The Coaches' Room
General•Adult•Confidence & Behaviour

One mistake and I spend the rest of the game expecting to be taken off

Asked by LastBusBack
4282 views 7 replies
I'm one of the youngest in the team and if I make an obvious mistake I immediately look at the bench and assume the manager is going to change me. It makes the next ten minutes worse because I stop playing naturally. How do you get out of that mindset in adult football?

VERIFIED COACH RESPONSE

That reaction is understandable, but looking at the bench after every mistake gives the mistake a second effect. Try to create a reset routine that happens before you check anyone else's reaction. Take one breath, get into your next position and identify the next simple job. The manager's decision is outside your control; the next action is not. Also remember that coaches usually judge the response to an error as well as the error itself. A young player who makes a mistake and then continues asking for the ball can show more than one who spends ten minutes trying not to make another. If you are genuinely unsure how mistakes affect your selection, ask the manager away from the match. That can remove some of the assumptions you are making in the moment. One mistake should become information for the next action, not a prediction that your game is about to end.

COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

Join the football discussion. 7 replies

C

CoastRoad2

Player

What helped me was deciding the next action before looking anywhere else. Get back into shape, make yourself available, then carry on. Sounds simple but it stops the spiral.
W

WhiteVan82

Player-Coach

Exactly. Response is part of performance. Coaches notice who can make an error and still stay in the game.
G

GardenShed7

Player-Coach

I think younger players assume the bench is reacting to every error. Half the time the staff are talking about something completely different. You're creating a conversation in your head that isn't happening.
M

Martin51

Player

Yep. I've been on the bench and watched a player look over after every misplaced pass. Nobody was even discussing him. He was basically subbing himself mentally.
E

EarlyBird

Player

As a player, I used to do exactly this. The next ten minutes became all about not making another mistake. Which meant I stopped trying anything that made me useful.
B

BG59

Coach

This is the real cost. One mistake isn't usually what hurts you. Ten minutes of hiding afterwards can be much more obvious to a coach.
O

olivia_online

Player-Coach

Player-coach here. If a manager is going to take you off for every mistake, you'll find that out soon enough. Looking at the bench after each one only makes you play like you're already on borrowed time.

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