Dealing with Scoring Droughts, Form Loss, and Poor Runs in Soccer
Learn how soccer players can mentally navigate scoring droughts, bad form, and tough stretches to reset their performance.
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GAME READY MINDSET® | GAME READY MINDSET® | FOR ATHLETES | High School and College Soccer
DEALING WITH SCORING DROUGHTS, FORM LOSS AND POOR RUNS
For Attackers, Strikers, Goalkeepers and Any Player Going Through a Difficult Stretch
High School and College Baseball
Game Ready Mindset® is a sports mental performance company that provides consulting, coaching and products for high school and college baseball athletes and teams. Our approach combines the mental, physical and emotional sides of performance — built on decades of experience working with elite athletes, teams and some of the world’s largest companies.
Every player in soccer goes through stretches where nothing seems to go right. For attackers and strikers, it is the scoring drought — chances created, chances missed, the net not moving. For goalkeepers, it is the run of goals conceded that goes beyond what any goalkeeper can control. For outfield players, it is the loss of form that makes everything feel harder than it should.
These stretches are not permanent. They feel permanent because the brain’s default pattern under sustained failure is to assume the current state is the new baseline. It is not. What determines whether you come out of the drought stronger or longer is not luck. It is what you do mentally while you are inside it.
FOR ATTACKERS & STRIKERS: THE SCORING DROUGHT
STEP
WHAT IT DOES
1
Stop counting the drought
The moment you start tracking how many matches without a goal, the drought becomes a story you are telling yourself. Every missed chance adds a chapter. Stop counting. Start focusing only on the next shot, the next run, the next touch inside the box.
2
Separate chance creation from goals
Your job is to create and take chances. Whether the ball goes in is affected by factors outside your control — goalkeeper quality, deflections, post and crossbar. Track your chance creation and quality of decision-making, not the goals. A striker taking 8 shots with 4 on target is not in a drought. They are one good finish from ending it.
3
Run the ARC Reset after every missed chance in training
Train the reset in low-stakes reps so it is automatic in high-stakes matches. Every practice miss is a free rehearsal of the response you will need in matches.
4
Use your Hook
Why do you play? Your intrinsic reason does not disappear because you haven't scored in four matches. Return to it when the drought makes the sport feel joyless. Your Hook is the reason you were playing before the drought and the reason you will still be playing after it ends.
FOR GOALKEEPERS: CONCEDING HEAVILY
The goalkeeper carries a psychological weight no other position experiences. A single error in 90 minutes can determine the outcome of a match in a way that a midfielder's misplaced pass or a striker's missed chance does not. When the errors compound over several matches, the weight becomes the primary thing in the goalkeeper's mind going into the next match.
STEP
WHAT IT DOES
1
Separate controllable from uncontrollable goals
Some goals are your direct responsibility. Most are not. Defensive shape, deflections, opposition quality, and errors outside your control account for the majority of goals conceded. Run an honest post-match review: how many of the goals were genuinely within your control? Often the number is lower than the total suggests.
2
Return to your technical fundamentals in training
When confidence drops, return to what you know. Shot-stopping basics, positioning, distribution. Not trying new things. Rebuilding the physical evidence that you are technically sound and that the run of poor results is not a permanent statement about your ability.
3
Use the ARC Reset between every goal conceded
The goalkeeper cannot leave the pitch after conceding. The next kick-off happens within seconds. Your ARC Reset is the bridge between the goal conceded and the next minute of play. Six seconds. Every single time.
Self-confidence is one of the most powerful mental tools available to a soccer player. Compared with players with low self-esteem, a player with high self-confidence will have greater faith in their own skills and will be more willing to take chances.
— Coulter et al. (2010) — cited in Frontiers in Psychology (2024), Mental Processes in Professional Football Players
Game Ready Mindset™ | Scott K. Wilder | Text/Call: 415-205-6060
Scott@Coachwilder.com | gamereadymindset.co
About the author
Scott K. Wilder is the founder of Game Ready Mindset™, a program and platform for teams and athletic programs, working with players, position groups, and teams in baseball, soccer, softball, and volleyball. He holds a Master’s from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now Sofia University), an MBA from New York University, and a Master’s in International Studies and Conflict Resolution from The Johns Hopkins University, with coaching credentials from Georgetown University, Brian Cain’s MPM Program, the National Federation of High Schools, and FC Barcelona Football Club. He is the author of Millennial Leaders, Find What Energizes You (just published), and Compete in Any Weather.