I am a bit drained on the topic of motivation. Perhaps I should not have raised it. It seems to have come down to how you interpret what "motivation" means. To those who see things differently from me to motivate a player is to charge him up to go out and play at or above his full ability. To me it means forming a bond with a player so that he can be directed to play the way you want him to and in so doing correct the faults in his game which are causing the team problems. To me it is not about running through brick walls. It is about running where there are no brick walls. It is a question of definition.
Motivation differs from player to player. Some need to be wound up, some need to be directed to play the way the manager wants him to play and the most difficult, giving a player confidence to play to the limit of his ability. It is the latter that PL has struggled with, particularly the last two games. It is not surprising though with so many young players.
To motivation you need to add coaching, to prevent ball watching, getting dragged out of position, central defenders being too far apart etc.
