So what went wrong with Barry Bannan?

[timeoutbigbar]

The attitude.  I really wanted to like him, he seemed to have so much natural ability.  I think he got it into his head he deserved to be playing week in-week out and perhaps got ideas above his station (not difficult bless him).  Wish him all the best when he does go, I think in a couple of years when he's matured a bit more he'll make a decent player for someone.

[Jimbo]

I guess we'll never know why Beery Bannan never made it at Villa, but I wish him all the best for the future.

[Mister E]

Do anyone know if we employ or have access to a psychologist?

I recall how Wiggins and the other cyclist used to praise their psychologist as he helped them over come their (regular) mental doubts. Whilst the sports are different it would appear to be a good investment if it improves our youngsters. They're good footballers but if we could get 10% more out of them mentally/intelligence then it would pay for itself many times over.

Dr Steve Peters worked for the British Cycling team and currently works - inter alia - with LFC.
He is a very effective 'mind doctor' (althogh I suspect Downing may be Mission Impossible for him).

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

Bannan simply isn't as good as he thinks he is. This with his off field antics and 'Billy big bollocks' attitude he was never going to fit in at Villa under Lambert, especially if he isn't doing it on the pitch

[paul_e]

I've said it before Bannan was great when he thought everyone loved him.  As soon as he had one boo his game failed him.  For all the comments about attitude, etc. I think the most likely thing is that he'd heard people call him too small for so long that he started to believe it.  Then when he got booed, etc that played on his mind.

Someone said he went missing after mistakes, I don't think that's quite right, what generally happened after a mistake was he tried to do something spectacular.  A few times it worked, he got clapped and went on to have a great game.  Other times it didn't work and that's when he drifted out of the game.

I'm convinced that if someone can get him to know he's good enough without needing the crowd/team to back it up he'll make it, if not he'll muddle along at championship/SPL level and have a decent career without ever being the player he could've become.

[supertom]

The best thing for him is to drop down and work his way up again like Pete Whittingham. Whitts in truth I think is a better player and his return to the Prem is long overdue. If Barry can get close to doing as well as Pete, he'll have done well.

[ChrissyPrice]

During the last test I listened to someone on TMS during an interval, it might have been CMJ, talk about Joe Root. Apparently Joe Root is particularly good at going into the nets and working on his weaknesses before being told by the coaches that he ought to go work on these weaknesses. I can't imagine Barry Bannan doing the football equivalent of that.

Good point. But sadly it wasn't CMJ,who died this year. Also didn't Bannan slag off Brum on Facebook or something the moment he arrived? I took against him then.

[Dante Lavelli]

This isn't specifically related to Bannan but it is a good study (also quite long) on what is going wrong with youth football in the premier league. 

http://whitehouseaddress.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-failure-of-youth-development-in.html

[rob_bridge]

During the last test I listened to someone on TMS during an interval, it might have been CMJ, talk about Joe Root. Apparently Joe Root is particularly good at going into the nets and working on his weaknesses before being told by the coaches that he ought to go work on these weaknesses. I can't imagine Barry Bannan doing the football equivalent of that.

Good point. But sadly it wasn't CMJ,who died this year. Also didn't Bannan slag off Brum on Facebook or something the moment he arrived? I took against him then.

No different to Murray in tennis. He'd play all day on court so technically his tennis was very good but would do little work in the gym so therefore his strength/stamina was shite compared to his peers. He has worked on that massively over the last 4-5 years which is why he now among the elite.

[Yossarian]

During the last test I listened to someone on TMS during an interval, it might have been CMJ, talk about Joe Root. Apparently Joe Root is particularly good at going into the nets and working on his weaknesses before being told by the coaches that he ought to go work on these weaknesses. I can't imagine Barry Bannan doing the football equivalent of that.

Good point. But sadly it wasn't CMJ,who died this year. Also didn't Bannan slag off Brum on Facebook or something the moment he arrived? I took against him then.

Yes quite right about CMJ. Oops. Might have been Jonathan Agnew.

Bannan posted something on TwitFace about Brummie girls being rough or something in his early days.

[Dante Lavelli]

During the last test I listened to someone on TMS during an interval, it might have been CMJ, talk about Joe Root. Apparently Joe Root is particularly good at going into the nets and working on his weaknesses before being told by the coaches that he ought to go work on these weaknesses. I can't imagine Barry Bannan doing the football equivalent of that.

Good point. But sadly it wasn't CMJ,who died this year. Also didn't Bannan slag off Brum on Facebook or something the moment he arrived? I took against him then.

No different to Murray in tennis. He'd play all day on court so technically his tennis was very good but would do little work in the gym so therefore his strength/stamina was shite compared to his peers. He has worked on that massively over the last 4-5 years which is why he now among the elite.

There was something similar with Mo Farah (although maybe not instigated by him).  Before joining Nike he could run all day long but he rarely won the top races.  Nike got him working in the gym, working on his core and doing things other than running.  Hey presto, work class athlete.

As there are so many obvious case studies it amazes me football and footballers seem so slow to embrace such voodoo techniques.

[Dante Lavelli]

Yes quite right about CMJ. Oops. Might have been Jonathan Agnew.

I think it was Vaughan.  He's been a bit of  a mentor for quite a while apparently and I remember him saying something very similar on TMS whilst I was listening.

[Boz]

During the last test I listened to someone on TMS during an interval, it might have been CMJ, talk about Joe Root. Apparently Joe Root is particularly good at going into the nets and working on his weaknesses before being told by the coaches that he ought to go work on these weaknesses. I can't imagine Barry Bannan doing the football equivalent of that.

Good point. But sadly it wasn't CMJ,who died this year. Also didn't Bannan slag off Brum on Facebook or something the moment he arrived? I took against him then.

No different to Murray in tennis. He'd play all day on court so technically his tennis was very good but would do little work in the gym so therefore his strength/stamina was shite compared to his peers. He has worked on that massively over the last 4-5 years which is why he now among the elite.

There was something similar with Mo Farah (although maybe not instigated by him).  Before joining Nike he could run all day long but he rarely won the top races.  Nike got him working in the gym, working on his core and doing things other than running.  Hey presto, work class athlete.

As there are so many obvious case studies it amazes me football and footballers seem so slow to embrace such voodoo techniques.

Not Nike, it was Alberto Salazar as his coach and the reason he moved to the USA.

With Murray, it was also a coach's impact, Ivan Lendl who IMO, has improved Murray's mental toughness.

[Dante Lavelli]

Not Nike, it was Alberto Salazar as his coach and the reason he moved to the USA.

Same horse, different jockey:

"Currently employed by Nike, Salazar has stayed connected with the sport as coach of the Nike Oregon Project. Aimed at producing Olympic-caliber athletes, project members who have trained under Salazar's tutelage include Alan Webb, Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, Adam Goucher, Kara Goucher, Dan Browne, Amy Yoder Begley, and Dathan Ritzenhein.[4]

[PaulTheVillan]

Hollywood pass.