FRANK LAMPARD refuses to let his Chelsea kids take their foot off the gas but will not use the hairdryer to keep them on their toes.
The Blues boss admitted he constantly worries about a long winning streak leading to a decline in intensity on the training ground.
So ahead of this evenings tricky-looking trip to Burnley, he has been challenging his youngsters to keep pushing themselves to their limits.
Lampard said: I remember having good runs of form as a player and then slightly relaxing in training and my form turning and having to reassess myself.
The older I got, the more fearful I became of any good patches.
So that is something which I am always driving home to the players.
If I ever felt there was a lack of effort in training or during the game I would deliver a strong message, even if its not nice to hear.
That is something that has to come from the manager, so unfortunately I do have to play the bad cop at times.
But Im not a manager that is full of rollockings because if you do that on a regular basis it just becomes white noise and has no effect.
Players respond in different ways to that sort of thing.
If there is a moment when a very tough approach might be needed then thats what you do. If a firm b******ing is required to put people on edge, thats good in a positive way.
But to do it consistently who wants that every day?
Lampard, 41, played under 19 different managers for club and country during his career.
But none of them had more of a temper than his uncle, the legendary former manager Harry Redknapp.
He recalled: I wouldnt say any of my managers would regularly dish it out but Harry in my early days at West Ham might be one.
He would have been seen as the one who was the most vocal at times, throwing a sandwich or old-school stuff.
I remember a few incidents like that but the game moved on from that approach and Harry moved with the times and handed out less rollockings in his later career.
The modern player has changed so much and managers have to adapt.
No one wants to have a boss who is constantly dishing it out because it would be uncomfortable to work in an environment like that.
Having watched his team win their last six games, Lampard knows Chelsea face another tough test with this evenings trip to face a Burnley side riding high in eighth in the Premier League.
And he is keeping a particularly close eye on Callum Hudson-Odoi, after the 18-year-old wingers spectacular recent return from an Achilles tendon injury.
He admitted: Ive been on at Callum about things he can improve from the moment he stepped back on to the training pitch.
As soon as I took the job I made contact with him about his contract situation because I knew how important that was for the club and it was absolutely right I got involved.
I dont want to sound like Im being ultra-firm with him every day.
I was the first to congratulate him for his performance against Newcastle last week.
But there are moments with all younger players when they need to hear the cruel reality of football.
Its only by being consistently on edge that you get big celebratory moments.
I am really happy with Callums progress.
But I sometimes say to the outside world he can do better because I feel he is the type of player who will respond well to that.
I dont like to mention other players but I think Raheem Sterling is such a good role model for young English players in terms of the hard work behind the scenes that he has brought into his game.
I only want what is best for Callum and that starts with what he does day in, day out.
He has got to get every ounce out of every training session and listen to me and to all the staff.
