Mind over Matters

[erlee]

i always thought the secret was in those herbs & spice at the pizza hideaway sessions..

 

but even that has ended.. who wants to chew on tough dough when they can dine in fine restaurants with a pay pack of 120K/week

[Foxhampton]

What an arrogant and ignorant thing to do. What's the point? How much could a part time psychologist cost?

And to the matter of what was he doing during our long unbeaten run in 14/15 - probably helping retain self belief in a demoralising situation.

[Arkie Bennett]

Psychological support was essential in the wake of winning the league. Those players needed to be supported to cope with their taste of the big time and continue to understand their place in the scheme of things within the club. I wonder if removing that support has prompted a similar reaction to that at Chelsea last season when Mourinho sacked the doctor.

[sphericalfox]

8 minutes ago, Arkie Bennett said:

Psychological support was essential in the wake of winning the league. Those players needed to be supported to cope with their taste of the big time and continue to understand their place in the scheme of things within the club. I wonder if removing that support has prompted a similar reaction to that at Chelsea last season when Mourinho sacked the doctor.

Do we know exactly that it wasn't the players collectively who said to Ranners that they dont need the psych anymore so he got rid?

[Thracian]

10 hours ago, dynamark said:

Free kicks/corners we should have a number of well practised scenarios set moves .Its the one time on the pitch when the ball is stationary and the opposition does not know what will be incoming.Seem to lack ideas here this season.

 

And in many other recent seasons.

 

We don't even have a delivery specialist and don't seem good enough to train our own.

 

You're absolutely right. No matter what the standard of opposition, an attacking set piece offers an excellent scoring chance providing we've done some proper preparation.

 

For a good sides corners and free-kicks might be worth 10-15 goals a season. We score so few they're collectors items and the way we waste so many is truly alarming and wouldn't be acceptable in a non-League set-up. Sometimes we don't even clear the first man! 

 

Is anyone even looking out for our owners when they're away and making sure they're aware are of any shortcomings? Or is it just assumed our various professionals are all giving their utmost because they have the qualifications to suggest so?        

 

I don't know about all the professionals but, in my experience, badges don't necessarily equate to either competence or passion in the job.

 

I used to conduct coaching exams as part of my work and far too many students were so short of being proficient there was no chance of passing them as qualified.

 

But there was considerable pressure from the authorities to do the opposite because they desperately wanted coaches and trainees had committed considerable time and money towards that end.

 

Schoolteachers were arguably the worst.

 

For some the qualification simply offered another earning option even though they sometimes had very little proficiency as players let alone coaches.

 

It's undoubtedly harder in professional football yet, given that communication, imagination, a sense of responsibility, organisational abilities, a desire to set an example and things like psychology are such vital tools in a coaches armoury, I'm still surprised some people ever got through.   

 

 

 

 

       

[dynamark]

Superbowl tonight -now theres some set moves dozens of them.Rugby do it as well.

MOTD showed Liverpool are not great.Likewise Boro .Hull got a little bit lucky.Palace and Bounemouth poor.

There is hope just.

On the Allbrighton crossing thing couple of times Baines got the ball in deep positions shaped up to cross and nothing in the box so reconsidered and played a shorter pass.

[davieG]

12 hours ago, dynamark said:

Free kicks/corners we should have a number of well practised scenarios set moves .Its the one time on the pitch when the ball is stationary and the opposition does not know what will be incoming.Seem to lack ideas here this season.

Free kicks/corners, we've never even mastered the art of successful throw-ins, I think they're confused about the injury connection as they invariably go straight to the opposition.

[dynamark]

To continue- our throws usually give possession away sometimes off the second touch .Likewise the pass back to Kasper(lets be honest theres loads of those)lump forward  usually won by the opponent if they don't go out .This season not bothered about giving away the ball and not as good at winning it back hence 30 % or so.

Lets want the ball more a look after it .Very hard to score without it.

[MC Prussian]

23 hours ago, FrankieADZ said:

very good read that, clearly CR is changing everything that got us success from last season and he wonders why we are doing rubbish this

I was trying to argue that despite the departure of Ken Way last fall, there was absolutely nothing stopping the players from addressing their concerns via an outside sports psychologist. They earn more money than the majority of people will ever earn in a lifetime, so it makes it a bit of a redundant argument to pin down our lack of success or slide down the table to one single HR decision.

