Before the game against Hull City, Edward laid out the tactics for the players as usual, and his players had a habit of being particularly quiet in the dressing room during important games, and everyone would close their eyes and do some meditation. Chen Xi earned a Ph.D. in neurology in England and has been studying medical psychology for the last six months, a U.S. Navy SEAL mental training method she taught Ward, known as the Embodied Meditation Method, which focuses on building confidence and managing emotions.

As a simple example, Hydward asked the players to take a moment to write down their seven peak moments, whether they were from life, athletic career, or on the pitch. Write down these seven highlights, then take a deep breath and replay them in your head. "If your players do that, she's willing to bet they'll be more confident in their own strength and more convinced that they have great potential," Chen said. For example, when you feel anxious or nervous, focus on your breath and imagine that you are very calm and confident at the moment, and when you feel tired, imagine yourself full of strength and courage to cheer yourself up.

Hydward didn't actually think that this set of things had any effect, it was very mysterious, and later Chen Xi found Wilson's academic paper and related experimental reports from Wilson, a doctor of behavioral science from Texas State University, and he reluctantly agreed to give it a try. This experiment is about three groups of NBA players experimenting with free throws, the first group practicing free throws every day for a week; The second group visualized the scene of practicing free throws through meditation; The third group does nothing. A week later, the first group of players was up 34 percent from the free throw line, but the second group was up 24 percent without any training with the ball, and the third group was the same.

In fact, it is sometimes distressing to have a wife who is engaged in scientific research, this woman always wants to do some abnormal mental experiments on his players, to prepare for her academic papers a year later, and there is a head coach husband by her side who naturally makes good use of it.

The good thing is that the players didn't overreact and tried it as a new thing, and they still trust the manager.

………………

It's scary to get used to it, and everyone seems to enjoy the quiet atmosphere for more than ten minutes before the game, as if the heartbeat and blood flow can be heard. Hydward was also meditating, his mind was full of the opponent of the game, the opponent's coach, the opponent's players, the opponent's pre-match speech, the opponent's reporter interview, and countless pieces of information flowing through his mind like a sieve.

Slowly he stood in the middle of everyone and the eyes of the players were focused on him, with Icardi full of confidence, N'Golo Kante full of gratitude, Mahles and Mane full of excitement. But in the same way, he noticed some different kinds of gaze, Lawrence; Norris; Dave; There was a different kind of sadness in the eyes of Daniel's old courtiers.

It was at this moment that he suddenly felt that he was wrong, and he remembered what Mourinho had said about the prestige of the coach, and the magic bird said: "Any elite coach often makes two mistakes, and so do I, one is to give up on the players, and the other is to withdraw when the difficulties come, and then reappear when the times are good. In the past, Hydward didn't understand it, and it wasn't until that moment that he had an epiphany.

First of all, a high-level coach needs to put in a lot of time, energy and sacrifice, and often without any pay. When an individual player on a team performs poorly, it's easy for coaches to question whether their reward is worth their unconditional effort, and some coaches have family or other responsibilities that make it easier for them to question this.

Poor results can be a blow to a coach's confidence, causing him to become pessimistic about his future expectations, and his thoughts and words and actions can change dramatically, but often others around the coach can see the impact of these changes.

There are many examples of players giving up, and any coach in their right mind, especially a competitive soccer coach, will try to avoid the first situation, but it is often the second that is more deadly.

The shadow of danger hides in the bustle, and the more colorful the flowers, the more deadly the poison becomes.

Every coach has a core in mind, and out of time and performance pressure, coaches often have to focus on the athletes who are most likely to succeed, which is the essence of any high-pressure sport. Professional footballers hate this aspect of competitive sports, but it's often understandable, but if a coach regularly favors him only when he's doing well and ignores him when he's doing bad, he's going to lose his credibility and ability to lead his players.

Hydward took a bench and sat down among the players, telling all the thoughts he had just thought, this was the second time he apologized to some players in front of everyone for the sake of playing time, the old courtier's slightly detached gaze eased slightly, and Lawrence, who was optimistic by nature, walked up to the coach and firmly said that he must be a trustworthy link on the bench.

The atmosphere in the dressing room came alive after a moment of silence, and Norris, who has always spoken very little, unexpectedly chatted to the team about Hull City's current manager, England Antony? Rondon, Norris's old club is Tigers, and he joined Portsmouth for free after leaving the club last year.

Norris said slowly: "Hull City finished fourth in the league in 10/11 but then were eliminated in the first round of the promotion play-offs, so they missed the chance to make a comeback. ”

Icardi and Rudiger sat down next to their team-mates with great interest in the topic of opponents, Norris introduced Hull City's key players and players he felt were good, Rudiger took a small notebook and jolted it down and asked: "Tell us about their coach?" ”

Norris fell silent, looked at the replacement shirt in his hand and was slightly distracted, and then said: "I scored two long-range shots in the promotion play-offs, but it was sad that the opponent returned home to complete the reversal. Anthony is very the players and when I didn't play well, he said at the press conference that some people are so lazy that they don't even know what they're doing. Then I scored two goals and he jumped up in front of the reporter and boasted that his training had completely changed my mentality. In fact, his assistant coach has been training with me all the time, and he does the same with injured players, and he doesn't talk a word of nonsense unless he can play. I love Hull City, it's my home, I'm a youth producer there, but Anthony makes me feel like a piece of meat to be slaughtered, and I have to fend for myself. ”

Clutching his shirt and not talking, Icardi tapped him on the shoulder and got up to leave some personal space for his team-mates.

Hearing from the beginning to the end of the dressing room in the corner of the locker room, Hydward felt the urge to be angry for the players, and he thought for a moment about Dele. Ali said: "I want Norris to start for 60 minutes, is that okay? Ali? ”

Ali was stunned for a moment and then smiled, clapped his hands and beckoned his teammates to look at him, and pointed in the direction of Norris, "Brothers, today Lao Nuo is the starter, feed the ball hard, not only to start, but also to score, look at you, OK?" ”

The crowd just laughed and gave Alibi a thumbs up......