Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman has urged his players to relax and enjoy themselves on the pitch against Sunderland this evening to put an end to their dismal form since the turn of the year.
The Lancashire-based outfit have failed to win a game in League One since the turn of the year, ahead of their meeting with Sunderland tonight.
Despite a dismal run of form that has seen them remain in the bottom half of England’s third-tier, Coleman has urged his players to relax and enjoy themselves on the pitch at the Stadium of the Light.
The Stanley boss admitted he is not too concerned by his team failing to score a league goal since the turn of the year and stressed that his job is to take the pressure off the players.
Coleman also insisted that results will be hard to come by if the team are tense on the pitch and stressed finding the right balance between relaxing and not making the players give up caring.
“My job is to try and take the pressure off the players”, Coleman told the club’s official website.
“If we start beating ourselves up over not scoring it becomes the main focus of what you do.
"People tense up and you end up almost making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“We’ve got to try and put it to the back of our minds, try and relax more on the pitch and try to enjoy the game for what it is.
"We’ve got to try and enjoy being footballers and playing football.
“If you’re all tensed up then you don’t really enjoy things, so it’s a balance between relaxing the players but not making them give up caring.
“We’ve got to try and take the pressure off them while still making them realise the enormity of trying to win games.”
Sunderland will be eyeing a win against Stanley after being held to consecutive draws against Oxford United and Blackpool in recent games.