 

The issues lie deeper and are more diverse. Mentally, we are all over the place, the players seem disinterested, lack focus. It was always a big ask to rediscover your appetite for success when you've just won the arguably biggest or most prestigious league trophy in club football. How do you top that? I see Ranieri as part guilty here, but he's just one part of the puzzle. Our squad appears sluggish and the transfer policy since last summer - hindsight is 20/20 - a shambles. We clearly have talent within our ranks, but they're not delivering or have been brought onboard based on a scattergun approach.

[norwichfox]

To make up for the loss of Psychological Support the team have been bonding with weekly gang w*nks......please could they do it behind closed doors in the future and not on field of play every week.

[Arkie Bennett]

1 hour ago, sphericalfox said:

Do we know exactly that it wasn't the players collectively who said to Ranners that they dont need the psych anymore so he got rid?

No, we don't, but it's possible. Drawing on my own experience, since my employer started offering mental health support (counselling, mindfulness sessions and a much more open approach) a lot of colleagues have benefited, so in that situation I strongly doubt there would be a collective call to dispense with it. Indeed, if it was ditched there would probably be a backlash, a reduction in performance, certainly a rise in absenteeism. I have read that some footballers greatly value interaction with a psychologist, so again I doubt there would be a collective call to get rid from any club, let alone one as wealthy and indulgent as City. There's a valid point that the players are wealthy enough to get their own psychological help, but there is a lot to be said for an employer supporting their employees. All speculation of course.

[sphericalfox]

2 minutes ago, Arkie Bennett said:

No, we don't, but it's possible. Drawing on my own experience, since my employer started offering mental health support (counselling, mindfulness sessions and a much more open approach) a lot of colleagues have benefited, so in that situation I strongly doubt there would be a collective call to dispense with it. Indeed, if it was ditched there would probably be a backlash, a reduction in performance, certainly a rise in absenteeism. I have read that some footballers greatly value interaction with a psychologist, so again I doubt there would be a collective call to get rid from any club, let alone one as wealthy and indulgent as City. There's a valid point that the players are wealthy enough to get their own psychological help, but there is a lot to be said for an employer supporting their employees. All speculation of course.

I was just merely playing devil's advocate in my post. I'd be doubtful they did ask for him to stand down. But as conclusions are drawn on zero evidence, there's just as much chance, in my view that egos inflated to a point that they could have indeed suggested it wasn't a requirement. I only base this on the fact that Ranners has openly said that the team collectively told him that they wanted to play a particular formation despite it not working at that time and he himself relented. 

[lifted*fox]

I would say that this season, more so than ever; our players needed some ****ing psychological assistance.

 

If true and Ranieri did sanction the removal of our sports psychologist then it's an absolutely diabolical decision; one that VERY much looks like it's coming back to bite him.

 

**** sake. Why rip apart and change everything that Pearson put in place that was clearly working so well behind the scenes? 

 

Was Ranieri so desperate to remove anything good that Pearson left before him? Is he actually that insecure that he had to remove any part of the previous regime to avoid the 'Ranieri just continued Pearson's good work' critique? 

 

Very, very weird.

 

 

[l444ry]

Interesting article but there seems to be a lot of people jumping on this bandwagon hoping that it's the "eureka" moment/solution to what is a far more complex issue. 

[sphericalfox]

Just now, l444ry said:

Interesting article but there seems to be a lot of people jumping on this bandwagon hoping that it's the "eureka" moment/solution to what is a far more complex issue. 

I don't think they are. As I pointed out, it could be a good way of addressing the malaise and allowing belief in various things that need to be done to turn our season around. That includes any discord between players/other players/ management, necessary formation/tactical changes, and building some base of morale and absent positivity.

[Clever Fox]

There's no doubt that the Coaching at our Club is very poor regardless of current issues. Most of our players can't even do the simple things well.

[Arkie Bennett]

20 minutes ago, l444ry said:

Interesting article but there seems to be a lot of people jumping on this bandwagon hoping that it's the "eureka" moment/solution to what is a far more complex issue. 

It is an interesting discussion. Last season, our success was founded on a number of contributory aspects that all went in our favour: fitness, confidence, tactics, players gelling, getting things right at key moments, other teams' problems etc etc. No doubt the psychological element played a part, but only a part (there's truth in the words of When You're Smiling!). Conversely, as you say, this season's problems are obviously much deeper than can be attributed to one factor, important as it can be.

