Tottenham Talk on Thursday 19th Aug
Tottenham Talk on Thursday 19th Aug
Well it's matchday again and while it isn't the competition we want to be in it is a competition we should be winning.
First hurdle is to qualify against the Portuguese with the first job of the first hurdle to come home with a lead and not play to draw as often seems to be the result in Europe with us.
I'm looking forward to seeing Gollini in goal again as he is sure to have been promised these games between the sticks.
With a game at the weekend we will have to hope that our second string players are as motivated as those who took part in the opening day victory over Premier League Champions Manchester City.
- Spurs 4-1 Man City (15/16)
- Spurs 2-0 Man City (16/17)
- Spurs 1-0 Man City (18/19)
- Spurs 2-0 Man City (19/20)
- Spurs 2-0 Man City (20/21)
- Spurs 1-0 Man City (21/22)
Aggregate Spurs 12-1 Man City
The initial 25-man squad for the game tonight is:
A team that has won nothing needs to learn how to win. It is a competition to train them to be winners.
Europa Conference Team List
Goalkeepers: Lloris, Gollini, Austin
Defenders: Doherty, Reguilón, Romero, Sánchez, Rodon, Dier, Sessegnon, Tanganga, Davies, Carter-Vickers, Paskotši
Midfielders: Højbjerg, Winks, Sissoko, Lo Celso, Dele
Attackers: Bryan, Bergwijn, Lucas, Son, Clarke, Kane
Oliver Skipp is on the B list along with Dane Scarlett and Nile John.
The positivity that surrounded the opening day win needs now to be maintained with nothing less than a comfortable or comprehensive win.
What we don't need is a atmosphere dampening draw.
Some fans don't want us playing in the competition, they don't want to win it, that's a losers mentality.
We are in so, as we haven't won anything since 2008, we need to learn how to win, how to lift a trophy, what it feels like.
That is the most important thing, we need to play the final, feel the emotions, feel the nerves, feel what it is like to win.
It doesn't matter what the trophy is, that's irrelevant, we need to win.
An initial win kick starts the rest.
The first is the hardest so let's get over the line and kick on.
Winning mentalities want to win, not pick and choose what is deemed worthy of us.
We are in this competition because of our mentality, this is a chance to gain valuable experience and change that.
It is a chance for Nuno to learn, it is a chance for us to learn, so let's take it.
Commitment is a psychological state explaining why athletes do what they do.
A player needs TOTAL commitment to the task, the training and the team.
Burning Desire
To win anything you must have commitment.
We got knocked out of the UEFA Europa League last season not through a lack of ability, but because of a lack of commitment.
Enthusiastic commitment (EC) is the psychological desire and resolve to persist over time.
Constrained Commitment (CC) is the psychological perceptions of an obligation to persist.
It i fundamental to football, yet how much attention is paid to teaching this in a players formative years so it stays ingrained within them?
If you understand what it takes to create commitment then you are at an advantage and can use that for the rest of your career, indeed life.
- Sport Enjoyment
- Valuable Opportunities (Training, Picked to Play)
- Personal Investment (Effort, Time etc)
- Emotional Social Support (Mental learning)
- Informational Social Support (Learning)
- Desire to Excel
- Desire to Excel over Opponents
- Other Priorities (Girlfriend, Social life)
- Social Constraints
I'll repeat the mantra, a winning mentality is so much more than just trying to beat an opponent, that is merely a small proportion of the complete makeup that is at the mercy of the other elements.
When you are not 100% committed to something, you can try your best but you can't produce your best, there is a difference.
It is why business fail, that lack of commitment, it's that 'burning desire' that is part of the formula for success proven by Napoleon Hill.
He interviewed hundreds of successful people in industry, politics etc and a common formula rose from that, part of which was a vision and an unswerving belief in that vision.
It is that 'burning' that powers the determination, the commitment, without it you try yes, but you try at a lower level, you try basically within your comfort zone, not outside it.
That equates in football to a burning desire to improve all the time, something Dele lost and has regained, something Ndombele hasn't had since he joined, something Harry Winks has stalled over.
Take our centre-backs.
Dier and Alderweireld were excellent for the first half of the season, but in the new year Dier got paired with Sánchez and his game started seeing errors creep in.
