I love Jonas Gutierrez as a player. As a psychologist, not so much.
Reportedly it was Jonas' idea that Papiss Cissé step up for the late-first-half penalty kick that could've meant an early burial rather than a slow wake for Norwich City at St. James' Park in what turned out to be a nail-chewing 1-0 Newcastle victory on Sunday. It's easy to pick apart the decision, given that most readers of this blog could've gotten the ball closer to the net than Cissé managed. But even if he'd made it, the up-side of a charity goal on his confidence might well have been slim. And current research indicates the pressure of a penalty kick is the last thing a player in Cissé's kind of slump needs.
I've long been fascinated by cold streaks and have occasionally quizzed managers and coaches about the mindset behind them. Nearly all will talk at some point about "thinking too much." The problem is, telling a human not to think usually results in additional thinking about thinking, not less thinking.
It doesn't take an expert to guess this is what Cissé is going through. His touch on chances isn't fluid right now; there's an instant of planning that didn't exist with his impossible-to-do-on-purpose wondergoals of last season, nor when he escaped Newcastle earlier this season for international play and scored the most ridiculous goal I have ever seen. Back in the Premier League, his mind is in the way once again. All the penalty kick did Sunday was give him a shot with lots of time to think.
One of my favorite sports stories in recent years, which I've referenced once before on this blog, is a 2010 piece from Wired about the too-much-thinking phenomenon in slumps, and new ideas for combating it. The psychological term for too much thinking in the context of sport is called "explicit monitoring," the conscious thinking about what you're doing instead of doing it automatically having mastered it. And the latest medicine for it is called "useful distraction" - something to distract yourself from thinking about what you're doing without distracting from the overall task at hand, i.e., to win the game.
Sports are rife with examples of players improving performance when distracted. Sometimes the distraction is positive, such as the "birthday effect" discovered by pioneering baseball statistician Bill James, who found that baseball players perform better on their birthdays than could be explained by chance. Sometimes the distraction is neutral, such as hockey players who sing to themselves during face-offs or golfers who count backward to themselves during putts. Sometimes the distraction is negative, like the oft-noted phenomenon of players overperforming while suffering from minor illnesses like the flu, which turns their attention away from close detail in favor of simply performing and making it through the game.
Sometimes the distraction can even be tragic. Here in Wisconsin, Green Bay Packers fans will never forget legendary quarterback Brett Favre's best career performance, in a Monday Night Football game in Oakland the day after the death of his father. In a story on the game years later, the New York Daily News wrote, "Favre was such an emotional wreck that he forgot everything he studied - his audibles, the Raiders' pass coverages, everything. His mind went blank. His warmup tosses to backup quarterback Doug Pederson, only 10 yards away, were all over the place." But: "Once the game began, Favre's legendary competitiveness took over." Just last night, America witnessed a similarly stunning and moving career performance on national television by Baltimore Ravens' wide receiver Torrey Smith, playing just hours after his younger brother had been killed in a motorcycle crash. "If I was going to be out there, I was going to give it my all," Smith said afterward. "You're on the lines, you just want to make the play. Afterwards is when you can sit back and reflect on things."
Of course, no one wishes a tragedy or the flu on Cissé. But he appears in desperate need of a distraction of some kind. He could sing to himself. He could count backward. He could be given some small new task or role to concentrate on. Anything but the sole spotlight of Sunday's gift penalty kick, or his ill-fated stint as lone striker in the previous match at Everton. It's time for medicine that will fight his ailment, not feed it.
Great writeup Bob. I agree 100%. Ba or HBA should have taken that kick. That penalty miss could be even worse than him not taking it and not scoring. He is just struggling right now to put it simply. The best will be for him to net a goal when he is not thinking about it, as you said. Not on a breakaway where he knows what is coming. It could be a ball deflecting around in the box. Or a shot off the post forcing him to make an instantaneous play that he was not thinking off. That will get him going i think.
Having played sports all my life (and still do now), that always helped me. I could be in a horrible slump but 1 success is all it took to turn things around usually. And that success usually happened when I was least thinking of it.
I am confident he will snap out of it. And the sooner the better.
Posted by: Ryan | 09/24/2012 at 01:56 PM
HBA should 100% taken that penalty, I don't care if you are 1-0 up or 7-0 up, The best penalty taker should always take the kick, This is not a charity.
Regarding Cisse, I think he needs dropped for a few games, as it is just not working out for him at the moment. Once back in the team, he is the type to just need to break his duck in open play to go on a run of scoring goals, I'm confident he will do that and will finish with 15-20 goals this season no problem.
Posted by: Jon | 09/24/2012 at 02:04 PM
Don't think the flu distraction will work.
Cisse came back from Senegal with some stomach bug and has possibly not fully recovered yet.
He will soon be back to full fitness and banging the goals in.
Posted by: sidekick | 09/24/2012 at 02:27 PM
I tweeted this very fact.. just after the miss
Posted by: joppadoni | 09/24/2012 at 07:23 PM
he should play in the carling cup match this week. chance of playing against 2nd string defenders/keeper will allow a better opportunity to score a goal.
pair him up with adam campbell or shola. not as a lone striker.
Posted by: Jaeger | 09/24/2012 at 09:55 PM