Manchester United look like a different animal this season compared to the one which ended last term and there could be a psychological reason behind that
Manchester United players celebrate after rescuing a draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League(Image: Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Manchester United let down their fanbase last season with poor performances across all competitions.
The Europa League was nearly the saving grace but when push came to shove, the Reds were not the team they needed to be. United were so far away from the levels expected of them that it was hard to see a quick recovery.
And yet here we are in mid-November with United a point off the top-four and five games unbeaten. They are not the finished article but there are clear signs that United are becoming a team who can challenge at the right end of the Premier League.
Speaking to MEN Sport, psychology expert at Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr Martin Turner, believes the turnaround could lie in the mentality of the squad this season.
Dr Turner, who has worked alongside The FA and Scarlets Rugby, said: “It is so important when we talk about experienced players, it is not just because they have kicked a ball more times than the player next to them, but they have gone through the peaks and troughs of football. They have been under pressure, they have succeeded, they have failed, and they have become psychologically robust to the different ups and downs of the sport.
“That is part of the reason why experience really counts because through facing difficulty you grow and develop and learn to be a bit more robust. So it is partly about time, particularly with Manchester United and the amount of change that has taken place over a short period of time, which we know can be stressful and taxing, [but] over time those players will start to acclimatise to that and become more robust.”
When asked if the recruitment of players like Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, who have proven Premier League quality, while keeping players who experienced the lows of last season and overcome them, is leading to improved performances this season, Dr Turner replied: “Yes, exactly they are just able to weather those storms a little better.
“They have less psychological peaks and troughs. After a good game, they will feel pretty good but they won’t get carried away with it and after a bad game, they would feel pretty bad but it wouldn’t be the end of the world for them. They learn to take success and failure in their stride because they have succeeded and failed so often.
“When you look at the world’s best performers, it is not just that they succeed all the time, they are able to recognise that when they do fail, it is a temporary thing and they know that they will come back and bounce back. That is hard for a less experienced player to realise because they haven’t had the psychological experience of those successes and failures. Sometimes it takes failure at the biggest stage to do some of that too.”
Next Monday, United return to the Premier League when they host Everton at Old Trafford. Should they avoid defeat, they will be six games unbeaten. However, the lingering worry for United is that tiredness could start to creep in despite playing fewer matches this season.
Matthijs de Ligt spoke after the Tottenham game about the team feeling tired in the second half of matches and Dr Turner believes that the mental challenges of competing in the Premier League are contributing to that.
“The brain is using largely the same energy system as the body, people forget that the brain is in the body,” he said.
“It feels like it is this separate thing because we talk about mind and body but they are obviously part of the same body so they are using the same energy. We know that it is actually quite difficult for people in high pressured situations, tough jobs, like being an athlete, and that can be exhausting.
“Not just the physical stuff but dealing with the emotions every day, dealing with expectation, dealing with the social aspect of being involved in sport at a high level, it can actually make you mentally exhausted and it can have an impact on your physical exhaustion because the energy is coming from the same space. So it is about developing this resistance and robustness over time to these kinds of things which is where experienced players come in.”