Caldwell focuses on mental recovery after cup exit

BBC News

14-02-2025

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell has said he and his staff are focusing on the mental recovery of the team after their FA Cup heartbreak against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.The Grecians - who played all of extra time with 10 men - lost 4-2 on penalties to a Forest side that is third in the Premier League.It was a loss that Caldwell feels needs to be recovered from as much psychologically as it does physically."The physical bit is, I think, fairly easy. We know recovery protocols, you know what to eat, you know what to sleep," he told BBC Radio Devon."For me, the mental and emotional aspect of coming down and then coming back up - that is the harder bit."We've got different things that we do cognitively, we try to get the players smiling, we try to change the energy within the group in different ways - some stupid ways."
Caldwell uses methods such as playing games and making the players dance to try to lift spirits and re-centre their focus for what is an important part of the season.Exeter travel to bottom-of-the-table Cambridge United on Saturday (12:30 GMT) just five points above the relegation zone.City have dropped to 18th place in the division having lost six of their past seven games and they have not won in League One since 26 December.Caldwell added of the loss to Forest: "I think that is important that we don't just put it aside and say: 'Right, physically you need to do this, this and this, do your job, get out of this building'."We have to connect with the players emotionally again, we have to build them back up for what's going to be a huge effort on Saturday."It's not just physical recovery, that's fairly easy, it's mental and emotional."We have to be at the very same levels we were at on Tuesday, because if we are then we're going to be a really difficult team to play against in League One."