I'm a Believer

Belief! Apart from talent, its the most important attribute in a sportsman. Coolness under pressure comes a close third and already we're got enough stickers for a manager to pin on the wall. Tell them they've got talent, pick out the ones that can ignore the pressure and get them to believe.

Problems for a manager is that talent doesn't go away but its either good enough or it isn't and you either have coolness under pressure or you don't. The trouble with that is you don't know who has it till you've under pressure.

But belief is the tricky one. You can argue that this season we are only 2 points worst in the same games against the same teams as we were last season. A point at West Ham and Chelsea and a home win over Portsmouth gave us 5 points, we currently have 3. We scored more goals in the same games, 6 against currently 5. That'll make them believe that its not so bad.

But there's a thing called a "Table" showing you how well you'd done against the others in the same class. And its this thing that provides the pressure because every week in this class there's an exam and after the results the table is shown to everyone and the world.

Bottom of the class and you get laughed at and people say that you're no good. It might be true and it might not be but peoples' laughter can upset some people. It affects the belief that they may have had in their abilities and makes the next exam all the more difficult.

Its a pity that we can't do away with the table and that's what leads to the idea of "we take it one game at a time" implying that the table is a lie, all that matters is the next game, in isolation.

So its good at least to see that our Monica is a believer. His job is to convince the players that they believe in themselves and that they have the talent to succeed.

So its time to throw the league table out of the window and tell ourselves that Charlton are a better team than last year. Now, after injuries, our defence is better than last year. With the addition of Faye and Reid our midfield is an improvement. Last season we only had one forward Darren Bent, now we play with two. Maybe two is one too many. For of the total of 7 goals in 9 games played, Darren Bent has scored 6 of them so maybe its time for a Plan B.

Meanwhile there's one word that we must ban - Worry. That's the evil nonsense that eats at your belief and tells you that your useless. Makes you loss sleep and makes you loss energy and its a complete waste of time.

So worried! No, course not, its not even close to Chrismas and who knows when the clocks are going to be changed. Time to worry, about football anyway, if you're playing crap and we ain't, yet........