I think the jury is still out on whether or not this current, very young, squad has the temperament to really deal with high pressure individual matches. We've come up short in the two semi finals we've been in this season. Whenever we've been presented with opportunities to blow past opponents in the league, we've looked mentally fragile. And generally as the tension has mounted leading to the final day, the team's form has progressively dipped (maybe this is due to tiredness but maybe also a young squad not dealing with pressure).
Going into the final match against Leicester City on Sunday, I wonder what people's impressions are about (a) our young squad's ability to deliver when the heat is on and (b) How Ole is helping/not helping the situation with the way he approaches interviews and other aspects of management.
When I think back to the SAF days, when we were going into a big match, he would usually show up at the press conference in a relaxed mood with a smile on his face, and the key message generally seemed to be "go out, express yourself, and have fun." I always suspected this helped relax and focus the players by relieving some of the fear of failure. I'm getting a weird vibe from Ole where it's more like "The pressure is on. This is a cup final, and you've already lost 2. Don't screw this one up." I can't imagine this is going to help relax the players and get them in the right mindset for match day. The only positive I can see is that he has taken away the tiredness excuse by saying right away that the extra day will mean we are fresh (I generally think if you give people an excuse to underperform they will use it).
Anyway, I'm certainly overanalyzing all this (what else is there to do to bide the time until Sunday!), but still curious to hear others' thoughts...
Going into the final match against Leicester City on Sunday, I wonder what people's impressions are about (a) our young squad's ability to deliver when the heat is on and (b) How Ole is helping/not helping the situation with the way he approaches interviews and other aspects of management.
When I think back to the SAF days, when we were going into a big match, he would usually show up at the press conference in a relaxed mood with a smile on his face, and the key message generally seemed to be "go out, express yourself, and have fun." I always suspected this helped relax and focus the players by relieving some of the fear of failure. I'm getting a weird vibe from Ole where it's more like "The pressure is on. This is a cup final, and you've already lost 2. Don't screw this one up." I can't imagine this is going to help relax the players and get them in the right mindset for match day. The only positive I can see is that he has taken away the tiredness excuse by saying right away that the extra day will mean we are fresh (I generally think if you give people an excuse to underperform they will use it).
Anyway, I'm certainly overanalyzing all this (what else is there to do to bide the time until Sunday!), but still curious to hear others' thoughts...