When Abrahams met Carlton Cole in August 2007, the striker was stagnating in West Ham United‘s reserves and weary from poor form and criticism. Cole followed Abraham’s guidance and within 18 months was in Fabio Capello’s England squad.
Arsenal academy graduate Anthony Stokes also credits Abrahams for helping turn his career around. In the first four months of the 2009-10 season, Stokes had scored only four goals for his new club, Hibernian. Within a year of working with Abrahams, he was the division’s second-highest scorer and on his way to Celtic.
“There isn’t a one-size-fits-all to sports psychology, but by and large I try to help athletes understand a little bit more about how human beings function,” said Abrahams, a consultant for Feyenoord and Forest Green Rovers. “We start by attacking the rehearsal of failure, and I tell them to visualise success, i.e., their best game and strengths, and then we focus on the controllables and the specifics of their game and how they speak to themselves. For example: ‘I’m strong, I’m sharp, I’m on my toes, I’m aggressive, I’m scanning, I’m vocal,’ etc.”
Numerous scientific studies have found that picturing success has proven effects. One such paper found that an hour of mental training a day that incorporates the five major senses — touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste — improved motor skills, muscle strength, confidence and concentration, and in turn reduced anxiety. All of this is driven by connections pinging off in the brain when you stimulate its value areas in the striatum and prefrontal cortex.
Using the mind’s eye — the mental faculty of conceiving imaginary or recollected scenes — to replay your greatest hits or picturing future success gives you a hit of dopamine, the chemical your brain releases when it experiences pleasure and reward. When this happens, different parts of the brain communicate with one another, sparking synapses, which in layman’s terms form connections and, in this context, a pipeline for confidence.
It’s powerful, but not impenetrable. Humans are hardwired for negativity, and players have to be equipped for that battle.
“They have to accept they will always have destructive thoughts, it’s human nature — I call them ANTs: automatic, negative thoughts,” Abrahams said. “Negative thoughts are also feelings and emotions — that’s what it is to be a human being — but you have it within yourself to direct your attention on success.”
Even the most athletically gifted footballer will be less effective without factoring in proper recovery time — as Rashford learned last summer. For the first time in years, he used the offseason as an opportunity to recharge both physically and emotionally.
“It’s been a bit unnatural for me to have such a long break in the summer,” Rashford told the Manchester United website. “I think I had just under four weeks, so I had a long break physically and mentally as well, so it’s an opportunity to refresh and get ready to go again.”
Research suggests that having the courage to take a rest, rather than grind harder, is an investment that pays off. A Journal of Sports Sciences study found that mental fatigue resulted in poor decision-making and tactical errors.
In theory, Rashford would have a sharper mind after a much-needed break that also gave his body, especially his shoulder, time to recover. When we rest the body, it adapts to the demands of exercise, replenishes muscle glycogen (energy stores) and repairs body tissue.
Rest complete, he continued the old-fashioned way — hard work. Rashford’s social feeds were energised with workouts in preparation for Erik ten Hag’s arrival at the club, and hitting the reset button has had the desired effect.
Rashford netted eight goals for Manchester United before the World Cup, a run of form he continued in Qatar, where he scored three times for England. He marked his return to club football with a stunning individual goal during Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Burnley (stream the replay in ESPN+ in the US.)
Having a new club manager has helped.
“It’s a completely different energy around the club and the training ground,” said Rashford in an interview with Sky Sports. “That puts me in a better headspace and I just feel really motivated now.”
“The biggest difference now is how fit and athletic I am. I’ve come down from 13% to 11% body fat,” he explained. “We all have a bit of a laugh at my signing day picture. Compare it to the end of last season and it’s chalk and cheese — I’ve lost about 6 kg [13 pounds].”
The 30-year-old was named in last season’s PFA Championship Team of the Year after keeping 19 clean sheets, playing a key role as Huddersfield reached the playoff final.
“Dealing with Mick’s passing helped me become a better person on and off the pitch,” he said. “I don’t use it as fuel; the memory is just inside me. It taught me how mentally strong I could be. It took me a few weeks to get over the loss at Wembley, but I know it doesn’t define my career.”
This simple shift in perspective is the key to unlocking a stable and consistent level of performance, Abrahams said.
“Once players learn: ‘I can’t completely control performance, but I can control a high-performance mindset,’ they’re able to focus on their game rather than the outcome,” he explained. “This is part of being more rational, because you can’t control wins and losses when you’re part of a team. When a player comes back from a poor run of form, they realise it’s OK to fail because they can shift their attention back to what they can control.”
A key example is criticism. Players can’t control what gets said about them, but they can control how they respond. Newcastle United‘s Almiron used Jack Grealish‘s infamous jibe to fuel a dazzling start to the season, according to teammate Callum Wilson.
Grealish mocked the Paraguay international during Manchester City‘s title parade in May when he used a belittling tone to compare Riyad Mahrez with Almiron.
“Someone was saying, ‘Jack said this, Jack said that’. [Almiron is] such a nice guy, he’s happy, he didn’t really comment on it,” Wilson told the Footballer’s Football Podcast. “He just shook his shoulders, and I think internally he’s probably used it as motivation and driven him.”
Rather than speak out, as his tormentor chose to, Almiron has let his feet do the talking, scoring eight goals in 15 Premier League appearances for Eddie Howe’s team, who resume the Premier League campaign third in the table.