That, I am sure, was down to a lack of trust in his partner, who had been making mistakes all season and a need to try and cover for them while doing his own job.
The result was abuse from the very fans who then supposedly support him on a match day!
The fans, through their constant social media abuse, simply makes matters worse as some players do read social media and thus their mentality, their feelings about themselves, their image and how others feel about them, can be affected.
Fans think social media has no effect but we have seen in all walks of life that social media can and does affect people.
Mental health is a big issue today but you can't support it if you are then abusing a footballer on social media, you are simply paying lip service to it to be seen to be politically correct in today's woke entitlement culture.
That lack of commitment, even if it takes away a percentage or two, slows the thought processes down, it slows your reaction time down, it slows your anticipation down, all the little unseen things that actually make the difference at elite level sports.
A survey of coaches by the Janssen Sports Leadership Centre found that 80% of coaches believed that a lack of understanding of what commitment means is a strong or significant reason why many athletes lack commitment.
I refer you to a quote from Nikola Milenković, the centre-back we are negotiating a deal with, who was asked what advice he's give himself growing up.
That is the mentality every player should have, but they don't. Players do not lead normal lives, they are paid a fortune not to, they are paid to train, being selected to play is the bonus.
Do recall the pictures of Dele, alcohol in hand, partying with a gangster, with a mate of Troy Parrott.
Were either of them committed?
No, not 100%, not fully, only partially and the result, they couldn't produce their best and stunted their improvement, indeed in Dele's case his game was going backwards.
Danny Rose displayed his 'sense of entitlement' to us all in the Amazon documentary, our fans show the 'instant gratification' mindset of the youth today brought about by the Internet and social media.
The well meaning but myopic and cuddling approach that society seems to demand these days, is effectively anti earning success, almost as if success should be given, not earned.
A football player needs to be taught more than skill, they need to be taught what commitment is.
As a child you are committed because it is something you love, but get to adulthood and there is more to the world than just football so leaving how youngsters handle the added pressures is asking for trouble.
There has to be people around they trust, hero's they look up to who can advise, which is why experienced players have a role to play towards the end of their careers.
A player needs TOTAL commitment to the task, the training and the team.
The Task - what you are trying to achieve
The Training - How you are going to get there
The Team - You are not alone, you have to give your commitment to them as they give it to you, which combines to produce something greater
Athletes with commitment issues are the ones who struggle to make it through a season without throwing in the towel.
Ndombele is a prime example, Danny Rose another and I'm going to run off at a tangent here, Danny may well have benefited from his time training and playing for the U-23's.
He may have found the development of youngsters is something he will be committed to as he grows, he turned up to watch the U-23's so I suspect their could be a coach in him when his career is done.
Nobody would ever question the commitment of Érik Lamela, compare that to Ndombele and you have chalk and cheese.
Put Lamela's commitment together with Harry Kane's pursuit of perfection, his preparation, his fine tuning of his body and you have Ronaldo or Messi.
Kane incidentally, decides where he is going to put his next penalty and then practices it for days until the time arrives when he has to take it. He isn't making instant decisions or leaving anything to chance, he has prepared.
How many of England's penalty takers had done that?
That is commitment.
You can only achieve success if you STAY committed.
Are you as a fan showing your commitment on social media as well as on matchday?
There is little point being committed for 0.89% of the time and expect to achieve success.
At elite level every percentage matters, so continued support matters, not part-time support.
If you are committed to success then success will come, it's inevitable, it's just a question of when.
Those who give up, who throw in the towel, who call for change are the uncommitted who have not been taught the formula for success that the successful use.
We are where we are, we are in the competitions we are in.
Commitment is the desire to win them, how can we develop a winning mentality if when given the opportunity to win, we don't try to win, we say something is beneath us.
Winning has to start somewhere.
Winning should start here, with this competition.
This should be used as the start of that journey.
This competition is not beneath us, it is our opportunity to start the trophy winning process, to develop a trophy winning mentality.
It is the practice we need.
The response of the players will tell us a lot.
The response of the fan already tells us a lot about them.
Well that's it folks, a thought provoking piece today, a piece on Harry Kane later.
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