Suzy Batkovic PERSEVERING EVEN IF CHIPS ARE DOWN Positive mindset crucial
MAURICIO Pochettino insists he isn’t concerned about Tottenham missing out on a top four finish in the Premier League despite their damaging 1- 1 draw against West Ham.
Pochettino’s side had to settle for a point in Thursday’s London derby at Wembley after missing a host of chances as they failed to turn their domination into goals. Tottenham needed a superb long- range strike from South Korea’s Son Heung- Min with just six minutes remaining to avoid defeat after Pedro Obiang’s stunning 30- yard blast had given West Ham a shock second half lead.
The north Londoners are now three points behind fourth placed Liverpool in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a top four finish. ACCOUNTABILITY.
It’s the main trait we’re preaching before tonight’s second semi- final in Sydney as we look to back up the 40 minutes of intensity which has secured us a 1- 0 lead in the series.
I hear people talk about our 42- point loss to the Flames in the first match of last year’s corresponding series and whether it’s motivation. I don’t want to be in that same predicament.
It’s a different year and a different team and I’m big on staying in the present. Hopefully for us that were here last season, we learnt from it and we won’t put ourselves in that same position again.
When we dictate and start the game really well like we did on Thursday night, we’re amazing. But when we don’t have a good start, we’re average.
I think it’s on us to be accountable and make sure we bring what we bring to the team. I know every single girl in our team wants the championship, but we need to bring it every game, even when things aren’t going our way or it’s a tight night at the office.
If you’re not having a good shooting game, bring the defensive intensity which we should all be bringing anyway.
Do the one per centers like loose balls and really agitating the other team into making mistakes.
With the quality of the teams in the top four, if you’re not ready to go on the defensive end they’re going to put 20 or 30 points on you pretty quickly.
The last game we played in Sydney we had a lot of turnovers, and they threw that back down our throats on fast breaks.
Take out those turnovers and it’s already brought the margin back down; these are things we can control and fix.
The condensed WNBL season this year has been difficult. You play a lot and it becomes pretty exhausting, but you don’t have a choice so you try and bring that quality as much as you can.
But the players who have been able to come back because of the shortened season has been great to see.
Every team in the top five or six have quality players.
The depth of our roster this season means some players who have been used to big minutes have had to take different roles, and Micaela Cocks has been a standout.
She is probably the biggest blue collar work ethic player I’ve come across.
It doesn’t matter how much court time you give her, she’s ultra positive and puts her teammates before herself.
It’s really important to have that selflessness in this team.
Because we run so deep, someone like Cocksy was a starter for us and playing huge minutes, now her role is completely different.
You would think maybe she would struggle with that, but she has been tremendous. She just comes out and works hard and nothing’s an issue.