Pochettino reveals the problem remains
We have heard it down the years and we hear it from Mauricio Pochettino again. In nice conditions our skilful plays can look fabulous but give them a cold, windy or rainy night against a team who will battle and then let's see how they perform.
Answer, half of them didn't. Mauricio Pochettino didn't comment on the referee after the game but he did make one revealing statement, exposing exactly what has been wrong at Spurs and what he is trying to put right, a lack of winning mentality. Here is what he said.
The revealing line? 'They wanted it more than us.
Such statements get dismissed by the majority of fans without fully understanding what they mean. One team battled harder than the other team, yes but why?
In football every game is worth three points, there should be no big games and smaller games as we often hear them referred to. I have said before that Tottenham should be employing a sports psychologist to be working with all the players for 15 minutes a day to retrain their brains.
There is no difference playing Chelsea than there is playing Crystal Palace, none at all. Both are big games, both carry three points. That is the mentality of a winner, for your normal player however and for fans, one game is a big game and one game isn't. But for the Crystal Palace the Tottenham game is a big game so it gets everything you have got to give.
It is impossible to give everything if a game is not important enough to you, if you perceive it to be a lesser team you have already subconsciously told yourself you don't need to function at maximum and when you are in that frame of mind you can't just suddenly change it during a game, the brain doesn't work like that.
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You can tell a player all day long a game is important but if he doesn't believe it in his own head then you are wasting your time, thus you have to train him to be able to think for himself every game is a big game, then you (the coaching staff) reinforce that.
You can't reinforce what isn't already there.
Players with a winning mentality, not a mentality to win a game, that is different, they see the bigger picture. They relate a game to the bigger picture. It's goal setting. If you have set your goal for a top four finish then every game is a smaller goal to achieve the larger goal. Unless the larger goal is drummed back in every day it gets lost, you lose sight of it, lose your focus on it and when you have done that you lose a bit of focus on the smaller goal and you don't perform.
This is not a team problem, this is an individual player problem. It separates the consistent performer from the inconsistent performer.
Our players have talent, we know that but they don't have it yet in their heads. We have to work on and solve the winning mentality problem.
Answer, half of them didn't. Mauricio Pochettino didn't comment on the referee after the game but he did make one revealing statement, exposing exactly what has been wrong at Spurs and what he is trying to put right, a lack of winning mentality. Here is what he said.
"I don't want to speak about the referee. I think it is a very difficult job, but it is true the penalty decision changed the atmosphere. Maybe after we suffered a little bit. Crystal Palace believed they can come to get the three points.
"A lot of long balls came in and I think that in this challenge they wanted it more than us. We are disappointed with the result and we lost a good opportunity to stay with the top four."
The revealing line? 'They wanted it more than us.
Such statements get dismissed by the majority of fans without fully understanding what they mean. One team battled harder than the other team, yes but why?
In football every game is worth three points, there should be no big games and smaller games as we often hear them referred to. I have said before that Tottenham should be employing a sports psychologist to be working with all the players for 15 minutes a day to retrain their brains.
There is no difference playing Chelsea than there is playing Crystal Palace, none at all. Both are big games, both carry three points. That is the mentality of a winner, for your normal player however and for fans, one game is a big game and one game isn't. But for the Crystal Palace the Tottenham game is a big game so it gets everything you have got to give.
It is impossible to give everything if a game is not important enough to you, if you perceive it to be a lesser team you have already subconsciously told yourself you don't need to function at maximum and when you are in that frame of mind you can't just suddenly change it during a game, the brain doesn't work like that.
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Close to an opportunity but not to actually play
Anderton reveals player attitude has been Spurs problem
You can tell a player all day long a game is important but if he doesn't believe it in his own head then you are wasting your time, thus you have to train him to be able to think for himself every game is a big game, then you (the coaching staff) reinforce that.
You can't reinforce what isn't already there.
Players with a winning mentality, not a mentality to win a game, that is different, they see the bigger picture. They relate a game to the bigger picture. It's goal setting. If you have set your goal for a top four finish then every game is a smaller goal to achieve the larger goal. Unless the larger goal is drummed back in every day it gets lost, you lose sight of it, lose your focus on it and when you have done that you lose a bit of focus on the smaller goal and you don't perform.
This is not a team problem, this is an individual player problem. It separates the consistent performer from the inconsistent performer.
Our players have talent, we know that but they don't have it yet in their heads. We have to work on and solve the winning mentality problem.
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