Season from hell

[Aled]

There you go. This is your 5-4 season. You may be trying too hard. You may be getting more challenging games. You may be encountering situations you've not faced before.

Take a step back from the huge swathe of information you have and break it down to individual scenarios. For your first caution yesterday what was the reason for it? Could you have done anything earlier in the game that might have prevented the issue of the caution? Did you miss anything or dismiss it as not important in the build-up to that incident? What was your position relative to the incident? Might your proximity to play allowed you to influence player behaviour? Could you have used your voice more proactively? Could you have slowed down a restart just before this incident to take the heat out of the game?

These and a thousand other questions need to be answered by you before you can start blaming yourself. You'll probably find there was little you could do in that situation. Then move on to the next one...

I'll give an example from yesterday...
1st caution - player commits 2 fouls in about 7-10 seconds so I've cautions straightaway without thinking, maybe a warning was a better option but then again he got up and immieadiatley fouled someone else so instinct said caution... A warning would've possibly prevented him being sent off later on but could've made things worse...
It seems that whatever I try gets thrown back at me by the players

 

[Darius]

'Without thinking'

Was one/both of them worthy of a caution?

 

[Tealeaf]

5 of your reds and 21 of your yellows have come in three games.

This means that in the remaining 11 games you've had 2 reds and 22 cautions. That's a fairly even spread if the anomalies are taken out.

Were they tougher, niggly games perhaps? Were you being stretched/tested to see if you can cope with them as you want to be promoted again?

As the others have said - relax a bit. The high count games are just anomalies. They happen to us all - had a 12 caution game a few seasons back where both teams just wanted to kick lumps out of one another.

 

[Aled]

Another game and more issues! I think I'm just really unlucky!
2 more red cards to my collection... 1 for a 2 footed lunge, no choice but a red card if I'm honest and another for 2 cautions....
Now on 9 this year... Also had 5 cautions and a misconduct report...

 

[Darius]

What's the breakdown/order in minutes?

 

[Aled]

Very mixed throughout, first caution after 10 mins, next one was around 35. After that was around 55 mins and the 1 red was around 75 mins, next caution after 84 mins and 2nd red 90+3 mins

 

[Padfoot]

Another game and more issues! I think I'm just really unlucky!
2 more red cards to my collection... 1 for a 2 footed lunge, no choice but a red card if I'm honest and another for 2 cautions....
Now on 9 this year... Also had 5 cautions and a misconduct report...

Forget the cards......how was your performance?

 

[Aled]

Performance was good, 1st caution could've been avoided with a good bollocking but gave a card instead but was correct in law. I'm actually wondering whether I'm just unlucky as opposed to not in control, just gets me down the amount of cards I keep having to give and questioning my match control when I don't need to

 

[Padfoot]

If your performance was good than doesn't it follow that the cards were justified and correct?

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that cards = failure.....always look at your performance first before starting to fret over the cards.

 

[SM]

You are over analysing mate.

Reflection post match is helpful in developing good habits and identifying areas of development. Although it is starting to sound like you are second guessing yourself before the game has even finished.

It seems you need to take a step back and have a think about what criteria you are using to judge yourself and why. You are losing focus of what's important (facilitating a good, fair game of football where your actions benefitted and maintained control of the match being played) and instead are focused on your perception of your performance and numbers of cards being handed out.

Trying too hard, you need to relax. find a way to get back into the flow with games rather than worrying about your own performance.

My tuppence.