Mourinho produced another bit of controversy after Tottenham dropped points at Newcastle at the weekend when he indicated that he is not to be blamed for his side failing to hold onto a win at St. James’ Park.
It was not the first time this season that the Spurs manager has absolved himself of any blame for Tottenham’s poor performances and have even lashed out at individual players such as Dele Alli in public.
Lazarus stressed that he is not going to criticise the methods of a manager of Mourinho’s calibr,e but insisted that there is always a psychological effect on players when they know that they are going to be publicly criticised by their manager if they make any mistake.
He feels players will be more tolerant towards criticism if they believe their managers are being honest with them behind the curtains.
The sports performance coach told Yahoo Sports: “I don’t know Jose Mourinho, he is a very successful manager so I am not going to criticise him in any way.
“It is completely feasible that if you go into a match thinking you might get hung out to dry or might be criticised in some way, either individually or collectively, that could affect the way you perform.
“There is much evidence about the impact on performance of ‘psychological safety’, the idea that to you need to feel ‘safe’ enough to perform at your best.
“It is a paradox, if you know that if you go out and make a mistake you are going to be OK, then you are less likely to make a mistake.
“If you are on edge and thinking, ‘If I make a mistake, not only am I letting the team down but I am going to get criticised publicly’, then it’s more likely that you are going to be a bit scared and make bad decisions.
“Managers have to be tough sometimes but when the players know he is being straight with them and totally supportive they are more willing to accept fair criticism.”
Mourinho’s tendency to regularly blame his players for poor performances has attracted severe criticism from many pundits.
