Can you coach mentality? It’s a tough question that may be interpreted differently depending on the individual but Matt Taylor believes you can as he looks for improvement in that very department from his Bristol Rovers side.
First goals tend to be of significance importance in League One often proved to be the case for the Gas last season and so far has been this term too. In every game this campaign the team who scored first has gone on to win the match with Rovers’ only draw being a goalless one at Rotherham United.
“I’ve got to be careful because a manager can’t sit here and say, ‘we’re constantly learning’ while not picking up results,” the Gas manager declared. “Certainly on the back of a performance that it was.
“Great that I’ve learned a lot but I’d rather not learn and win a game. You can’t sit there in the manner that we are doing now relaxed about it and say, ‘I’ve learned a lot.’
“I’ve learned a lot about people this week. The score line is what it is and the performance was what it was and that’s the biggest learning aspect. The bits which go around it before and after it come second to that because that’s what we’re judged on, that’s what I’m judged on and what the fans will ultimately judge on.”
The Gas did have opportunities to clinch a point in their 2-1 defeat at Barnsley almost a fortnight ago but capitulated after going a goal down in their 4-0 thumping at home to Wigan Athletic last weekend.
Rovers had started the game brightly but once Joe Hugill had capitalised on weak defending from a corner, Taylor’s side completely lost their identity as they went on to give up another three goals and it could well have been more.
Plenty has been made about the youthfulness of this new Gas team and evidently the more experienced you get, the better equipped you are to handling setbacks in games, such as going behind at home. However, Rovers are going to have one of the youngest average ages in the division throughout the campaign meaning that they will have to find a way to improve the way in which they react to difficult moments.
How they do that is yet to be seen but Taylor knows that his players are going to have to face up to setbacks considerably better than they did last weekend ahead of another particularly tough-looking away trip to Peterborough United on Saturday.
Asked the same question with which this very piece was begun, the Rovers manager told Bristol Live: “It’s a hell of a question, isn’t it? You can [coach it] over time and you can get the players to understand the value of competing and running first and foremost. Understanding moments in games but there’s also a comfort blanket if you’ve been there and done it and played hundreds and hundreds of games and you know your game inside out and you know your partners.
“So there’s a little bit of inexperienced naivety within the group and that’s why it was important to highlight it to them. We didn’t just turn into a poor team before the game or going into the game, some moments, and we spoke about it, happened 20 minutes in and then we completely lost who we are, what we stand for, what’s brought us success, what we need to do in the game and then as a manager and staff you’re constantly trying to find ways to reconnect them. There might be a simple way to do that with kick and chase or closing the pitch up in certain areas or changing the shape which we did at half-time. Unfortunately on Saturday we never recovered.
“Luckily this week we’ve got a chance to recover and put in a different performance out there but that’s a great question in terms of can you coach mentality. I think you can enhance it. I think you can get players to understand themselves a little bit more, understand the team a little bit more, understand what’s needed at certain moments of the game.
“Then there’s also a natural side of it where I’m a 42-year-old man and am more comfortable in certain moments of life than a 22-year-old man. That’s just nature. That’s just how humans work.
“There’s an understanding that this group will get shook at times this season. My job now is to give them a chance when they are shook how we meet the next challenge. We have to meet it better than we did last weekend.”
The manner of the defeat to Wigan in particular was a major shock to everyone in attendance at The Mem last weekend given how solid the Rovers defence had been in most games previously this term with three clean sheets in their opening four matches. However, the Gas gave up 23 shots with eight deemed big chances in front of their home fans who, previously, hadn’t seen their team concede in BS7 this season.
Although the point that this is still a very new team with the process of players gelling together still in its early stages will continue to be made, Taylor admits he can’t keep saying that Rovers are learning when they’re not picking up results.
There is still plenty to be excited about with this group but evidently there are major areas for improvement and now we’ll see how they react to back-to-back defeats, with the most recent a hammering at home, when they go to Peterborough this weekend.
“I’ve got to be careful because a manager can’t sit here and say, ‘we’re constantly learning’ while not picking up results,” the Gas manager declared. “Certainly on the back of a performance that it was.
“Great that I’ve learned a lot but I’d rather not learn and win a game. You can’t sit there in the manner that we are doing now relaxed about it and say, ‘I’ve learned a lot.’
“I’ve learned a lot about people this week. The score line is what it is and the performance was what it was and that’s the biggest learning aspect. The bits which go around it before and after it come second to that because that’s what we’re judged on, that’s what I’m judged on and what the fans will ultimately judge on.”
