Plymouth sports psychologist reveals how England will be preparing for Euros final
Even how they take penalties will have been planned...
A sports psychologist from the University of Plymouth has revealed how the England squad will likely be preparing for the Euros 2020 final.
The Three Lions face Italy at Wembley on Sunday night, with football being so very close to coming home.
Jon Rhodes is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Psychology, and says the event is something the England team will have been preparing for, for the last 55 years.
"So much adversity has made us a resilient nation watching a resilient team, our team, all intrinsically connected in pursuit of the same goal – to win the competition.
"To prepare for a final, the England team would have had to prepare effectively before the competition started. This weekend, the preparation should be like any major match; where all controllables are managed and the build-up experienced many times, making this another opportunity to represent a passionate nation.
"In my work with professional football clubs there are four steps to consistent preparations that can be applied to any environment, which I call the ‘four Ps’: Performance mode, Perceive, Plan, and Persevere."
Jon Rhodes, University of Plymouth
Here is his guide to how England should be preparing:
Step 1: Park any negativity, remove distractions and turn on ‘performance mode’. This is an opportunity to learn from past experiences by acknowledging what went well, and what did not go to plan. For every England football team for 55 years, each player has inherited, as Baddiel and Skinner say; “years of hurt” (NB: most of the squad were not born when the song was released).
"Therefore, the first step is to learn, adapt, refine, share ideas, and park any unwanted thoughts by giving attention to the task (and only the task) at hand. This removes thought distractions and allows the player to enter what I call ‘performance mode’. Only at this point can the next step be taken."
Step 2: Perceive each outcome of the match; a win, a loss, or penalties. Next, how will those outcomes be reached? What are the possible eventualities during the match that could occur? To examine the eventualities, the England team will need to perceive how Italy will play by analyzing the opponents’ key strengths and weaknesses. More importantly examine the distinctness of this England Team – we are in the final because this is an excellent team who have played well consistently. Once your opponent and self-analysis has occurred, you then move onto the planning phase.
Step 3: Plan for each eventuality and ensure the team is aware of the plan. The plan should be broken down into smaller parts with detailed role clarity based on time and score line. By planning in detail nothing is left to chance and every part of performance (where possible) is controlled. In my work with professional football players, we would plan every detail, including if any player was to take a penalty, exactly where in the goal they would target the ball. We found that by planning in this detail, players were more confident and performed better especially when under pressure.
Step 4: Persevere with the plan. To do this, communication levels will need to be high, as fatigue during the latter stages of the final has the potential to lead to mistakes due to mind wondering.
"Mistakes undoubtedly will be made, and we all know things rarely go exactly as we picture them, but if players could then cycle back through the four P’s: park the mistake, perceive what happened, plan for what’s next, then persevere by sticking to the plan, they’ve got every chance of success."
Jon Rhodes, University of Plymouth
He says everything about the game will have planned in advance, even how the team will take penalties.
"Players will probably have chosen their penalty kicking spot, in terms of where abouts in the goal it's going to go, probably weeks ago. Nothing will be random on the night, it will be very pre-programmed and pre-planned."
And that having Gareth Southgate as manager will be having a good influence.
"Having that wise head and experience is very important, and also having someone who's been through that level of anxiety and failed, in that area, and then massively bounced back.
"He is the epitome of a very resilient character and I think that as a nation we have become quite hard-skinned and resilient to these kinds of things as well. But having him at the helm of the team is inspirational, he's very grounding, and even makes sure the team eat together."
Jon Rhodes, University of Plymouth