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Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb admits he is an annoying manager - but he can’t help it!
The German was demanding more from his players on Tuesday night, even though they were leading Braintree 2-0 with five minutes remaining at Stonebridge Road.
But the Fleet manager wants perfection and could see there were more goals to be gained as the visitors tired in the closing stages.
“I was a player so I know, if you play Saturday and then next Saturday, on the Tuesday night you are 2-0 up with five minutes to go and your gaffer is shouting go forward and score another one - that’s annoying, definitely annoying,” said Kutrieb.
“But I can’t help myself because I see the gaps, I see we can score another goal and I know it will give us more and more confidence.
“That’s why I try to encourage them to go and score the next one. There’s no need to do game management in football - I can’t see it.
“We’re not in the Premier League, we don’t play for £50million so they can go forward for the next goal.
“Of course, if there is a dangerous counter attack and the opponent is on top of us and we are struggling then you can settle the game down, and get the win over the line.
“But even for a fan here, you could see after the second goal they were gone and there was no threat that they could score a goal. If I have that feeling the team needs to learn but that’s kind of annoying for a team because they would love to have a manager who says nothing and they play the ball around for a bit, sit back and wait for the next game.”
It’s not an arrogance from the Fleet boss, either, who knows that if his players are over-confident then teams will quickly get on top of them.
But he will keep demanding more from his players, even if it might be the last thing they want to hear.
“It’s not about confidence or over-confidence,” added Kutrieb.
“I didn’t see a big mistake from our boys when Braintree got a chance, they had one chance in the second half but even then we were three against one and defended it well so they didn’t get a shot on target.
“For me, that’s confidence to think we don’t need the game management. Over-confidence is they are on top of us and we make stupid mistakes because we think we’re better (than we are).
“I want us to go for that third goal if the gaps are there, that’s what I want to see and I will implement it over time. Sometimes it is annoying when you have a manager who is never happy and always demanding.”
Fleet host Bath on Saturday without the suspended Will Wood while Chris Solly and Alex Finney could both be in contention after being left out on Tuesday as a precaution.
Adam Mekki and Christian N’Guessan are two to three weeks away from a return to action.
