ANOTHER FOOTBALL ANALOGY.

Motivation is a hard thing to get in life, especially when things are not going your way. How can it be that Liverpool lose to Barnsley and then beat Inter Milan, that Arsenal beat Milan and then draw with Wigan? There are many more examples, but the two I used are to show that a drop in confidence (former) is not to blame, and neither is a hangover (latter) after a good result, as it happens both ways. Benitez would say the answer is that it is the romance of the cup, Wenger would say that the pitch was horrible, and while both are true to a certain extent, they are just reluctant to admit the harsh truth - that their players just lacked motivation. And they cannot be faulted for not admitting such a thing, after all, they are managers and they have a responsibility to keep the morale of their camp high.

Players however, are sometimes more frank, and while their own managers and the press jump on their comments and exaggerate it ten-fold, I laud them for their honesty. The very fact that managers keep harping on the need to stay focused and not be complacent, just reveals how grave a problem it could be. Sure, good teams can get away with it week after week, but slowly this lack of motivation would come back to bite them hard. Arsenal's tie with Milan is well and truly over. We outplayed them, we beat them. Period. In between, 3 draws. To be fair, we deserved to win against Birmingham. But we deserved to lose to Aston Villa, and the draw against Wigan is the fair result. Amidst the draws, players like Fabregas have come out to say that the team is fired up for the rest of the season. Fired up about what in particular? Because comparing the way he shot tamely at the keeper in the final minute against Wigan, and the way he took his goal at Milan, for me, says it all. It's easy to get fired up against Milan, Champions League holders, with all to prove against them, but it is so difficult to get fired up against a rubbish team that is Wigan (I'm not going to give a no offence here - the WIgan fans know deep down the rubbish that is their players). And when you're not fired up while they are, it makes a whole lot of difference, just like mental strength does in wars, just like optimism does in fighting cancers. The players couldn't play their passing game because of the pitch, but that's no excuse. Arsenal are better than Wigan in heading, long-range shooting, defending. Yet, the team got outplayed, by a team who you could clearly see was fired up, just like Barnsley was in their upset of monumental proportions when they beat Chelsea. Was I frustrated? No. I've said before that I can accept what is deserved, and a draw was deserved. Arsenal played miserably. I was just disappointed at the fact that the players who I admire so much - and who I will continue to admire - still fall short of being motivated for every game, because believe you me, I would much rather be frustrated at a good performance but with glorious chances spurned.

You would be able to understand why S-league players lack so much motivation to play - they are paid ridiculously low wages. While the 'motivation is proportionate to wage' point is contentious, it is hard to believe that top top Premier League players that these guys are, still somehow lack the motivation to play at times, with the wages they are getting, and the many many fans out there who support them. The obvious reason is that they are getting too comfortable with their lives; they can easily support themselves, buy a good car, a good house, please their WAGS. And so, they don't feel the hunger as much anymore. Yes, the fact remains that many players are spurred on by the desire to win a cup or a league title, but this motivation will never be as strong as that when you are playing for your immediate living. Fabregas (top class against Milan, nevertheless) is strongly motivated to win the league and champions league, but that motivation will never be as strong as Adebayor's when he was still in Africa with his family struggling to make ends meet, or Drogba's when he wanted to much for the internal conflict within his homeland to cease. And however much Drogba may be the scourge of Arsenal whenever he plays against us, I respect him so much for the motivation that he plays with.

Similarly, in life, we often don't hunger so much for God's presence and Word when things are going well for us. We praise Him, we lift Him up, but we don't desire Him as much. And this is the perfect description of me in the past. Yes Arsenal have been piss-poor, but I've had decent results, and have not had significant conflict within my family or any serious relationship problems. And so I used to lack the desire to read the Bible, and to worship. The same can be said of many other things. When I had eczema, I applied potassium permanganate every night; applied moisturiser every night; ate my pills within any hint of forgetting to. Yet once it went away, I stopped. It is partly due to the way our body priorities things I suppose, and can thus be said to be sub-conscious to some extent. But the fact remains that if you really want to do something you will take the necessary steps to make sure you do it. And so this is something very easy to succumb to. The lack of motivation when things are not going very wrong. In a way, this is some sort of a vicious cycle. The way to fight it, is to take advantage of the next time something goes wrong and you get that motivation for awhile. Make a habit of it and stick to it. Otherwise, like how I changed, make decisions beforehand, reasonable ones, and stick to it. Those 3 words are so important.

It'll always be difficult but I'll now challenge myself. I'll fast on Arsenal's next match, which is home to MIddlesbrough. And I'll really spend the 2 hours wisely. And let's hope I'll be blessed with a shocking defeat that I wish I never watched, like 4-1 to Liverpool last year which I so fortunately missed. Now come to think of it, I wonder if it was really just coincidence that ensured I was NOT screaming my lungs out and stretching my blood vessels to the limit last year.