LOSS OF ROUTINE LEADS TO ERRORS

EVERYTHING has changed in football as in society. Managers and coaches spend weeks, months and years trying to condition their players and their teams — both tactically and psychologically. Then there’s a major upheaval and the changes have a different degree of impact on every individual inside a club. The places of familiarity are different, like the training ground and the stadiums. There are red zones and amber zones, one-way routes and partitions in the dressing rooms. Testing, quarantine, self-isolation. The most firmly set pre-match routines are different. Kick-off times are all over the place. No crowds, the stadiums are empty. Most players are comfortable with routine and react differently when moved outside their comfort zone. We ran a study when I was at the FA to examine the differences between playing at home and away, and one area concerned physical and emotional stimuli, how individuals cope with large and small differences in the subconscious routines they’ve developed. Sudden change, large or small, can be very unsettling especially as the game draws near. It’s bound to make a difference. It might affect focus or concentration. It might lead to more mistakes. Even the very best players might find it hard. Experience or intelligence might hinder more than help. If you have spent your life in the RAF, how do you cope when the advance of technology delivers a plane without pilots? The key difference is they will have time and training to learn. In football, time is always short and this schedule is like no other. Without pre-season, managers have lost the preparation time — the part of the year normally devoted to solving specific problems or developing ideas or conditioning new players to the way they operate. Everyone is learning on their feet.