Are we lacking mental strength?

[horsechoker]

Considering how many times we've dropped points when we've had an opportunity to get into the top 4?

It's perhaps one of the reasons we're not ready to challenge for a title besides the players we currently have.

We're a young team with a few experienced players sprinkled and often young players lack that strength.

 

[#07]

Yes. We have been Spursy since Sir Alex retired. We struggle to get the job done and very few of our players have experienced getting it done.

 

[shahzy]

Ofcourse. Mental strength and confidence is built up by winning over a prolonged period of time. Yes we have been doing well recently on the unbeaten streak but thats a dip in the pond over a much longer time period. Maybe do this for half a season or a full season and then we will see mental strength on the rise. Its always likely to happen when you have a very young side

 

[Shane88]

Think of how many times over the last few seasons where our rivals have slipped up offering us a chance only for us to cock it up.

There is zero killer instinct in this team. You'll see it again Thursday night. I fecking guarantee it.

 

[Fooza]

I just have Troy Deeney in my head when we have performances like that. Cojones.... we lack that when it matters most.

Edit: Only Lindelof showed a little of that cojones for me tonight.

 

[el3mel]

Today was due to tactical errors in the subs more than anything.

We finished the game with Scott-Fred-Matic midfield. What were we expecting ?

We just invited pressure on ourselves. We gambled and it backfired.

Hopefully we never do it again.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Certainly looks like it. You could see right away from kick off that the players looked absolutely nervous.

 

[Infra-red]

From yesterday:

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[GenZRed]

Is water wet?

 

[Edy2]

Yes very much so. We've slotted into the arsenal role very nicely.

 

[kidbob]

Tonight wouldn't point to anything considering we came back from a goal down. A sign of lacking mental strength would be dropping points to Palace (a team on a horrible run) in the next game. If we can go out an do our job in the next two games before Leicester then it will point to the fact that this result hasn't phased us.

 

[Macern]

Look at the best teams in the world and the type of mentality some of their players have. Real have Ramos for instance, someone who is brave as hell, spreads confidence and does everything to win. Liverpool have Van Dijk, PSG have Marquinhos, Juve have Chiellini etc. Having these types of players is so crucial when it comes to being mentally strong enough to deal with games where you’re struggling.

United seem to get so nervous and a lot of the players don’t seem to have the bravery to bring the ball down and try to keep possession. Lindelöf is someone I feel gets so stressed and it spreads throughout the team especially when we have so many young players. There’s also a real lack of vocal leaders. Our older players like De Gea and Matic don’t seem like very vocal leaders. Maguire too, they seem like very calm and composed people, but you need someone to tell them to be brave and dare to play instead of parking the bus at home against fecking Southampton for 30-40 minutes.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

I think it is in the players' heads. Every time we've looked to get the run on Chelsea we feck up, it's happened too many times to be a coincidence. Annoying as feck.

 

[Copa Mundial]

Not sure about lacking mental strength, but we're definitely lacking a leader. We needed someone like Keane or Robbo out there today.

 

[Bojan11]

From yesterday:

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@shaky remember when you were arguing I was wrong about this on Saturday.

 

[paulscholes18]

Yes, has happened too many times now for it to be a coincidence. Was it Burnley and Wolves last season (I know it was definitely Burnley), obviously you have the West Ham game under LVG 2-1 up and we fecked it up

 

[PlayerOne]

We do, we play poorly and form goes out the window whenever we have something to play for. That's why I was so nervous before this.

 

[MikeKing]

No, well a bit. I think we have a few players that despite being pretty good, really struggles to up their game when it matters. It's a lot of shaking of heads and remorse very quickly and lack of responsibility. Vanity. I don't think Fred and McTominay is to blame for this, they have not been the main culprits of being defensive in mindset.

 

[sammsky1]

I think it was bad team selection. We needed fresher legs in the midfield from the start.

 

[Morpheus 7]

We are okay at chasing points just not tough enough when it counts. Good sides win games up top, great teams win leagues from the back. That backline isn't there yet unfortunately. You can't look at the goals we have let in and say we were unlucky. It's poor concentration, if you think Sancho solves it then your deluded.

 

[Bastian]

Yes. We need one or two experienced winners in this dressing room.

 

[Drainy]

From yesterday:

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Wow. That is damning.

We did get unlucky today but that is a ridiculous stat.

 

[Skills]

A teams character and mental strength is a reflection of their manager. So the real question is - does Ole lack mental strength?

 

[Davie Moyes]

This seems to be a problem ever since Fergie retired e.g. the LVG season.

 

[edcunited1878]

United have grown immensely in the mental strength department this year, but did fall short today.

Today in isolation, they were unable to see out another game just like they did against Southampton in the reverse fixture, than just wilting mentally. Their mental resolve and response after going a goal down was tremendous and indicative of the resolve they've gained and earned throughout the season.

Their mental resolve will continue to be tested between now and the end of the season with a couple of injuries to Williams and Shaw and physical fatigue setting in. Players have to set up and perform and continue to compete if United are going to finish as high up the table as possible and at least reach one or two Cup finals.

 

[ivaldo]

No. It was comfortably our hardest game left this season. We've drawn four of our last 5 games against them. Anything thinking we should be rolling over them are bonkers. Having said that, they should have been down to 10 men, but after our leftback and his replacement went off we were the ones that were left short. We had the better chances. Are City, Chelsea, Leicester, Spurs and Wolves all lacking in mental strength too, or is it really, really hard to win every game? Just the 17 games unbeaten so far then.

It's a fecking draw.

