Spurs need to solve their motivation problem
Arguably the single biggest problem Tottenham have had in recent season is dropping points against teams in the lower reaches of the division.
People suggest how you get on in a season depends upon how you perform against the top four but that is only 8 games in a 38 game season. You are only playing for 24 points but if you won all the other games you would pick up 90 points and that would bring you titles.
Why do Tottenham drop 'silly' points? To answer that you have to look at the mental approach of the side and individual players within it. Take the Newcastle game at White Hart Lane, winning at half-time we were fast asleep when we came out for the second half, the back four weren't even ready for the kick-off. They perceived there was no danger and in an instant there was, we couldn't recover.
Fans talk about the big games but as a player if you are approaching the season correctly, approaching each game correctly then every game is a big game. That is how an individual has to view it to produce his utmost best. Footballers and just human beings who see some games as bigger than others so it's an area a club need to work on.
There are several things to do, reinforce the season goal, that competitions goal, explain how the next game fits into those goals, how it helps achieve them, the knock-on effect of winning and the results of losing. Players have to be able to handle pressure. You have to create a feeling of how important the game is, you have to get across to them that this is just as important as a game against Manchester United or Chelsea. Any Spurs player can get motivated for a game against Arsenal, the key is having the same motivation against Stoke or WBA.
If a player wants to be at the top of his game he will motivate himself, a coach can motivate to a certain extent, but motivation has to be lasting, it's no good being motivated for a short time afterwards and then losing it, so when you motivate is equally important as how you motivate. Once again bringing in specialists in this area to work with the players for 15 minutes a day would make a difference and cost peanuts.
Each player is going to be different, each player will have his own goals, his own motivation but often he won't know what that motivation is or how to use it. Most people, in fact, don't know what motivates them, they think they do but in reality they are clutching at the wrong things, when an individual discovers what truly motivates them then their life changes for the better, then they achieve with the associated benefits of time and happiness that go with it.
Is a players goal to play for his country, is it to play at Wembley, is it to secure a move to Barcelona, until you dig and help him discover what his true motivation is, you will never motivate him to the extent he could be motivated. You will always be dealing with second best which will hold the player back in the way Dembele is held back.
Has anyone found what motivates him yet? Certainly Ferdinand didn't, it isn't to play for Real Madrid. Find what truly motivates him, not what you would like to motivate him or what motivates others and you'll start to see the player he could and could be. If nobody has found it yet, why not and what are they going to do differently to find it? The obvious answer is to turn to an expert, not leave it in the hands of an amateur.
I like what is happening at the club, we are clearly making progress towards our goals but on the mental side we are amateurs and that could be what holds faster progress back.
Further Tottenham Reading
Bale treated better than Ronaldo
Learning from Winston Churchill
People suggest how you get on in a season depends upon how you perform against the top four but that is only 8 games in a 38 game season. You are only playing for 24 points but if you won all the other games you would pick up 90 points and that would bring you titles.
Why do Tottenham drop 'silly' points? To answer that you have to look at the mental approach of the side and individual players within it. Take the Newcastle game at White Hart Lane, winning at half-time we were fast asleep when we came out for the second half, the back four weren't even ready for the kick-off. They perceived there was no danger and in an instant there was, we couldn't recover.
Fans talk about the big games but as a player if you are approaching the season correctly, approaching each game correctly then every game is a big game. That is how an individual has to view it to produce his utmost best. Footballers and just human beings who see some games as bigger than others so it's an area a club need to work on.
There are several things to do, reinforce the season goal, that competitions goal, explain how the next game fits into those goals, how it helps achieve them, the knock-on effect of winning and the results of losing. Players have to be able to handle pressure. You have to create a feeling of how important the game is, you have to get across to them that this is just as important as a game against Manchester United or Chelsea. Any Spurs player can get motivated for a game against Arsenal, the key is having the same motivation against Stoke or WBA.
If a player wants to be at the top of his game he will motivate himself, a coach can motivate to a certain extent, but motivation has to be lasting, it's no good being motivated for a short time afterwards and then losing it, so when you motivate is equally important as how you motivate. Once again bringing in specialists in this area to work with the players for 15 minutes a day would make a difference and cost peanuts.
Each player is going to be different, each player will have his own goals, his own motivation but often he won't know what that motivation is or how to use it. Most people, in fact, don't know what motivates them, they think they do but in reality they are clutching at the wrong things, when an individual discovers what truly motivates them then their life changes for the better, then they achieve with the associated benefits of time and happiness that go with it.
Is a players goal to play for his country, is it to play at Wembley, is it to secure a move to Barcelona, until you dig and help him discover what his true motivation is, you will never motivate him to the extent he could be motivated. You will always be dealing with second best which will hold the player back in the way Dembele is held back.
Has anyone found what motivates him yet? Certainly Ferdinand didn't, it isn't to play for Real Madrid. Find what truly motivates him, not what you would like to motivate him or what motivates others and you'll start to see the player he could and could be. If nobody has found it yet, why not and what are they going to do differently to find it? The obvious answer is to turn to an expert, not leave it in the hands of an amateur.
I like what is happening at the club, we are clearly making progress towards our goals but on the mental side we are amateurs and that could be what holds faster progress back.
Further Tottenham Reading
Bale treated better than Ronaldo
Learning from Winston Churchill
7 comments
To many average players happy to pick up their wages but not willing to deliver.
To many prospects and constant excuses.
Earlier in the season Younes Kaboul spoke and he stated the players would have to talk amongst themselves to change their mentality. Players who don't perceive themselves to have a wrong mentality are not going to go to a sports psychologist to change it but that doesn't mean they don't gave a problem and the fact that Kaboul was banished from even speaking to the press rather proves he in particular had a wrong mentality.