Weekly Review 23rd – 29th April 2012 [taking players on, attacking space? No problem.]

Barcelona vs Chelsea was one of the greatest games I watched in my life as a Chelsea fanatic. Everytime I see Torres score that final goal, I get all teary eyed. I honestly thought the game was over when we were 2-0 down. Such a special moment beating the best team in the world 2 – 0 in the second half with 10 men and Bosingwa and Ivanovic as centre backs. Just amazing and a game I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

I played 75 min in a match against last years league grand finalists today. We won 2-0! Yay! $150 pay day. Unfortunately no goals or assists.

I need to take more players on, I need to attack more! I’ve been telling myself this over and over, and so do my coaches. But something just blocks me mentally from doing it. By writing and thinking this through, the biggest thing which stops you from acting on something is fear.. and that’s my problem. What exactly do I have to fear? That’s what I ask myself. Why do I fear attacking with the ball and just feel like hanging onto it no more than 2 seconds, and what will I do to erase this fear completely? I need to do this. This is the biggest issue in my game, and solving it is so crucial in order to reach my goals.

Taking players on is something I’ve always tried to avoid. Even at school with mates, I would always avoid doing it as usually I would just get tackled because I’d be lazy and not take it seriously. We’d play at school almost everyday.. so that’s how that “losing the ball over and over again in games (even though it was only with mates) experience transferred to me onto the proper pitch and lead to me having no confidence in that role. So that’when I think of taking players on, I think of losing it and the consequences of it – people groaning, feeling bad for myself, embarrassed and ashamed that a skinny little kid just took the ball off me . It makes sense. Nowadays, my main fear of taking players on is the fear of groaning from my teammates, coaches, crowd, and being taken off the field in the first half of the game. It’s completely mental. Completely mental. It’s all in my mind, because when it comes down to it I am smart, quick on the ball and off the ball and a good dribbler. So what’s bad about groaning? Really. Coaches, teammates, coaches and crowd groan lots of times in a game, it’s not like their going to remember forever. It will disappear from their mind once their minds are caught up in the next opportunity presenting itself. Being subbed off? Is it really that bad? It may blow your confidence temporarily, but at the end of the day you’re just trying to do something positive for yourself and for the team. Who cares? At the end of the day, you’re the true expert on how good you are… it’s not anyone else’s job to decide that.

My mind is already clearing away the infected part of the brain that is telling me not to attack space and players with the ball.

So the solution.

1. I have to tell myself in the mirror, 10x everyday that “I can beat players”, “I can dribble”, “I’m faster and more technically skilled than my opponent”.
2. I have to try it in practice as much as I can. When I’m in the position to do so.. just do it.

So the words above I’m going to make sure is an important milestone in the development of my game when I look back.

I’m always looking at the one on one situations in game analysis. Getting defenders onto their back foot, and beating them onto their weak side.