Is the reason that we keep on bottling semi-finals a mental thing, or is it just us finally encountering good teams in the tournament?

A factual thread looking at each competition we've gotten to the semi-finals of and lost under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

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I don't think people understand the vital difference between a well-rehearsed (and physical) team vs a collection of individuals with no real understanding - new players, makeshift centre-backs, other players out of position. Make do an mend when missing a ton of quality = v.hard


Add fatigue,with less option to rotate, and big effort in 3 away games in previous 9 days. Team lacks height and heft without VvD, Matip, Fabinho, Gomez. Team lacks pace and goals without Jota, Mané. Lacks pace at back without VvD and Gomez. No senior keeper undermines confidence

Team has been disrupted constantly this ssn. Rarely below 6 injuries, often = 10. Thiago a real bonus after months out, but the proper team is not around him. Even Gini looked knackered yesterday. 5th/6th-choice strikers and centre-backs will always be a big drop from 1st choices

Last night was a bit grim, and Brighton were excellent. But it was a strong XI for them, in terms of usual players and in terms of physicality. LFC full of skilful slower little guys right now - lacking the skilful bodyguards and pace. Kabak should help, but he's young and new

You can read Mentality Monsters or Perched for how much I talk about the unity of a team, the practiced understanding from years of intense training together, knowing each others runs and movements. Right now it's a team of semi-strangers and stand-ins.

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1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.