How can I get my team to be more competitive?

I realise this is the opposite to what you might expect, but from what you say, your players seem to be burdened with pressure, and only when that pressure is off (such as in training or when they’re well behind in a match) will they relax and play their natural games.

I’ve seen this happen many times.

The players’ simple and understandable desire to impress actually causes them to make mistakes – they are rigid in their posture, they cannot think clearly, and they’re looking to pass the burden of doing something special onto someone else.

There are a few things you can do to turn around this mindset. Firstly, reassure players that this isn’t the FA Cup final, and no one is judging them. You need to relax the competitive talk completely and offer the win as being something like a player retaining the ball for five seconds during a game, or the team constructing 10 consecutive passes.

Reward risk-taking, and offer the Player of the Match award not to the top scorer, but perhaps the top tackler or passer.

You have to accept that training sessions are very different from match days, but try to reduce the gap between the two if you can. And to get players physically and mentally switched on in time for matches, play a competitive small-sided game beforehand. Over time, you should see some improvement.