Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb believes getting the right mentality into his squad is a big part of pre-season.

The Fleet’s main priority will be their fitness levels with the start of the season less than a month away.

But Kutrieb is also keen to ensure his players are in the right frame of mind to take on the challenge of National League football.

“First and foremost we need to get the fitness right,” explained Kutrieb.

“Secondly we need to get the right mentality to be ready as it’s not easy when you’ve just played an outstanding season and won most of the games, with people knowing if we just turn up and play good enough then we didn’t need to rely on the opponent to have a bad game.

“But this season will be different, we need to always have a good game just to have a chance to win. We came away a few times last season when we didn’t play well but we still won our games. This might be a bigger challenge this season.

“After that we need to get everyone back on the same page, the players that were with us and the new ones, and then try to find the right balance for the big amount of games ahead.

“We will need everyone in the squad before the end of September when we’ve already played nearly a third of all the games.

“From this point of view, winning in pre-season and having clean sheets is always good so on the surface, everything is good at the moment, but we’ll see exactly what we have to work on and get better at as we go on.

“For us, just like everyone else who was successful in the past, you have to make sure you’re ready for the next challenge and don’t think we’ve achieved something from last season. We need to get going and make sure we have the right mentality and not take it for granted.

“It will be tougher as it’s a league above, the challenges will be bigger and that’s natural because of the nature of the league.”

It’s been a positive start to pre-season for the Fleet with wins against Punjab United, Tonbridge and Sittingbourne already under their belts.

The level of opposition goes up a notch this week when League 2 Colchester visit Stonebridge Road on Saturday (1pm) before the Fleet host League 1 newcomers Leyton Orient on Wednesday night.

“You can already see what’s working well, we’ve picked up a few things from last season that were positive but apart from that it’s just a case of getting the work done, getting the fitness into the boys and making sure you get the mentality right,” said Kutrieb.

“If you play against a League 1 or League 2 side it’s a different challenge where you need to be more resistant, you’re not allowed to make mistakes, and all these things.“It’s interesting to see where we are at. It’s nice to see for me but it’s always nice for the boys to get the feeling of we’re able to compete or to know how far away we are from that level.

“As a player you always think I can easily play League 1 or League 2, whatever it is, and here they can test themselves as well. It’s not always about me, it’s about them as well to get a feeling of where are they really. Even if it’s just a friendly you always want to compete against good teams.

“From a manager’s point of view this will show us where we are and where we need to get better. We can also try different tactical approaches as we want to be flexible and change if we have to.”