One of Gareth Southgate’s greatest achievements has been making the England camp a happy place to be, a welcome break from the club scene and a relaxed, open environment to break up an emotionally exhausting domestic calendar. It is equally remarkable how often players are blamed for not working hard enough when their team is in poor form.įrom this perspective, there is plenty for Tottenham and Manchester United fans to be happy about when it comes to the performances of Kane and Maguire, respectively - no matter the quality of the opposition. It is remarkable how easily we write off players whose technical ability has dropped off a cliff, more readily believing they are in decline than simply in need of a confidence boost. That can only be compounded by the harsh environment of football, where performance is pored over and criticism brutal.Ĭonsequently a player’s technique and basic skills can tumble to an extraordinary low level, and though mistakes and hesitancy are the result of brain fog and a lack of self-assurance, they are easy to conflate with a poor work ethic. In these situations, everything feels bad and, more often than not, inescapable. Often stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem feel almost like external forces, such is the extent to which our hormonal and emotional balance colours the world around us. There is no room for consideration that footballers might have issues in their personal lives, or that a fresh perspective by going away on international duty could actually have a huge impact on how they feel when back at their clubs.Ĭonsider the all-encompassing effects of low mood.
Players are considered to be robots, by and large, while the way we talk about form - from purple patches to dry spells – only ever seems to reference goals and results in a team context. The intersection of psychology with tactics and technical ability remains bizarrely under-appreciated.
But just because the opposition is inferior and the tactical landscape incomparable, that does not mean the players will not be refreshed psychologically by their time away from the intense spotlight of the Premier League. We have learnt nothing about Harry Kane from his seven goals in four days. We have learnt nothing about Maguire’s defensive resolve from consecutive clean sheets against Albania and San Marino. The furore over Harry Maguire’s finger-in-ears celebration against Albania points both to the lack of anything more interesting to talk about and to the mainstream acceptance that qualifiers like these are entirely separate from the club game.
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