Should Postman Pat Walk?

England manages to draw against two great footballing nations. Nothing could be more apt than my last blog in explaining England’s performance. There is something about how the mind functions in the wrong conditions. It must be well documented somewhere that under conditions of expectations, censure and lack of autonomous control the mind is provoked into dealing with an extra set of considerations. Whether these are contained in the conscious stream or in the unconscious background they take precious milliseconds of operating time and disrupt what Csíkszentmihályi calls ‘flow.’ In flow the whole of cognition is involved in the present activity, being out of flow results in stress and poor performance. The England team are perfectly capable of performing well but show all the signs of stress. In the few milliseconds it takes to prepare the body for a cross or a shot on goal the players are losing a vital percentage to inappropriate considerations, and accuracy plummets. Flair is replaced by scrambling to retain control. This is now endemic in the English psyche. Where South American supporters make loud enthusiastic noises English supporters make the moaning sound of defeat. As supporters we deflate our team with ready criticism and overblown expectations, but far more important is the managers roll. Postman Pat in his workmanlike professional approach has produced a highly managed workforce, each with a strict roll and job description. His stressed out workforce will, if they get to the later stages, be playing teams who are managed and allowed to play as artists. We don’t stand a chance. We will all be frustrated, stressed and miserable until we learn to fly; until our team, though organised, will be set free to enjoy what they love doing. My they play their games without fear of their supporters or manager.