rose. Mauricio Pochettino told him four times during the summer he could play for England. That's just the approach a mental coach would take except he'd back it up with mental exercises every day and regular evaluations towards achieving a goal.
To play for England he has to improve his game and if that is his motivation to improve then you use it and you explain how important each game is because you don't know who is watching or who will watch. Each performance therefore has to be top drawer, each game is thus perceived as a big game.
Danny Rose has improved but that key needs to be found for all players not just one or two and Pochettino doesn't have the time to do that. Hand that aspect over to a professional instead of as now, leaving it largely to luck.
To change a players mental approach you have to pay attention to every little detail, family life, food, physical, mental, tactical, social, everything. You can't just turn up for work and say OK now I'm going to be motivated. If you are out getting drunk and falling over you are not ensuring you are in optimum shape to perform your best regardless of recovery time.
That is hardly the act of a motivated professional sportsman staying in optimum condition to be able to give his best every time. There is no excuse for a professional sportsman getting drunk, their body is the tool of their trade and it should therefore be of paramount importance.
As I pointed out with Paulinho, a streak in one aspect of your life will impact and affect other areas. Admitting he was too lazy to learn English demonstrates clearly the wrong mental approach. Communication is vital, understanding what your coaches want, what your team mates want during a game has to be enhanced if you can understand what they are saying.
Lazy in one aspect of life will surface as laziness in another area. A character trait like that is not conducive to staying at the top of the sport but getting to a level, a comfort zone, and staying there. There is so much money in the game that a player can earn an excellent living without ever being the best he can be but maintaining a comfort zone level.
In this day and age there is software available that can instantly isolate a players performance during a whole game, whether that be on the ball or off the ball. The first step would be to take a series of these games and analyse exactly what the player does. You will find repetition such as the Assou-Ekotto back heel when near the touchline in defence.
Andris Townsend is another who springs to mind, he likes to backheel and then run down the line outside an opponent, except when he came on against Liverpool their left-back, Alberto Moreno, knew what he was going to do. The result, he won the ball, ran half the length of the field unchallenged and scored. Townsend first touch, first contribution was to give away a goal.
But this is not all you can use it for, you can watch his body language and movements to assess his mental state.
Now remember you are looking for every aspect of the players performance, for instance if he puts his hands on his hips he is indicating to the opposition he is tired, he is indicating a weakness.
This was part of the reason I suggested you watch a game with the sound off, not always watching the ball but watching a player off the ball. That Moreno goal by Liverpool saw Capoue not anticipate or react to the danger until it was too late and against Aston Villa he was again at fault with his positioning and leaving the goalscorer unmarked.
Watch the goal again but this time look further forward and watch Mason, he's ambling and taking no interest in defending, simply leaving it to others.
When a player goes for a header, is it with total determination to win the ball or to just be involved in an aerial duel. The approach of Dawson and Chiriches in that respect is markedly different. There is no doubt Chiriches is a more talented player than Dawson but Dawson has the mental approach that every game counts, every challenge counts, Chriches doesn't and is thus the lesser player.
Players like Chiriches or before him Giovanni Dos Santos, Adel Tarrabt could have gained so much from a mental coach if we had had one. All three have talent of that there is no doubt, but could be far better players than they actually are. I've no doubt most of Chiriches problems could be solved if someone could sort out his head, instead he'll be sold and we'll buy someone else, hoping they have a better mentality.
In this day and age we shouldn't be relying on hope so much, it's about time we moved into the 21st century.
You all see defenders like Dawson or John Terry dive in front of a ball to block it in any way they can. Others stand off, turn their back when there is a shot, stopping the ball is not everything to them, they actually don't want to get in the way. Is that the right mental approach?
If a sports psychologist could get hold of Chiriches and change his mental approach then he could become a top top player, without an improvement in his mental game he won't.
Mentality is what makes a top class player, a player who stands out. Look at Jan Vertonghen and compare him when he was motivated every game to now (this was written in April remember) with no motivation at all, it's not the same player.
Gareth Bale has the mind of a champion, a childhood dream to play for Real Madrid. He learnt and improved along the way to achieve his goal and then promptly won the UEFA Champions League. Ask yourself, how many current Spurs players are mentally tough, how many display the mind of a champion.
As part of my preview for the Fulham game I looked at how many times we have conceded the first goal in a game recently, 10 out of 11 was the incredible answer, before Fulham it was 8 games on the trot. That has nothing to do with ability, the players have the ability, that is solely a mental approach problem.
