Dominic Calvert-Lewin: Identity, Tactics & Career Renewal at Leeds

You're listening to the Men in Blazers media network, suboptimal radio. Football to me is still everything, but it was the be all and end all, and it was a large part of my identity. It was like me, the footballer, and it took me a while to find out who really Dominic was, having a daughter and meeting my wife kind of helped me see that and become, yeah, I'm Dominic, the footballer, but I'm also Dominic, the father, the husband, the friend. My guest today is a gentleman who's become a symbol of this resilient, legionated side of bloke, a singular style. He's arrived back home in Yorkshire and experienced what can only be called, and we're connoisseant. I've loved watching him reborn, back in himself to sore again. To join you to welcome back one of the top three smelling footballers in the game. It's just a donut come, don't you? Roger, are you? All right. Good, good. You are top three, right? Willie Nonto number one. He just smells nice every day, and obviously when you greet everybody in the morning, you shake their hands, and every time you shake Willie's hand, you smell a bit for the rest of the day. Come on, blessed life, goals to smell of Willie Nonto. Don't, I want to start by leaping back a year ago. Over the summer, you were plotting a new course, nine seasons at Everton. You knew you wanted something new. Can you talk about that mind sex? I think you can only understand what's come next by picking you up where you were then. You've talked about personally needing a refresh, wanting something new. Where were you mentally? I've said it before, you know, needed a fresh start. I think nine years is a long time to be anywhere, and I felt that I'd stagnated a little bit, and Everton gave me so much, and I'm very grateful for all my time there, and it's played a large part in my life, I'm my career, but I think you get to, you arrive at a point, and I knew what I needed, and it was risk and reward. I think I just had to back myself and go take on a new challenge. I loved watching you, Everton. I'm going to get out of the way, I'll miss you there. When you first saw there, it was under Carlo Ancelotti, and he came on our show, and I said, how did you make this, Jen? Go there. He said, simple. I just put my arm around his shoulder, and then he thrived. And you kind of did. We've talked about how you're a man who feels things, which can be hard as a footballer. Can you talk about it in your own words? What you realise you need the conditions to thrive? Something, I guess, what Carlo suggested there, I think he did exactly that, and it gave me what I needed as a player and as a person to go and thrive on the football pitch, and I think- Which is what? Just that support system, the arm around the shoulder, just the subtle relationship that he built with me got the best out of me, it's hard to explain. I missed him a lot when he left Everton. I was at the Euros at the time when I found out he was leaving, so I was disappointed. And then what followed that was a series of injuries when probably I needed something like that at that time, and I didn't quite have it, same with Duncan Ferguson, left around the same time, I think as well. So the big pillars for me within the football club had left, and I went into a difficult period as everybody knows, and now I'm happy to have come out the other end. I want to dig into the story of last season. You've got your first Premier League minutes as a substitute third week against Newcastle. First start, next game, Gaines Fuller, and your first goal away to Wolves following week, it was a high deep cross from Jaden Bogle, dropped into your curls, you were sandwiched between two wool centre backs in your lute at home. I'm not a big counter-dom, but I believe that was your first goal in 244 days. What did that feel like in that moment to experience that again? Was it like catharsis? Was it a relief? Was it pure joy? Just pure joy, a great feeling to have gotten off the mark for Legionite. It was top on my priority to do list, to score my first goal, so to have done that so early in the season was a nice thing to achieve and a nice start, but start as you mean to go on and just a great feeling. That match also the first time, completing 90 minutes, since the same game back in January, hamstring injury kept you out in the wake of that. I know you're a player for physicality, it's more than just throwing your body around the field, you're very in tune with your own body. Can you talk about how you almost need to learn to trust your body again to still? I think it's different for everybody, but I think when you go through a series of setbacks, it takes a time to kind of trust your body again and you can only do that by training and playing and staying on the pitch. And I think for me, I put a larger focus into my recovery, my nutrition, all the things and sleep being the main pillar of everything around the football pitch, to kind of give myself the best chance of staying on the pitch. And I'd say last season, I left no stone unturned in that respect. And one thing I've got to mention as well is my support system at home, my wife, my daughter, it's given me the best platform I could wish for to go and thrive on the football pitch and it all coincided at the same time. And it's a life story as well as a professional story, you know. It is amazing when footballers have to be selfish by trade, like you have to only think about yourself. I've heard you in interviews, took about what having a daughter's done to change your life and your game, but it's almost anti that footballing selfishness. How do you understand it? I think that I was so like football to me, still everything, but it was the be all and end all. And it was a large part of my identity, it was like me, the footballer. And it took me a while to find out who really Dominic was, I would say. And having a daughter and meeting my wife kind of helped me