The mood of the team is a thing that you cannot quantify from the outside, and the transfer market is a massive distraction. Don’t be surprised when teams who are underperforming to start the season start to turn it on when this summer window closes.

Grumpy players won’t play well, and egos within a competitive environment breed distraction.

I don’t care how good the tactic is, how fit the players are, or how ready they may seem to start the season. If the vibes are off, it will show on the pitch.

The teams that are settled are ready for the season. They know who will be staying and who will be going.

The teams that have rumors and speculation swirling around them tend to struggle because the players’ minds are in another place.

They are stuck in a tiny town with no nightlife and bad weather, playing for a team with no aspirations of finishing at the top of the table and no European football.

You are a professional footballer, and you can see your dream of playing for a big club, and it is one transfer away.

Or you are a player stuck on the bench getting little minutes in the prime of your career ahead of a World Cup in which you know you could play.

Those players want to move. Both are distracted.

Now imagine having several of those players in training, in the workout room, in meetings, and in a game. They are on their phone with their agent, they are looking for housing in the new city, they are rearranging their lives, and they are preparing for the next game.

They are professionals, but this is the human side of football that doesn’t get talked about enough. We need to put more weight into this aspect of the teams we talk about.

Sometimes splits are amicable and some are not. There are egos and players should have ambition.

This is why it is hard to predict the lineups of certain managers. We don’t see the moods of the players in training. It is something you have to see with your own eyes. You see it in the body language of the player.

Once that window closes, now each player should be fully focused on the season. They know who they are competing against in the lineup.

But then you have the disgruntled players who didn’t get their move or the move that fell through at the last minute.