Injuries are another example during a game, fake injuries I mean. The player who goes down when hardly or not even touched and then clutches an imaginary injury, especially if the game is continuing is another sign of weakness. The guy on the floor is being dictated to by the opposition and he is of no help to his team on the floor at all.
You see mentally weak players arguing with the referee because the player knows they have make a mistake and they want someone else to blame, the referees for not giving them a free-kick. That is a weak mind.
Erienne Capoue was doing it all the time against Aston Villa when we were losing. Aston Villa are attacking and he is too interested in moaning to the referee than rushing back to help his side. he makes a mistake or is challenged and he wants someone else to blame, it's not my fault mentality. He has to be mentally stronger than that, he has to take responsibility for his actions.
Will anyone at Tottenham pick him up on it, highly unlikely, otherwise they would have stopped it already. That's just another aspect of a weak mentality that a mental coach would change.
If a player goes over to easily it is a lack of physical strength and the opposition will just exploit that, knocking him off the ball continually. He will either then become a terrier or a player who moans to the ref all the time.
Some players will fight for the ball back others will whinge and moan while sitting on the floor. You can almost hear them crying, it's not fair mummy. Frustration leads to a lack of concentration which leads to mistakes.
Sorry to say but Erik Lamela gets knocked off the ball all the time and his body language is always I want a free-kick, it's not my fault I've lost the ball. He may have the talent of a £30 million pound footballer but he doesn't have the mentality of one I'm afraid.
He is not to blame, the people who bought him and didn't do the mental checks we should be doing before any purchase and the culprits for wasting a fortune. For the sake of a few thousand pounds we look as if we have blown £30 million.
Change the mental attitude and you will eliminate some of the mistakes, no football technique will change them, it has to come from his mind.
Strikers are subjected to mental pressure constantly. They are paid to determine the result of games by putting the ball in the back of the net. If a striker misses an opportunity and then a series of opportunities, his confidence can start to dip because he is letting his team-mates down.
Two things will happen. He will either hide and avoid chances, playing in areas of the pitch where he contributes but doesn't appear in the box too often or he'll keep putting himself in the position to score again and face further ridicule if he misses.
Regardless of whether he keeps missing, if he is still constantly in the box he is demonstrating the right mental approach, don't back down from the challenge, don't hide, stand up to be counted. Eventually the tide will turn. You can add to the other aspects of his game to improve him but the player who hides is mentally weak and you have to work on that.
Roberto Soldado has had a bad season (2013/14 although little better this season) but the one thing he has not done is hide, he has still been prepared to put himself in the position to try again. After a summer of relaxing the mind he'll start next season without the pressure he has put himself under this season and we hope we'll see a different player.
Sandro's tweet on Saturday morning was a mistake, yes he is telling the fans he has not been picked, which he doesn't deserve at the minute anyway, but it's just his hurt pride and his desire to play in the World Cup. He knows he has been poor, he knows he has been off the pace, easily beaten, he wants games to get himself ready for a chance of making the Brazil squad but that is not our problem. It shouts me me me although I must say he normally gives us 100% so I can understand his frustration, he is letting off steam.
Take a look at the substitutes next time. How many subs do you see simply going through the motions warming up, smiling and waving to the crowd, watching the game, chatting to the officials, not at all focused on what they are doing. They are saying I don't want to warm up I just want to play but it is something I am required to do so I'll just make it look as if I'm warming up.
It's the equivalent of not being ready for the start of a second-half, as we weren't against Newcastle last week.
They (the subs) are not psyched up for taking part in the game, they are not getting themselves in the best possible physical shape which could prevent them pulling a hamstring soon after coming on. The sub coming on now has to take the time to try and mentally attune himself and get motivated while the game is already going on around him. The result is a lack of consistency, an inability to get into the game. He then usually offers an ineffectual performances that both he and the crowd will then say was down to him not having enough time on the pitch. The truth is it is entirely down to his poor mentality.
A sub should be watching the play, earning about his potential opponent, watching for a weakness, watching what his team-mates are doing in certain situation. He should be gleaning as much as he can before he comes on, not trying to get up to speed after he has come on.
Success comes from the mind and transmits itself to the heart. Every action is a positive or a negative so next time you are watching a purported transfer target, watch every aspect of their game closely, indeed watch each Spurs player closely. You'll spot loads of examples of a positive or negative mind.