see that and become, yeah, I'm Dominic, the footballer, but I'm also Dominic, the father, the husband, the friend at home. And I think that gives me more clarity in who I am and he's actually helped me perform on the football pitch, because I'm way more free to play. Free to play was really the thought of watching it. It has been so joyous to see you sore again, that redemptive arc for the club, for you. The story's well-know and 2-0 down against Manchester City at half time, Daniel Farker moves you to 3 at the back, you score in that game and things were going to click for the team. For you, I want to talk about the team first because there was momentum coming out of that. How would you experience that kind of transformation from a relegation-bound team who were struggling to possess the ball, to one who were suddenly flowing? It's always like a vibe shift. Is it the culture that comes first, the change, or does winning actually change the culture? The culture was there and I was always a strong believer that even when we were facing adversity in the beginning of the season that we could turn it around because of the group that we had, the culture that we built, and also the culture that I've walked into that give for certainly for me, it was a natural fit. It's in Yorkshire. We all know I'm a Yorkshire man and I felt very at home with the staff, the players, Aldi Welcoming in. The core of the team was strong enough and was resilient enough to be able to turn it around and sometimes it takes moments in football to do that and that was the evidence that we needed that we could go against the best and play well. We didn't come away with a result on the day but we'd done enough and had the evidence to show that, right, we deserved to be here and that was the catalyst. You went to the Chelsea game, the Liverpool game, that story is well-known but for you, you want to post seven goals in six games, that one beat and run that lifted, lead up and really you never look back. You've talked about how it was the environment, riding the tide but personally when you're in that flow again, when you're scoring the goals there's the game feel different that the goalkeepers feel shorter, that the goals feel bigger. Do you feel like you can't miss when you pull your footma? There are moments in your career or in seasons where you go through that kind of vein of form where everything that touches you goes in and that's the kind of form I was in through through November, December, January and it's a great feeling as a striker when you get into that flow state that's where you want to be and as long as you can stay in that the better. What does it feel like to score a goal? How would you actually put it into words? It's the best feeling in the world, it really is and it's addictive, it's the adrenaline rush that you get when you score in goals, it's I never get bored of it and I think coming into a club lightly united, it's been very very special to have been scoring on a consistent basis and feeling that love from the fans and giving back, they want to see a representation of themselves when they look at you on the football pitch and that's what I always strive to do is just try and give my best and give back to them that support you so well. Yeah, the beautiful quote in the program allegionated this season, you said, I want to score goals for those normal blocs from Yorkshire because I'm still one of them. It was as simple as that and when I came to the club I realised that I'd made a very good decision in joining the football club and feeling the place and the environment and the people and there was always going to be question marks over was I the right man for the job and I felt that from a part of the fan base but what I felt mostly was let's get behind this guy, he's an experienced Premier League player and he's going to be good for us so I wanted to repay that and when I started to do that it was you know a great great feeling. Wayne really wanted to come on this year and said that to score a goal that feels like you're under water as a diver and then you just break the water level you can hear everything. It's not a bad analogy I would say like sometimes you go into a state of euphoria particularly when you score a goal that means so much that the noise is so loud that it's almost silent you know it's you go into like this different place and most of the celebrations that I do I don't really remember you know because you just saw like taking everything in but also taking it off and in at the time and it's here you go full and said it was like an orgasm only better. It could be, it could be. Don't forget to name two strikers that you've learned the most from style wise just by watching who they beat and might the last 10 years I always watched Karen Benzema even though our styles may not be so similar I just think in terms of appreciating someone else's craft than what they do for me is one of the best to to ever play number nine so Benzema would be one. That makes a physicality and clinicality. Yeah just the way he played the way he moved the way he could score all types of goals I think a top top player that probably doesn't get the respect that he deserves in my opinion and then for someone that is could arguably be similar to me Olivier Giroux I think another one that maybe doesn't get the respect that he deserves I think a top top player target man didn't rely necessarily on his pace but relied more on his craftiness on his on his physicality and he's back to goal play and obviously scored some great goals and both two good looking. Your manager Daniel Farca said you're a great human being, a great teammate, hard worker and he described your goal screw in habit you've heard this a lot I'm sure the ketchup bottle says the goals all come out after a couple of shakes almost like the goal screwing is linked to confidence. Do you agree though or is there a condomin that you feel more spiritually aligned with than