Lamps told me: When you walk onto the pitch believe you’re the best player... even if you’re not

Premier League: 3pm BY DAVID ANDERSON JACK HARRISON was aware of the criticism from Leeds fans when he wrestled with his first major dip in form at Elland Road.

“He’s not trying,” they sniped as Harrison failed to score in Leeds’ first 15 Premier League games after registering eight goals and eight assists last season.

A self-confessed introvert, the 25-year-old brooded and brooded until he remembered the advice Frank Lampard gave him when they were at New York City FC six years ago.

“Frank has a brilliant mentality when it comes to this type of thing,” said Harrison. “He told me that when you walk on the pitch, you have to believe you’re the best player on the pitch, even if you’re not.

“I think that’s one of the reasons he was so successful. He gave me that advice when I was going through a tough time at New York.”

Harrison followed his goal against Burnley on January 2 with his first senior hat-trick against West Ham last Sunday.

Leeds fans are still buzzing about Harrison’s brilliant performance – but there were some dark times during the first half of the season.

“I was so frustrated at the start of the season, going 15 games without scoring a goal,” he said ahead of today’s clash with struggling Newcastle at Elland Road. “As an attacking player I want to be involved as much as possible in our attacking play.

“I’m quite an introvert and I keep a lot of things to myself. I get quite frustrated with myself and I probably should talk about it more.

“I always try to have the right attitude and work hard every day in training. But there have been a lot of fans who have been frustrated with me this season, and I don’t blame them.

“As fans, you want to see the players doing well and when they’re not it’s like ‘is he not trying?’ But I can tell you, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

“It’s not like you want to play badly, it just happens.

“It’s just how it goes sometimes as a football player, you go through ups and downs.

“Thankfully it’s turned around and I just hope I can continue.”

Harrison also remembered the words of another

New York teammate, David Villa, and said the former Spain striker and Lampard

(below) are still in touch. He said:

“Even now I get messages from David and Frank and I can reach out to them for advice. In New York I was young and I wanted to learn as much as I could from these guys.

“David said that as a striker you’re always going to go

through periods when you’re not scoring and you don’t know why. He told me just to focus on the next game.”

Harrison put Leeds ahead against West Ham in London last week and added a closerange second before a beautifully taken third (left) gave the Yorkshireman three priceless Premier League points.

Harrison revealed that he thinks seriously about the mental side of football and turned to a sports psychologist to help him rediscover his form.

“I got caught up in too many negatives rather than thinking about the positives,” he told the Official Leeds United Podcast.

“I’ve been talking with someone recently to open my mind up a little more, to focus on the positives and the reasons I was doing so well last season.

“What was I actually doing to achieve that? Then it’s about trying to replicate these things during the week in training and trying to get in the right mindset.

“It’s crazy what you can do with the mind when you start thinking more positively instead of focusing on what I should have done or shouldn’t have done.

“Being more positive has a massive impact.”