Nelson Jardim has urged Newport County to stay confident after a poor run but says defeats can hurt even the very best teams.
Newport have just one win in their last eight outings in all competitions, a run that has included six defeats.
And they have picked up only four points from the last 18 on offer in League Two as they prepare to welcome away-day specialists Grimsby Town to Rodney Parade on Saturday.
Exiles boss Jardim accepts that confidence may be a factor for a young squad also hit by injuries.
“Confidence is a huge part of football,” said Jardim, whose side go into the game 15th in the table on 19 points, five shy of visitors who occupy the final play-off position.
“Even big teams can lose their way. Look at Manchester City who have still got good players, the best manager in the world, have their way of playing, but the results aren’t coming – and part of that is confidence, because they’re not playing badly.
“My task is to make sure we keep our confidence. The players know what we want and need to do, we just have to get everyone thinking the same way which can be the hardest thing to do.”
Jardim pointed to recent games where Newport started brightly but buckled, including in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Tranmere Rovers.
“It’s a factor and we can see that, the way we start games well and then like at Tranmere we lost our way a little towards the end of the first half,” he said.
“We went 2-0 up against Peterborough [in the FA Cup] and against Reading [in the EFL Trophy] we were OK for the first half hour but we lose our way.
“It is the experience of keeping that confidence and trusting the way we should play every ball. Sometimes events don’t go our way in a game and there is a feeling that goes around the team that we’re not in control. But in reality we just have to keep doing what we were doing.”