[lifted*fox]

3 hours ago, sphericalfox said:

Do we know exactly that it wasn't the players collectively who said to Ranners that they dont need the psych anymore so he got rid?

 

Even if that was the case they should have been told to get to **** and do what they're told. Sit down the psych and continue as normal with a practice that has been proven to help over the last few years.

 

Since when do the players run a ****ing club and get to choose what they do and don't want to do?

[lifted*fox]

Also, in my opinion the lack of senior, experienced players around the squad / dressing room is probably a contributing factor to this downfall - nobody there now who's been there and done it to keep these young, up-their-own-arse ****ers in line. 

 

No more GTF, Kevin Philips, Cambiasso - older, more experienced heads to keep their heads below the clouds. Our players are living in some sort of ****ing dreamworld above the sky with nobody to reality check them.

[crazyleicester]

I love how the things we did that got us success are all of a sudden the things that may get us relegated. Im not talking specifically about this topic but the way the media is trying to dissect everything. You know parts of the media are loving this and as quickly as they built us up and we obliged with our success they cant wait to knock us down but then again that is the British press for you.

 

Last season it all went perfectly, this year its all gone wrong. Everyone must take the blame for this but IMO the players more than anyone. Only a couple have come out with performance levels even remotely close to last seasons. The effort isnt there and they are look mentally buggered. We only have to look a bit up the road to Liverpool to see how delicate todays players are. Klopp was the messiah 6 weeks ago and now all I read is how he couldnt handle Sturridge and Sakho and how they dont listen now the wheels have fallen off for them since 2017 ticked over. Do I believe that they are crap? No! Do I reckon only a couple of there players will make it into Man United or Chelseas team, yep. They are over achieving IMO just like we did last season.

 

Moving forward, we need to get out of the slump. Bournemouth are in one at the moment looking like they are conceding 3 goals a game and cant buy a win. There manager is being talked up as Englands new boss and potentially the next Arsenal manager. Then we have the likes of big Sam at Palace. Another relegation expert whose side got battered by their old club yesterday and whose results bar one have been disastrous. Is the former England manager now shite? I doubt it. The players are culpable here. The day I see them all put the effort in and play to the level they can and then lose, I will start to look for other things that have gone wrong like the papers are spouting about now. Oh and before any of the knee-jerk fans tell me its Ranieris fault they are playing without confidence, I`ll point you all to the fact we have played like shite for most of the season, starting with that shambles at Hull who had midfielders playing in defence and had kids on the bench. That was down to a pre-season organised by those above who had our players flying from Thailand to the States to Sweden getting there confidence smashed as the likes of Barca and PSG gave us a pasting.

 

Hopefully we get that confidence back so everyone can calm the fudge down and stop looking for reasons on our apparent demise. 

[The Fox Covert]

Interesting thread but I can't see that the departure of Ken Way has anything to do with the performance of the entire team.

Most large companies employ occupational psychologists to help employees who seem to have some sort of problem, but I do think that this is a 'one size fits all' approach that won't help all the players.

I share Claudio's scepticism, and he seems to be one of the few at the club who are clearly bothered, and if I am right getting rid of him is not going to spark an improvement in the player's performance overnight.

Maybe one or two players may be having some sort of problem off the pitch which is affecting their form but no more than that.

I do buy daz*dsb's argument that there aren't so many experienced heads at the club any more.

I think it was originally NP's policy that the team should have a British core, players who grew up here or have been here all their adult lives (like Huth).

I am sure I remember Claudio saying this was important and should continue, however the recent signings seem to be going against this.

And if a new arrival has not played in this country before seems to be having problems in his first few months at the club, if his English is not great, how is anyone to know where his problem is.

I was not surprised to read that Claudio was opposed to the signing of Wagué, and with no disrespect to the player I would be very surprised if he makes a huge improvement to the performance of the team, because in the current situation the club should have brought in a couple of UK-based players who know the Premier League inside out.  Kevin Phillips and GTF were never the stand-out players in the team on the pitch, but they did seem to have a significant off-field influence which helped the team.

 

[sphericalfox]

Might need a bus load of psychs at this stage...