Mental fatigue

Exeter Blue I am here

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Take a wild guess.......
Simple (ish) question. Is the season starting to catch up with us mentally as much as physically? We’ve had a long run of injuries that has meant several key players (KDB, Ferna, Sané, Sterling, El General) playing in virtually every game, and that has exacted an inevitable toll physically, but there have been plenty of signs post-Christmas of mental tiredness creeping in as well. A profligacy in front of goal that is now bordering on farcical, calamitous individual errors at the back (Stones vs Burnley, Mangala vs Bristol City (h), Otamendi, Ferna and Stones vs the dippers, Walker last night), an increasing number of heavy touches and poor passes from Raheem and Leroy. Last night I thought Dave looked jaded too - understandably given what he’s been through - and collectively I think leading the pack by so much for so long, brings its own kind of pressure. We’re starting to look like Andy Murray serving for his first Wimbledon title that time when his serve deserted him completely in that final game and he just about staggered over the line.

Away from home in particular it’s been like Groundhog Day: Newcastle (a) 1-0 win when after missing a sackful of chances we ended up hanging on against a team with no ambition whatsoever, Palace (a) 0-0 draw when after missing a sackful of chances we ended up needing Eders to save a 90th minute penalty just to get a point, Liverpool (a) where in just 46 seconds of action (ie. ball in play) we gifted up 2 goals and let the dippers hit the post, Bristol City (a) when after missing a sackful of chances we ended up giving away 2 nothing goals and needed to score with the last kick of the match to win, Burnley (a) when after missing a sackful of chances we ended up letting them hit a post and then equalise, and then last night when after missing a sackful of chances we ended up conceding a soft as fuck winner from virtually the opposition’s only attack. What’s more is that, bar Liverpool, the other 5 teams we’ve faced on that run have all been fucking shite. We’re far enough ahead in the league surely not to fuck it up, but I’m far from convinced we’ll win anything else unless we can rediscover our erstwhile ruthlessness and mental sharpness. Maybe the returning Jesus will help, eh?
 
Some directly translates into us doing stuff we would not have done early in the season. At the beginning of the season we would simply not shoot unless we had a clear site of goal, no matter what minute it was. We seem to fall foul of not being totally on it now when striking around the box.

A good example was near the end when Fernandinho leathered it when it was pretty apparent the 2 defenders sliding in were going to block it just outside the 18yrd box. If he just checked that lazy shot they would have flew past him leaving a good chance then. I am adamant at the begining of the season he would have shown the composure to do just that. That for me was typical of our recent lack of killer instinct when around areas and situations we used to exploit better.
 
You look at virtually every game pre-Christmas and compare it to Newcastle away, Palace a, Watford h, Bristol h, Liverpool a, last half hour at Bristol, Burnley h and last night. Our level of performance has certainly dropped, the goals aren’t going in like they were and we are making mistakes leading to goals for the opposition.

I would say it’s a mixture of pressure building, fatigue in fitness and mentality, players not working as hard as previously, not concentrating as well, being relied upon too much due to others injuries and sometimes a lack of numbers in certain areas.
 
They just lost a game. They've only lost two live games all season. It happens, and this year very rarely.

No need for inquests.
 
We lost because of a fuck up by walker, bar that wigan were shite and played like a brick wall, previous we lost to the scouser from again our fuck ups.

3 defeats in all comps this season and just come off the back of a 5-1 and 4-0 thrashing of leicester and basel.

We are fine (lose on sunday though and I may worry)
 
Hopefully a LC win on Sunday will give us the confidence to go and end the season in a swashbuckling way. It's what we deserve the way we've played all season
 
We lost because of a fuck up by walker, bar that wigan were shite and played like a brick wall, previous we lost to the scouser from again our fuck ups.

3 defeats in all comps this season and just come off the back of a 5-1 and 4-0 thrashing of leicester and basel.

We are fine (lose on sunday though and I may worry)
Good post mate
 
They just lost a game. They've only lost two live games all season. It happens, and this year very rarely.

No need for inquests.

It would be stupid to dismiss the pattern emerging that if a team survives the first 20 minutes, we find it very hard to break them down. Wigan, Burnley, Cardiff, Bristol (twice).

Someone above has pointed out we lost because of our own fuck ups - yeah, simple errors being made more frequently....how is that not a sign of mental or physical fatigue?!!
 
We lost because of a fuck up by walker, bar that wigan were shite and played like a brick wall, previous we lost to the scouser from again our fuck ups.

3 defeats in all comps this season and just come off the back of a 5-1 and 4-0 thrashing of leicester and basel.

We are fine (lose on sunday though and I may worry)


I agree we've lost some games because of our own fuck ups...but that's about as obvious a sign of mental fatigue as there is.

We're making more stupid fuck ups. Burnley, Newcastle, Wigan, Liverpool x3, Vardy's goal, letting Bristol back into it in the League Cup.

Sounds just like mental fatigue.

That's backed up if anything by the fact we absolutely twatted Basel and Leicester immediately after the squad all went on holiday and had what Pep called a much needed break from each other
 

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