In football, the major talking point is about talent, ability and quality of a team, but one of the most overlooked traits regarding a team or players, is how mentally strong they are. We have witnessed 2 teams throw away 3 goal leads, Ajax and Barca, and it's all down to weak mentality. They just didn't have the bottle to close the ties out. Ajax and Barca, who had the superior players to their opponents, had a mental breakdown, which led to their downfall. So in the future, should mentality always be a talking point, along with the quality of a side?
How important is strong mentality in football?
- Thread starter emir
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Osamabindiesel
Player Valuation: £70m
Much bigger than people care to admit. Yeah, having fancy footballers named RaDigneDinho is important, but so many teams will themselves to win when the odds are against them. We have graciously bended over for the past few decades.
Yarrgh
Player Valuation: £80m
Absolutely vital.
There are certain footballers I can think of who have it. It's rarer to have it as a collective team, but if the team has it they can be unstoppable. Also the supporters in the stadium need it too. If you have all that, you can go take on the world.
For example Peter Reid and Andy Gray and Big Nev had it as individuals and that translated into the whole team having it. And we as a fan base, knew we could beat anyone in the 80s - not just special occasions against the likes of Bayern, but in every game - I was a young 'un, but I knew that we'd score a goal every 3 corners or free kicks (or so it seemed), so I expected to see a goal every time we had a set piece in the opposition half.
There are certain footballers I can think of who have it. It's rarer to have it as a collective team, but if the team has it they can be unstoppable. Also the supporters in the stadium need it too. If you have all that, you can go take on the world.
For example Peter Reid and Andy Gray and Big Nev had it as individuals and that translated into the whole team having it. And we as a fan base, knew we could beat anyone in the 80s - not just special occasions against the likes of Bayern, but in every game - I was a young 'un, but I knew that we'd score a goal every 3 corners or free kicks (or so it seemed), so I expected to see a goal every time we had a set piece in the opposition half.
It's the most important thing
Spurs are hardly renowned for a winning mentality. It's cup football. Strange things happen.
Maybe we should take all our players on one of those SAS courses and bin off all the players who couldn't hack it.
The only player I would be confident about is Seamus
The only player I would be confident about is Seamus
Yarrgh
Player Valuation: £80m
But they always had the reputation for being a cup team. They have the momentum now!
But if you compare them to that youthful Ajax side, they definitely have more experience on this stage. They've been to numerous semis domestically. I feel the age of that Ajax side was apparent, in the second half of the game
Just one of those things though isn't it? I mean had Dembele not missed that sitter in the Nou Camp Barca would have won 4-0 there, and I doubt anyone would have said Liverpool were mentally fragile as they played pretty well. The game does generally appear to be more attacking and open now than it has been in the recent past so games like this are always possible. I mean we thrashed Man Utd in a one off game, yet over a season we weren't as strong as them. It does happen.
This.
With it good players become better.
Without it good players don't.
Without it some don't even know they don't have it
Without it some aren't even arsed one way or the other
Without it you come second
Lost it.
brieverton
Player Valuation: £50m
It's tied to work ethic for me.
I attended a talk once years ago, it was one of these motivational speakers who used to be an Ice Hockey coach who emphasized the importance of covering every detail in preparation and training, and being as physically fit as you could possibly be.
He said he sent out his players with each of them knowing they had done all they could individually and collectively to prepare for a given match, and from that he said that maximum physical effort and intensity came naturally to the players during the game. It was as a natural consequence of 100% focus.
He put up a phrase he used on a slide during his talk "We are playing for this moment, right here and now" that stuck with me.
I feel too often that some of our players and others don't put 100% effort and intensity in, physically or mentally. Of course that's a trait common to most teams but if you ask me LFC's relative success recently is based on effort and intensity more than it is on anything else.
I attended a talk once years ago, it was one of these motivational speakers who used to be an Ice Hockey coach who emphasized the importance of covering every detail in preparation and training, and being as physically fit as you could possibly be.
He said he sent out his players with each of them knowing they had done all they could individually and collectively to prepare for a given match, and from that he said that maximum physical effort and intensity came naturally to the players during the game. It was as a natural consequence of 100% focus.
He put up a phrase he used on a slide during his talk "We are playing for this moment, right here and now" that stuck with me.
I feel too often that some of our players and others don't put 100% effort and intensity in, physically or mentally. Of course that's a trait common to most teams but if you ask me LFC's relative success recently is based on effort and intensity more than it is on anything else.
It’s vital and it’s embedded into the core of some clubs and some sets of fans. The same is true for lack of belief, it’s ingrained. If we went into a semi final second leg 6-0 up against Liverpool, all we’d be talking about is how we’re going to throw it away.
Papa Shango
Player Valuation: £70m
It's everything.
You can have all the talent in the world, if you don't have the correct mentality then it won't matter.
Abel Taarabt (as an example) had more natural footballing talent in his little toe than say a Dunga or a Gattusso but the formers mentality (along with having good ability of course) meant that they ended their careers as winners whereas Taarabt is just a bit of a loser.
You can have all the talent in the world, if you don't have the correct mentality then it won't matter.
Abel Taarabt (as an example) had more natural footballing talent in his little toe than say a Dunga or a Gattusso but the formers mentality (along with having good ability of course) meant that they ended their careers as winners whereas Taarabt is just a bit of a loser.
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