Dimitar Berbatov spoke about how a player, especially a forward, finds space and sometimes even avoids space if they are on bad form. And then he detailed how back in the day, he would keep to himself if he had a bad game.

Dimitar Berbatov speaking with Nieve Petruzziello on her Youtube channel StuntPegg, about how world-class strikers find space: 

It’s about how you see the game. Sometimes the defender will drop from his position to defend, to guard someone. Now the space is here (behind that defender), right? If you’re clever enough and you know to attack the space, and someone could give you the ball, that can be a threat.

Sometimes you don’t see the space. Some players don’t see the space; it is what it is. Some players don’t see, while some players see the space but are afraid to go into it.

Nieve: Why? Why would you be afraid?

Because this is the moment where you know you’re not playing well, and now you are hiding from the ball. This is the worst thing you can do.

I’ve done it. You don’t feel in shape; you know the game is not going well for you. You know that you’re in a bad run of games, of form. You know that maybe it’s going to be you as well, and now you’re like, “Nah, better not go there. Maybe I won’t get the ball; someone else will get the ball.”

This is what Arsene Wenger and Mohamed Salah were speaking about in “Always finding the moment”, that even if you don’t have the momentum, you still look for ways to finish.

The really, really good players don’t get afraid of entering that vacant space. They won’t wait for a teammate. They want to be the one that lifts the team because they have to be. If not them, then who else is going to do it?

Dimitar then speaks about how he dealt with having a bad game:

Back in the day, it was a bit different than it is now because I was keeping it to myself. I had a bad game; I missed a chance, I don’t score a goal, I didn’t play, or I was left out from the squad. So I would go home and just ignore everybody. My head would go like this big at times, thinking, constantly thinking, constantly thinking. I have someone to talk to, but I didn’t want to. “I am a man; I can do it by myself, so I need to deal with myself.”

Of course, you need to deal with yourself, but you can find good people around you that you can share that—what is the problem—and then maybe they can help you. And when time goes by, you learn stuff like this. You get good advice sometimes, or even if you don’t get advice, you still have something back, and then your brain will start moving.

Nieve: People know then as well; people know the reason why you might not be in a good mood. You might be short-tempered; you’ve got something on your mind.

Especially your family, because my family was suffering because of this. I would go home, and I’d be like in my dark mood. Everything is black, and I’m like, “Don’t talk to me; don’t even look at me. I’m in my zone, in my dark zone, and I need to work it out.” But maybe I missed out on good advice.

That is how a competitor operates, for better or worse. If you don’t get upset with the loss, then the passion isn’t there. If you are passionate about it and you care, it should make you nervous. But now we have better ways, nowadays, of dealing with loss.