Paul Simpson wants no more “impostor syndrome” at Carlisle United as the Blues look to find their feet in League One.
United host Exeter City today seeking their first win since promotion (Brunton Park, 3pm).
And the manager hopes their performance in Tuesday’s comeback against Wigan Athletic will help convince the players they belong at this level.
“I think psychology is a big part of it. It gives you a lot of belief and they’ll take belief from that,” Simpson said.
“Everybody has to take confidence from what they did. When you step up and you get tested at the next level, there’s always that little bit of an imposter syndrome where you wonder whether we’re worthy of this and whether or not you should really be here.
“I know that’s something that’s gone on for donkey’s years, that’s always in the back of people’s minds, and it’s only recently that a title has been put to it.
“Maybe there has been a little bit of that, in terms of a lack of belief, but I thought we got that back once we started to play the way we know we can.
“We have to use it as a catalyst to move forward.”
Fin Back will return for the Cumbrians today as they take on Gary Caldwell’s Grecians, who have four points from their opening games compared with United’s two.
Carlisle earned praise for their second-half efforts against Wigan but Simpson said they should not go overboard about the way things went.
LISTEN: Simmo on Exeter, transfers, investment talks and more
“The level of performance was good, as was picking up a point, but what I don’t want to do is get carried away because we’ve had a strong 45 minutes,” he said.
“We have to carry that on. That’s the base we’ve got to be getting to.
“I’m not getting carried away. If it sounds like I’m jumping through hoops and singing from the rooftops because we’ve had a good second half, I’m not.
“I want it to be even better. I want us to improve. We’ve got to demand the highest possible standards we can get from the group we’ve got here, and maybe over time we might be able to bring other players in who can add to it.
“But at the moment we’ve got to make sure we keep trying to improve because that’s the way we’re going to make it an enjoyable season.”
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