Psychological Factors and External Influences in Football
Psychological Factors and External Influences in Football

Psychological Factors and External Influences in Football

If you want to place a bet, your mind will go to who’s stronger, who can bet who, who has lost before, who can score more goals and all. That is a good way to think about football betting and to approach it. 

But it takes more than that – good place to start but more needs to be done. 

A team can look really strong and be favorites to win and still begin the game and lose. 

Everything could look just perfect for them to win or for the prediction to go as planned only for the game to begin and it does not go as planned. 

The worry now becomes about what could have gone wrong. 

Well, there are certain things that affect football that are different from footballing data and issues itself. 

These are what we call the psychological factors and external influences in football. 

That is what we are going to talk about on this page as we show you how these things affect football betting and why it seems like sometimes even when nothing could possibly go wrong, it does go wrong. 

What are the Psychological Factors and External Influences in Football Betting Today

The following are some of the psychological factors and external influences that affect football today:

  • Fear and intimidation from the players

It may come as a surprise but then there are games where the players are afraid and intimidated by their opponent.

This is one of the strongest things that controls how a player performs in a match and the truth is that most players do not know how to hide it.

They may act confident or shout instructions but deep inside they are scared and that fear will show itself when the ball comes to them or when they are supposed to make a decision.

A player that is afraid to lose the ball will keep passing it backwards and a striker that is scared of missing will not even try to shoot and that is how fear can damage a full team.

  • Pressure 

Yes, pressure can break even the best of teams and we have seen that repeatedly especially with big teams that have been seen as favorites to win their games. 

It is not abnormal for a team to be under pressure. 

This is where the problem comes – when the pressure continues for long and the team clearly loses control of the game and become unable to play how they would have loved to play. 

Pressure can come in two forms – one comes before the match, the other comes during the match. 

The kind of pressure that can come before the match is the one when the team finds out that a rival won their game and now they have to win theirs to qualify for the next round.

This is pressure. 

Then pressure in the game is when the opponent begins to attack more and for longer than normal. 

When both pressure moments succeed, it becomes a problem for the players and the team. 

  • Small teams feeling confident 

This is not a good place to be for a big team. 

When a big team is playing against a small team and they are feeling overly confident, you can expect trouble for the bigger team. 

We see these things happen when smaller teams do something to bigger teams – could be a draw or a total disruption. 

That confidence will make you see the smaller team play more and if they manage to get the first goal it goes over the roof and if something drastic does not happen for the big team, you will see that the smaller team could take all the credit. 

The Premier League often have cases like this when teams that are favorites to win like Manchester City, Liverpool, and Manchester United lose 1-0 to smaller teams. 

  • Coach not in control anymore 

When coaches lose the trust of their players, then the worst happens and it can affect the team’s performance and go against what we all hoped would happen. 

In an interview, Solksjaer said that the game before he was sacked it was Manchester United vs Watford and when it was halftime, he knew he would get sacked. 

At halftime, he literally asked players who wanted to play and it was only those willing to play that stepped out. He had lost the dressing room and lost the trust of the players. 

And what happened? 

Watford beat Manchester United 4-1. 

That is what happens when a coach is not in control of their team anymore – the players won’t play to any instructions, and they won’t even want to play well even if they can beat the opponent on a bad day. 

  • Off-the-pitch influences

Erik ten Hag once made a remark about Rashford saying that his new found at the time was because he had made changes to his “lifestyle” and “attitude”.

This is true. 

If a footballer is not living the right kind of life off the pitch, they will struggle on the pitch. 

We have seen these things in not just Rashford but his England compatriot and former team mate Sancho and also Grealish. 

Lifestyle issues can affect footballing performances and that is not something that can be argued because it is clear to see. 

Conclusion 

4predict is a top football prediction site that offers accurate football predictions daily but they still know that these psychological factors and external influences can disrupt predictions. 

Notwithstanding, when you need free football predictions with 98% accuracy, trust 4predict

Hi, I’m Dave, a professional writer with 5+ years of experience turning ideas into stories that connect, inspire and engage. Words are my craft & helping brands shine, but most importantly football and sports as a whole is my passion.