Gary Caldwell has given his thoughts as City face the long trip to Fleetwood Town on Saturday.
The Grecians head to Highbury looking to arrest a run of form that has seen 10 defeats in 12 matches but face a tough test against a Cod Army side themselves struggling in the bottom half of the table.
"Fleetwood are a team who have been through transition with a new manager coming in and they have changed their style," Gary said of Saturday's opponents.
"They have been very solid and have won games and that breeds confidence. We have to be ready for a really tough game, but we have to focus on ourselves.
"We've had discussions this week with the players on certain things and how we go about attacking and defending with intensity.
"We don't put the pressure of winning on the players as that creates anxiety. But we will provide them with clarity on what they need to do to win the game. Every game is a must win.
"When you lose games it's easy to say everything is wrong and the team is terrible. On the flipside it's easy when you're winning to say everything is great and we're top of the league. But in reality there were still things we needed to do better.
"As a staff we are very grounded and humble and look at the overall picture."
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