 

[bosnian_red]

No... It's fine. Before we just weren't good enough to get any form of consistency. Now we just aren't good enough to go on a crazy long winning run. We won 5 in a row in all comps, and have gone unbeaten in 18 in all comps, winning 13 and drawing 5 of those. We've won 8 of the past 10 in all comps, or 7 wins and 3 draws in our last 10 league games. It's purely a case of not being at the level where you get that crazy consistency, that you're going to have these games where they score from a 97th minute corner after we went down to 10 men because of an injury minutes prior to that. This was the classic type of game that the title challenging/winning teams grind through, we aren't there yet. That isn't a surprise for anyone. Just move on and on to the next and it's imperative we pick up again. Nothing to do with the mental aspect IMO.

 

[arthurka]

Short answer.. Yes

 

[Adam-Utd]

Not sure about that.

We have to give Southampton credit and say they played well.

Mental strength was coming back from 1-0 behind to go 2-1 up fairly quickly, that showed bottle.

We simply got very unlucky tonight. Shaws injury, Williams going straight out then down to 10 men..

We looked very tired and we just couldn't hang on. Not sure that was a mental thing.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

A teams character and mental strength is a reflection of their manager. So the real question is - does Ole lack mental strength?

It’s not just Ole. We’ve had this same problem under LVG & Jose too

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

Every single time we've had a chance due to others fecking up and handing it to us, we've fecked it.

As easy as it is to draw similarities between tonight and the past because we failed to capitalise, it doesn't feel like it was the same as past failures to me. We came back from going a goal down, our attack was hardly at its' best so Ole thought of protecting the lead.

I've been a big critic of his subs and game management, but today weren't even half as bad as other games where people chose to look the other way and make excuses. Which I find weird.

Our best players look tired and the ref/VAR was shit, not to mention having been a man down before the goal through no fault of our own.

 

[Samid]

Yeah we are but for me the squad depth is a far bigger issue. If we assume mental toughness improves the team's performance by 10 % then you also have to factor in that for every sub we make we sacrifice at least 5 % quality. Mental strength will only take you so far if you don't have enough quality on the pitch.

Mental strength will come when there is actual competition for places in the squad. When the players on the bench know they should be starting the game and therefore when they're subbed on they enter the pitch with a point to prove.

 

[edcunited1878]

A teams character and mental strength is a reflection of their manager. So the real question is - does Ole lack mental strength?

Ah, that's bollocks. He's a treble winning player and knows the mental strength it takes as a manager and player. He's the Baby Faced Assassin for a reason.

You have to experience growing pains and understand how it feels and then conquer those pains before going to the next level. It's all earned. And now it's up to the players to show up or sit down. All to play for, it's still in their hands and they technically did pick up a point but lost points from a winning position deep into injury time down a man due to injury. That's some unfortunate luck, but part of the game.

So they have to bounce back and respond against CP who have shown to blow hot and cold throughout their matches so far during the restart.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Yes. We look good when the pressure is off or chasing the pack. We have continually failed to capitalise when those above us drop points. It goes beyond this season.

We could've pipped City to 4th place in Peps 1st season, but we put in a total stinker away to West Ham. It's just keeps happening.

Even though we were winning for most of the game tonight, the performance was nervy and disjointed. We hoofed or lost the ball in our own third whilst they played out from the back with relative ease.

 

[bondsname]

No doubt about it. When we gained points on Leicster and Chelsea, we played before them, no? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sure feels that way.

When we know we can close the gap we scew it up. I knew we would screw it up today, and I could smell a Southampton goal from miles away. Weak mentality and possibly complacency.

We win against "big" teams because that's when we raise our game. It's more of a small-team mentality.

To get the mentality right I think you have to have actual evidence that you are capable of winning. Sir Alex Ferguson's teams would have had games like this aswell, the differnce is it would have ended with a 2-1 win or even a 3-1 win.

 

[Revan]

A teams character and mental strength is a reflection of their manager. So the real question is - does Ole lack mental strength?

And the captain, and leaders, and the squad. We have neither of them. Our captain and leader is a total noob who never led anyone, but Ole on his infinite wisdom broke the world record transfer fee and gave the captaincy in an unprecedentedly short time. Our what is supposed to be best player, shits his pants every third game. We have 0 leaders (except Bruno who might be one), and most of our players panic under the smallest amount of pressure.

We are Spurs under Redknapp, or Arsenal on Wenger's waning years. A small team with a giant name on it.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Today was a combination of being tactically well dealt with and the players lacking the confidence and composure in settling the game down.

Needlessly hoofing the ball upfield is something I haven't seen recently but today,when the pressure was clearly on,we naturally resorted to it. Quite telling.

 

[lsd]

We have no real leaders on the pitch . Who in our current line up knows what it takes to win premierships and cope with pressure?

De Gea and Matic maybe .

The rest of the team dont have it and it shows.

 

[keithsingleton]

Bloody hell lads give them a break. I'm pretty sure you would of took what we have now ( Ie ) win last 3 games then we're in top 4. We've been on a great run.

Granted we should of won but still in the best postion when you look at who Leicester & Chavs left compared to us. Still in FA Cup, still in Europa Cup. When you consider how bad we were playing mid season you'd snap the postion were in now. Let's stop the moaning and enjoy what's been a great ride since lockdown.

 

[Relevated]

People questioned Klopp when he was celebrating daft results or wanted the cwc winners badge on his shirt, but he was instilling a winning mentality into his team. Mentality is very important, and we dont have the mentality of champions since our players arent really champions.