Football (Soccer)
The Underdog - And Coming From Behind To Win
Why is it that it often seems easier to win from the position of underdog?
Why is it better to be at the back of the pack as the bell goes for the last lap?
What is it about our psyche and mindset that makes it easier for us to do well, and harder for the opposition to handle, when we're written off by all and sundry? I used to think it was a club or nation specific thing but I'm convinced now that's not true. The bigger nations or the bigger stars just find less competition to meet on their own level - and finding a chance to be the underdog gets more and more remote.
In a team sport does it matter if you don't achieve congruency in the mindset of the players. What happens if a manager tries to install the underdog mindset when the star striker internally holds the opposite view?
I've been in enough football dressing rooms with enough teams to know that the managerial black arts seem to be a mix of planning, force of personality, luck and then ..... a bit more luck on the side.
But can it be more scientific that that?
Does it need to be?
Doctor Gordon Cameron
Sports and Orthopaedic Physician
Special interests: frozen shoulder, treatment of high blood pressure symptoms
Tags:
coming from the back of the pack,
encourage the underdog mentality,
managerial mindset,
psychology of football teams,
underdog always wins,
underdog mindset,
underdog role
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Comments
Scotland are a prime example of how a team can compete against superior opposition, but struggle at their own level. Winning when you are expected to requires mental toughness. It's relatively easy to put up a great fight against France or Italy (and if you do you might just get a result) when no-one expects anything, compared to being expected to go to Georgia and win.
England however, under most of their recent managers, have struggled, in my view, with expectations and produce stilted, uninspired performances against "lesser" teams.
Leadership is about creating the right systems and (from a psychological point of view), climate. It takes skill to adapt your behaviour to create the right climate for the sight situation. The managers that depend on personality and luck alone will find that they get it right some of the time, and horribly wrong some of the time!
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Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com