Those who believe that most games are played between the ears will concur with every word uttered by Manuel Pellegrini is a recent interview.
The manager assessed his biggest challenge of a so far inconsistent season and it seems that the problem may be in the head rather than at the feet.
During an interview with The Sun he made it clear that he had been forced to confront one big issue above all others – mindsets or mentality.
Speaking in very straightforward manner he declared: “For me the most important change is the mentality. It is the most important thing to change.
It cannot be a team that is fighting for relegation. It cannot be a club that does not have a mentality to keep improving.
For that you must do it mentally, as well as with facilities and contracts. There are a lot of things to improve to have a new step.”
Quite simply that nails it as far as West Ham United is concerned – a mindset had been developed under Sam Allardyce which had been all about survival and not getting beaten even if that meant the emphasis was laid heavily on defence.
Who can forget that awful expression “respect the point” which seemed to apply in all cases and was basically a cop out for not going for the win.
Through no fault of his own, David Moyes was forced to accept the same approach after taking over a team in chaos and after so long under that philosophy it takes some getting out of the players’ heads.
Some of us had expected an overnight revolution and when after four games under Pelle things looked worse than ever this season and the alarm bells were ringing everywhere.
But the manager made it clear nothing was going to change and memorably declared: “This is not an experiment.”
In came our biggest signing – Felipe Anderson – as Pellegrini signalled a new era and new approach which Sir Trevor Brooking declared would take him three years to achieve.
Slowly it is happening, the signs are encouraging but it often takes a long time to change what’s going on in people’s heads – even professional footballers.
The biggest issue required remains PATIENCE!
COYI