the tomorrow so I think for me it's you know as a striker you've got a handful of players in the world strikers in the world that can pick the ball up from the halfway line dribble it and shoot from 20 yards and it goes in I might not have that capability and I know my strengths and I sometimes well I rely a lot on the players around me and the service that I get and sometimes you go through periods where maybe you're not in the right place or the service is not quite there and the team's going for a difficult moment so the opportunities aren't there as much but then there are other times when everything clicks and you're in the right place and well that doesn't happen by accident because I'm still getting in the right areas I'm still assessing that when the ball's out wide I need to be in this area in case the ball does come sometimes the ball comes to the front post and you're in the back post it's not want to get too technical but it's about getting in the right areas consistently and eventually your look will change so you've said that goals are not the defining measurement of your success so what are the metrics what are the data points that you look to that you evaluate your performance might firstly I will always be judged on goals and that is I want to score goals but beyond that I think it's to lead the line physically be a presence for the team to be an outlet for the team when we're against maybe a different opposition and the game changes where maybe we need to be a bit longer to link the play well to affect the game as much as I can without scoring a goal and then if you add score a goal it's always a bonus. What mental work did you do before a game you were a visualiser of the game you're about to play? Not in too much depth I've fluctuated throughout my career on what truly worked for me but I've found that not giving too much thought is actually better for me because the reason you train repetition you know you train repetition have done thousands of hours on a football pitch so by the time the game comes your body already knows what to do so my idea is that is to get out of the head and more into the body and just let the body instinct in playoff instinct you know that's the memory correct goals what do you do mentally in times of challenge is there a ritual that you use in a methodology? I'm a creature of habit so my structure is what keeps me balanced my structure doesn't change whether I'm I've scored 10 in 10 or non-in 10 you know I continue to do the same things so I keep the same good habits regardless of the outcomes and I've been in the game long enough to know that if you are in a difficult moment the outcome will eventually change. I want to look ahead to the season there's before us leads new players new ambition clubs what Harry Wilson over from fuller watching his deliveries they seem tailor made out wide for your full head um what's he like defining a new relationship in training? Yes it's not been that long so far but I know a lot about him he's been we've played against each other a fair few times he had an unbelievable season last year and you can see the qualities got in training already it's got a nice cultured left foot which I'm I'm looking forward to to playing alongside him and hopefully my game and his game can complement each other and we can we can work a nice partnership together. Last season you had the chip on your shoulder to show that you were the right man for the club and the job you've shown that how do you reset what personal goals do you have what mission have you got for this year? It's always score more goals than the season before it's it's always been to try and make the this season better than the last that is that is always my goal and I think that's the main motivation from a personal level that you can need because maybe if you're a midfielder and you don't judge your game on goals there's a clear measurement for me is it's however many goals I score determines how good of a season I have and then obviously collectively you can add in that usually is a byproduct of me scoring goals is we finish further up the table we can we can kick on from where we finish last year and and all those things but I'm someone that is intrinsically motivated anyway so I don't really need anything external to motivate me I'm as hungry as ever and especially after a good season last year I'm hungry to do more. We talked before and I know that you're someone who's very focused on the work to come rather than what you've accomplished in the past but to me you are evidence of one constant in life that you transcends football that skill can get you so far but what really matters is tenacity the ability to persevere which I believe you really embody you've really built it when you look at your own journey what do you think is the most important lesson we should take from it sounds very cliche but never give up because success is never in a straight line I've said this before you know you can you're always going to have setbacks and you only lose if you stop so they would have been moments where over the last three four years where it was difficult and my back was against the wall and people are writing me off you know I'm not good enough to play in the Premier League and this that and the other regardless of what I'd already accomplished so for me it's you know do you accept that or do you make a deal with yourself of no this is this is not the end of me I've still got a much much much more left to prove and much more left to do more to myself than anything because we're all just young boys with a with a dream you know I'm a 29 year old man now but I'm still a kid inside kicking a ball around a football pitch so that was something that will will never leave me man I've got to say may this hang it out with me be the little point of the season to come Tom you're an amazing bloke to you to the season ahead and to your family big love thanks Roger thank you Kerry stop up