All In The Head

Two goals against Chelsea last night winning the man of the match award. Arsenal had him and let him slip away.

I have been reading some articles on Serge Gnabry who plays football for Bayern Munich and his turn around in his career is amazing. Having flopped around a few clubs early on in his career something has just clicked and the guy is a super star.

Rio Ferdinand mentioned that he was chatting to him on the beach whilst in Dubai for a short break and Serge mentioned that he needs to get his career back on track and stop fooling around. It was time to take things seriously and to start performing.

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Up until that point he had been with some decent clubs as a youngster but had no drive within himself. Whilst at Arsenal he thought that they underplayed him thus was seeking for a club with more game time. that is a fair comment as most youngsters are chomping at the bit but aren't allowed to show what they are capable of.

He was at lowly West Brom on loan and the manager Tony Pulis said he couldn't get the guy fit. This shows a lack of interest and a lack of maturity on serge's p[art making his turn around that much more remarkable. If a player isn't performing and isn't at the fitness required what do you do. A player has to have that in his locker already as fitness should come from the player himself.

When I played competitive sport I would train on my own maintaining a certain level of fitness. This was by no means the level of fitness that professional player shave today as I was working and doing this in my spare time. As a professional athlete there is no excuse as you are paid to keep yourself fit and maintain a certain level. If you are unfit it is not up to the club to get you fit as you are there to train and to learn moves and new skills.

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It has to be all in the head and something within himself triggered this improvement. No club wants a lazy player like a Benny McCarthy who was refused to train with his team mates as he was over weight and unfit. Eventually his contract was cancelled as he had reneged on the terms due to lack of fitness.

The rise in his personal performance has not only got him into the Bayern Munich team, but also the German National team. He had to prove himself first though as after West brom he went to Werder Bremen where he performed well enough to attract Bayern who then sent him on one years loan to Hoffenheim. That season he scored 10 goals in 22 appearances and hasn't looked back since.

Since being a regular at Bayern he has played 51 times and scored 20 goals. His record for Germany is even better with an average of 1 goal per game. Amazing to think of players who have moved through clubs doing absolutely nothing and all of a sudden just clicking.

The opposite can also happen though as thinking back to Fernando Torres who could do no wrong with Liverpool and could do nothing right with Chelsea being a total dud in front of goal. This doesn't mean he was a bad player, but possibly his head space was wrong and needed that sorted more than anything else.

Players need to feel comfortable with the players around them and this is what team work does. If something is out the whole team is out and this is what managers need to overcome besides just training. It takes a good manager to get the best out of an individual and I would say the Werder Bremen coach unlocked something that Arsene Wenger and Tony Pulis couldn't do.