Lost the dressing room - no such thing

Not seen today, but over the last week or so people saying Johnson has lost the dressing room. I think it is one of those daft cliches the media have created without any intelligence or logic whatsoever. If you think about what it means to say it then it doesnt stack up.

It would mean 20 odd players all deciding together to sack it off. It would mean all 20 odd players on the same page. It would mean those out of the team being prepared to not bust a gut to get into the team. It would mean players being prepared to play crap and miss out on international call ups. Etc etc.

A couple of years ago I was talking to a coach with 20 years pro experience. He said it doesnt happen. Imagine a whole dressing room of 20 odd players and coaches etc losing faith. It would require some pretty unintelligent players. What does happen is some players who dont like something telling their agents to brief the media, and the medial sell stories.

A dressing room is a competitive place. Arguments and scraps happen. When I played it happened and was gone an hour later. When I coach it happens and it is gone a day later. Imagine a bunch of players who had a dust up with a manger then deciding to chuck it in. Imagine a manager playing players who look like they are chucking it in. It does not happen. Players, once the whistle goes, are selfish and want to do what they do. Imagine Dan Neil saying I will not play to my best - maybe he is even more talented than I think and hits the crossbar on purpose to make it look like he is playing. Players play for themselves as much as any manager, maybe more so. I always did.

If it were a real thing then players would be those responsible for crap form. It also means we keep signing players with terrible attitides. I just dont believe it, it is a cliche.

None of this means Johnson is the man. But if we are saying he goes because he has lost the dressing room we as fans have lost the plot. I would never want players who down tools or sulk. Football is a team game and you need teammates you can rely on. If Johnson goes, fine, but lets do it because he is not the right man, rather than because some players are twisting, or cant get over a ruck.

 

Hes unable to inspire them to a response or come up with a solution as to why we've suddenly turned to ****. Its as bad as losing the dressing room.

 

That is a more plausible reason. My point is losing the dressing room isnt a real scenario, other than in the words of media which lack any kind of intelligenvce. If he cant work out why we have started playing crap then he should go. As to needing to inspire them, if you cant inspire yourself then you dont deserve to be a footballer at any level.

 

So the entire SAFC dressing room fully supported sgt wilko and Moyes?

 

Did DiCanio lose the dressing room?

 

I think we were riding the crest and Portsmouth caused the wave to come crashing down. At this point we needed a skipper to bolster what is a relatively young team.... we don't have one and we really need someone in the mold of Kevin Ball to perform that task. Also to ensure the coaches instructions are carried out on the pitch, I don't think we have one for that either. We have the same players that we had before, we are not a bad team, we just need a leader that ideally plays every game and carries the kind of authority that Kevin did..... just basic stuff really.

 

There is no such thing as losing the dressing room. It is a media cliche.

 

One thing I've learnt recently is that things go on behind the scenes at clubs that are all logical, make sense, and are for good reasons. Sometime problems occur and they are being worked on but they are not a quick fix. But because these things are happening in private, the fans don't have the full facts and make huge assumptions.

 

I can believe that losing the dressing room banter is media made up stories. But losing the place as a manager of a team is definitely what is occurring. We let the opposition shoot and the opposition scores, that is bad bad bad defending. We have many more shots on target yet score 1 goal against 12. Thats bad bad bad offense. Together that's bad bad bad management and coaching.

 

What about bad bad bad players?

 

So you are saying no?

 

Football is a funny game. It's like any sport in a sense of a lot of it is played in the mind. I dont mean players are consistently playing a game of mental chess but players inevitably get affected by situations.

We have a young squad who have lost a few games. They have been physically bullied by Rotherham and Sheff Wed and will probably never have experienced the feelings they have after those two games. They will naturally be on edge which will affect there performance. They might think twice about engaging in physical battles knowing that recently they've come up second best.

They will be wishing the ball not to come near their man from a cross or a set play so much so that when it does they are a split second slow in reacting.

They might position themselves incorrectly in order to not recieve a pass and not be able to potentially **** up.

These are all things that happen on a football pitch and while players will not deliberately give less than 100% if enough of these type of things are going on in enough players minds you're struggling.

This can all change positively as quickly as it can change negatively. It may just need an early goal or a screamer from a team mate to get positive vibes going through the players again.

The most important thing we can get in a young squad is team spirit we need them all fighting for each other as clearly they all have the talent. This is arguably any managers biggest challenge especially as modern day footballers are often strange creatures.

Basically what I'm saying is it ain't all the managers fault. Peaks and troughs are part of an team especially a young team we just need to stick with them and hope they can learn the dark side of the game as quick as possible so we are able to physically comlete with teams at this level.

 

Absolutely!

 

Another good post

 

I've worked in departments where none of the staff had any belief in their leadership. They a media cliche too?

 

I can tell you know you're completely in an utopian way of thinking and your friend isn't involved right now.

We have went from riding high with wins and social media presence Sky high to 1 goal in 5 games, god knows how many againtst and so many for. Most players have now being silent on socials.

The last month has been terrible. It does link to a bust up. I guarantee that. Look that the change in effort, intensity and data. It's screaming at you. Opinions and opinions, I prefer to look at data. The latter shows there has been a significant swing and downturn in short dashes, duels won, sprints made, HISP and XG.

 

Whatever you want to call it, you don't need ALL of the players to 100% turn against the manager for things to fall apart. There could be a handful of players who have lost confidence in the manager. This leads to a lowering of the average confidence of the squad as a whole. Some players will still try to do their best and will try to inspire others but it is not enough. We need everyone pulling together and the manager/ head coach is responsible for getting this done.

 

None of this means he has lost the dressing room though. Arguments happen all the time in dressing rooms. Players tearing strips off each other, coaches digging out players, players questioning the coaches. To a large extent, its healthy. Gets everything out in the open.

 

Well since it happened we have scored 1 goal in 5 and went on a massive losing streak, getting smashed of teams and dumped out of the cup.

I would argue the results and performances are clear evidence that it's a lost dressing room.

 

I would argue that we've hit a bad patch in form and the team and coaching staff need to pull together to sort it out. Spreading rumours of some major falling out doesn't help anyone.