I'm going to harp back to Nabil Bentaleb again because that lad has the right mental attitude, he doesn't hide, you can see the fight and desire from him all the time. If we had 11 like him we would be winning the title. Sandro is usually another, Dawson has only got where he is because of his mentality. We need players in every position with their mental approach, every game matters, every game is big.
Who are the players with his mental approach in this team, who are the leaders on the field? Adebayor is not a leader, nor is Vertonghen or Kaboul and Lloris is to far from play. There aren't any, all Indians, no chiefs.
Football is a team game with 11 players. A club should have a playing philosophy from child through to the first eleven, they should all play the game in the same way, to the same formula, the same system.
Louis Van Gall has a system, the system is everything to him but and this is the vital aspect, he wants players who will buy into, listen and accept how he says it has to be done. Each player has a role and each player must have the right mentality.
The Spurs players are looking as if they haven't bought into Pochettino's system, his frustration on the sideline is evident, thus we have an ineffectual team, playing, but with no heat, no sole. They are trying but trying without any belief that what they are doing will work. You either change their mentality or you change the team, one is cheap, one is expansive with no guarantee of any improvement.
Football coaching has it's limits and mental coaching is one of them. The club needs to push past the limits tradition and general opinion dictate and use mental coaching to unlock the true potential in every player.
If you have two teams of equal ability where one has 10 players with the right mental attitude and one has 5 players with the right mental attitude, which side is going to win 9 times out of 10? The answer is obvious.
Let me tell you of a cricket game I was playing in, a meaningless friendly against a Stars XI for want of a better name. I was a second or third team player, I can't remember which, bowling against a West Indian test match opening batsman. I was giving it my all, trying my absolute best, as I did for every game. The batsman edged the ball and it went sailing through the slips (they are the people standing in a staggered line behind the batsman waiting to catch the ball) and not one of them moved.
The all stood looking as it flew past them. Prior to that they had been laughing and joking so i gave them a verbal volley about lack of effort about always trying to give your best. I was basically telling these star paid first XI players that their mental approach sucked.
It worked, the batsman took my words to heart and promptly hit my next four balls for four! My team-mates mentality cost me and the side.
That example shows the difference between winners and losers, winners try all the time at whatever level they are playing, losers try when it matters to them, but nobody knows when that is.
A football team is just that, a team, but it's a team of individuals and those individuals must work for the good of the team, which will mean doing the best for themselves every single game.
As individuals they should be asking how they can improve, Gareth Bale didn't suddenly find he could move the ball both ways from a free-kick one day. He practised and practised to slowly improve.
Nobody had done that before, another barrier broken. That's all something new is, a barrier. Sports psychology is not new, sports use it all the time, top sportsmen an women use it constantly, why then don't footballers? Until it does coaching will remain less than it can be. I want the best for Tottenham, mediocrity is not good enough, simply doing something because that's the way it has always been done is not good enough.
It hasn't worked for the last 20 years, why is it suddenly going to work now? We don't have the money other sides have so we have to look for other areas we can improve upon, other areas where we can beat them and improving players through improving them mentally or assessing them mentally before we buy them is an obvious area we can have the edge.
How many players after a defeat can hold their head up and say I did my best, I gave everything I had? In that situation all the talk is about we didn't do this, we were poor, nobody taking responsibility saying I was poor, I let my team-mates down.
Eleven men giving everything when you are losing will have the chance to turn a game around, if only half a dozen do it you are playing with half a team and have virtually no chance. Everyone must totally believe that the result matters, that the result is important, that the three points are essential.
If a side has that total belief in every game they will win 9 out of 10 of them. If you have total belief in something then it becomes possible, if you don't it isn't.
The 4 minute mile wasn't possible before Roger Bannister achieved it, then everyone started doing it, indeed 2 months later two athletes ran under 4 minutes in the same race, John Landy and Roger Bannister. Once it was run the mental barrier that was stopping everyone had been taken down. It required total belief that it was possible, not hope, but total belief.
The Tottenham players next season have to have total belief in their coach, total belief in his system, total belief that they can win every game they play.
Put eleven men on the field in that frame of mind and it will be a successful one.
Unfortunately I don't see that total belief, there was belief during pre-season but that now seems to have evaporated and we are stumbling through a season with no improvement in our game despite having played more football than any other Premier League side.
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