Inigo Calderon has called on his under-18 squad to be ‘humble and honest’ after their 6-1 defeat to Norwich City on Saturday.
Ronnie Gorman grabbed Albion’s only goal of the game against a Canaries team who hadn’t won in Premier League South until they visited the Amex Elite Football Performance Centre.
“The first goal was too soon and the second one was in the tenth minute, so that’s the last thing you want when you’re coming up against a team that sits in a mid-block, a 4-4-2," Calderon explained.
“I think we didn’t approach the game in the right mentality – maybe we thought it would be easy. But when you have that mentality the other team already have one up on you and it can turn into a nightmare – from that point it is too late.
“You can’t give away two goals to anyone. We still scored, but we were chasing the game. It wasn’t good enough. In the second half we tried, but it was complicated. It was by far the worst performance of the season. We have to learn from it. At this stage the players need to learn from it.
“You have to approach the game with the right mentality or you will be punished, it’s a tough lesson.”
While Calderon admits that there is no greater time to learn than after a defeat, his preference is always to win.
“It's not an excuse to say that you get to learn from a defeat, in coaching it’s the reality. For me, I learn more when I lose, but it doesn’t mean I want to lose.
“When you win, you don’t see the game again from the same perspective, but when you lose you want to know why. The most important thing is how you review.
“The first thing you have to do to improve as a player is to be critical of yourself. If you do that you will improve and that happens more when you lose than when you win. You have to be humble and honest to say ‘what I did wasn’t good enough, I will be better’.”
The under-18s now have a month off before they return to Premier League South action against West Brom on Saturday 13 January.