Something I don't understand

[Sexual Ealing]

They earn £50k per week for putting in the bare minimum.

When they occasionally try we sing their names and they get an extra £50K bonus.

When they actually try consistently and effectively they get whisked off to the 'big clubs' and we don't see them again until they're on the way down.

We're mugs.

[pauliewalnuts]

MON was very good at this, I know he had his faults but he always (well nearly) got 100% out of the players.

Yeah, apart from Luke Young, Nicky Shorey, Habib Beye, Steve Sidwell, Curtis Davies, Marlon Harewood, Shaun Maloney, and Nigel Reo-Coker.

Ok you can not give or improve a players quality if it is not there but most on that list under MON (esp Marlon, Young and Reo) they always gave it their best shot and the body language never looked as if they didnt give a toss.

Eh?

So now much was NRC giving after his training ground brawl and subsequent banishment?

And now much was Marlon giving after his "disappearing" post Tottenham away?

I'm not saying MON was a terrible motivator at all, but to claim he got 100 percent nearly all the time is blatantly not the case, given his rep for falling out with players, as well as the "buy them then notice they're shite" thing.

[Villan For Life]

The players have no massive affinity with the club. In the main they are mercenaries.

How many would stick around if the unthinkable happened? Not many. They'd be off to whoever was maintaining their bank balance.

Money is killing football and we risk being a victim.

[old man villa fan]

As I just posted on another thread, they forget who they play for.  They don't play for the manager or the chairman, they forget that they play for us the supporters.

In todays football they play for themselves, end of story.  The money and the glory, in that order.  if you think otherwise, I think you are being a little naive.

[Shrek]

A happy work force is a good work force.

[wozwebs]

They way we played today (especially first half hour) it was almost as if they were trying to lose so it put pressure on Houllier to get the boot. Either that or some of them had a few quid on City to win. Disgrace.

What was worse is that at no time during the game did you see Houllier or McAllister stood in the technical area, when Mancini spent 90% of his time there shouting orders, even at 4-0 up.

[Ian.]

All I'm trying to say is that our team under MON generally gave its all. I really believe the players out there at the moment just don't know how to win, there is no belief and probably as someone else mentioned no tactical know how.   

[Karlos96]

I don't think we have any winners in our side and that has been a problem for a while now.  We don't seem to have any players that have that fire and determination in them.  I also think we have got a number of players that have reached that age where they just don't care, they are happy to just pick up their wages.

[Smithy]

Motivation is a very fluid concept.  What motivated you last week might not motivate you today, what motivated you today might not motivate you next week - and so on.


As you achieve things both personally and professionally, the desire to improve has to come from somewhere.  It might be financial, an innate desire to be the best, or fear of failure.


I don't think it's a case of certain players not caring about performances and results, I just think they don't care 'as much' as they perhaps once did.  You can see the desire in the younger players, but maybe they lack the pure ability of those with more talent, and less desire.


I guess this is why certain managers earn the big bucks, because motivating a room full of multi-millionaires, with medals galore in their careers, must be nigh-on impossible.


For all the dour football we were treated to, one thing people always said about MoN was his uncanny ability to motivate players.  Perhaps we're seeing the effect of removing that motivating factor?

[dave.woodhall]

To go back to the original point, why do players who have spent their entire lives being self-motivated and single-minded to the point of obsession suddenly lose this desire? Is it all just about money?

[Villa'Zawg]

MON was very good at this, I know he had his faults but he always (well nearly) got 100% out of the players.

Yeah, apart from Luke Young, Nicky Shorey, Habib Beye, Steve Sidwell, Curtis Davies, Marlon Harewood, Shaun Maloney, and Nigel Reo-Coker.

Ok you can not give or improve a players quality if it is not there but most on that list under MON (esp Marlon, Young and Reo) they always gave it their best shot and the body language never looked as if they didnt give a toss.

Eh?

So now much was NRC giving after his training ground brawl and subsequent banishment?

And now much was Marlon giving after his "disappearing" post Tottenham away?

I'm not saying MON was a terrible motivator at all, but to claim he got 100 percent nearly all the time is blatantly not the case, given his rep for falling out with players, as well as the "buy them then notice they're shite" thing.

There's not a lot of point doing this again but which players would you have dropped in order to play those you've listed? By and large there were players on the pitch in their positions who were at least as good if not better. NRC is the most common example given of this but he really only lost his place when Downing was fit and Milner moved into the centre.

[steffo]

Nobby Stiles had a autobiography where when manager of Preston for three years he essentially implied footballers are not too intelegent!

The first season in charge, Preston were promoted, the second season nearly promoted again. The third season Mr Stiles decided that the team was mature enough and let them get on with it. The result was near relegation and the sack. He asked his captain at the end of the season what went wrong to be told 'he stopped giving them ear ache'.

Are we too nice? We need to win ugly to stay in the Prem and it means getting the basics right and a -14 goal difference is not acceptable.

[pauliewalnuts]

MON was very good at this, I know he had his faults but he always (well nearly) got 100% out of the players.

Yeah, apart from Luke Young, Nicky Shorey, Habib Beye, Steve Sidwell, Curtis Davies, Marlon Harewood, Shaun Maloney, and Nigel Reo-Coker.

Ok you can not give or improve a players quality if it is not there but most on that list under MON (esp Marlon, Young and Reo) they always gave it their best shot and the body language never looked as if they didnt give a toss.

Eh?

So now much was NRC giving after his training ground brawl and subsequent banishment?

And now much was Marlon giving after his "disappearing" post Tottenham away?

I'm not saying MON was a terrible motivator at all, but to claim he got 100 percent nearly all the time is blatantly not the case, given his rep for falling out with players, as well as the "buy them then notice they're shite" thing.

There's not a lot of point doing this again but which players would you have dropped in order to play those you've listed? By and large there were players on the pitch in their positions who were at least as good if not better. NRC is the most common example given of this but he really only lost his place when Downing was fit and Milner moved into the centre.

I'm talking about the suggestion he got 100 percent out of nearly all his players. I pointed out that he wasnt by any means a shit motivator, but also that to suggest he was nigh on perfect is patently ridiculous.

If you reckon he got 100 percent out of any of those, then please feel free to point out how he did it.

[Smithy]

To go back to the original point, why do players who have spent their entire lives being self-motivated and single-minded to the point of obsession suddenly lose this desire? Is it all just about money?

Without wishing to go all psychology student on you, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs talks about how motivating factors disappear once you achieve them.  The motivation to get a house disappears when you get a house, the motivation for financial security disappears when you sign a four year contract at the Villa etc.

I'm sure every players starts out wanting to be the best in the game, but I'm also confident that after a while they think, "Yeah, I'm happy being in the top hundred and being a millionaire", and the desire for personal achievement lessens as a result.

[The Situation]

I don't get it either. Most of the time our performances are actually good, but still lose as there is no self-belief in the team. What happened to the belief in our players who rallied from 2-0 down in the 2nd leg of the Carling Cup to come back and win in style? That's the sort of belief i'm talking about.

We're certainly nowhere near as bad as the West Ham's, Wolves, Fulham's, small heath's, Wigan's etc... we're just not getting the job done and apart from the obvious cock-ups from Collins and conceding silly goals there's something else we're not doing right.