Yes it is partly psychological but on the part of the opposition who believe that Anfield isn't the fortress it once was. Teams aren't afraid to come to us and play for a draw anymore [except Everton] - they all think they can take all 3 points.
But as the stats show, the majority are wrong. It is the Stokes and WBAs of this world who will hold out for a draw from the kick-off and then wait for us to panic who break our resolve. They don't come to play - merely to frustrate. Therefore we need to build our confidence that even if there's only 5 minutes left we ARE going to win.
The big teams will inevitably have bad games - games where they simply can't break down a team. However, they always seem to find a way either through one moment of magic which comes from world class players, or luck. The luck element comes from getting the ball into the box and forcing the issue. Man Utd get loads of deflections, force errors etc because they get the ball into the box.
One big difference is they play the full 90 mins, we seem to take the foot off if we're winning or be resigned to the draw/loss. What happened to all our 90+ min goals?
Haha - I remember that season under Rafa where we finished second - There was a belief that if we were drawing or losing, we would still turn the game around. We scored a lot of late goals because of our sheer persistence. It's a spirit and mentality that doesn't come overnight. It takes years to instill a philosophy and belief and a winning habit - I believe that season was Rafa's 5th in charge? I do hope we give Rodgers plenty of time to carry out his vision as we saw decent progress last season.
The mentality is something BR talked about during last season too. I have no doubt that he has seen that the desire and will to win needs to improve.
Every professional player should have a winning mentality and be giving 100% every game, some do but most don't. The footballer culture these days sees some of them not only regarding themselves as athletes but celebrities - selling their personal life photos in big magazine deals, what's that all about?
I think a winning mentality is either in you or not when you are born. That doesn't mean that someone won't try if they don't have that winning mentality but there is a difference between being determined to do well and doing everything within your power to win despite the condition you are in (ie bolloxed). Luis Suarez has the winning mentality hence him do absolutely anything (yep, including biting for some reason) to win.
To stand the chance of top four finish we still need to stand the chance or already qualified when playing last two or three games of the season.
Talking just about football, every player from whatever age they start has the desire to win, this isn't the same as a winning mentality. You get a winning mentality from winning - simple. If you've never won anything you don't possess a winning mentality, the desire to win, maybe, but that's different.
