Jack Harrison saw the criticisms from Leeds fans as he wrestled with his first major dip in form at Elland Road.
‘Is he not trying?’ they said as Harrison failed to score in Leeds ’ first 15 Premier League games after registering eight goals and eight assists last season.
Harrison, a self-confessed introvert, brooded until he remembered some advice from Frank Lampard when they were at New York City FC six years ago.
“Frank, 100 per cent, has a brilliant mentality when it comes to these things,” he said.
“He told me that when you walk on the pitch, you have to believe you’re the best player on the pitch, even if you’re not.
“Just tell yourself this in your head. That’s one of the reasons he was so successful.
“He told me that when I was going through a tough time at New York. I went to him and he gave me that advice.”
Harrison, 25, believed more in himself and followed up scoring against Burnley with his first senior hat-trick against West Ham last Sunday.
Leeds fans are still buzzing about Harrison’s performance and it was a cathartic moment after he beat himself up during the first half of the season.
“I’m quite an introvert, I keep a lot of things to myself, especially things like this,” he said ahead of today’s clash with Newcastle at Elland Road. “I get quite frustrated with myself and I probably should talk about it more.
“I was so frustrated at the start of the season, going 15 games without scoring a goal and as an attacking player I want to be involved as much as possible in our attacking play.
“I always try and have the right attitude and work hard every day in training.
“I know it’s hard for fans to see that and there have been a lot of fans who have been frustrated with me this season, and I don’t blame them.
“As fans, you want to see the players doing well and when they’re not it’s like ‘is he not trying?’ I can tell you, it’s not for a lack of trying.
“It’s not like you want to play bad, it just happens.
“It’s just how it goes sometimes as a football player, you go through ups and downs.
“Thankfully it’s turned around and I just hope I can continue.”
Harrison is big on the mental side of football and turned to a sports psychologist to help him rediscover his form.
“I got caught up in too many negatives rather than thinking about the positives,” he told the Official Leeds United Podcast.
“I’ve been talking with someone recently to open my mind up a little bit more, to focus on the positives and the reasons why I was doing so well last season.
“What was I actually doing to achieve that? Then trying to replicate these things during the week in training and get in the right mindset.
“It’s crazy what you can do with the mind when you start thinking more positively instead of focussing on ‘I should have done this, I should have done that’. Being more positive has a massive impact.”
Harrison says his hat-trick celebrations with his Leeds team-mates were cut short because they left West Ham without him.
Harrison had to stay behind with Raphinha to be drugs tested and says the other players had driven off from the London Stadium by the time they were finished.
“I couldn’t really celebrate with anyone because I had to do doping, I had drug testing,” said the winger.
“I hadn’t been tested once all season and then when I score a hat-trick, yes, it’s my turn.
“I had to go to this room and it was just me and Raphinha in this room.
“Everyone was super happy, but I didn’t get to celebrate on the bus on the way back because me and Rafa were the last ones out. Everyone left, so it was just me and Rafa on our bus.
“We had three coaches because of Covid and everything, so the other two left with all the players. Just it was me and Rafa on the coach home. Rafa was watching Avatar or something.”
Harrison is raffling is hat-trick shirt to raise money for Yorkshire Cancer Research on Monday. To take part go to justgiving.com/fundraising/leeds-united-football-club.