Problems playing against not very experienced players?

[thelilpups]

Hey, I've been playing melee for about 4 months and i've noticed pretty nice progression. Recently I've noticed that whenever I play against players who are relatively new to the game and just throw side smashes out i tend to barely beat or even lose to them.

The thing is that I play against really experienced players often and I have a few friends who are ranked nicely on the netplay ladder, and I do a lot better against them.

I feel like I kinda stoop down to their level or rise up depending on the skill of the player. I'm aware that this happens in almost every sport, but was wondering if anybody had advice or what is wrong with me.

I'm not saying I'm good I just compete against better players than I do with noobies

 

[Xyzz]

Easily punished stuff is easy to punish. You still need to learn to do it.
If all you ever see is people dashdancing and throwing out shffls, chances are you don't know how to punish people for just throwing out fsmash yet.

 

[Greed-checkTheTek]

Sometimes I lose matches to noobs , not because theyre better but because I dont expect what they do. For example, at a tournament recentley I played a marth who litterally only fsmashed and I didnt expect that so I lost a match, the best thing to do in a situation with these types of people is to quickly recognize what they are doing.In my situation the marth just spammed fsmash so i recognized so i exploited it and spot dodged into punish.Basically you have to read them and bait them.
Fairly simple.

 

[AirFair]

Really, all you have to do is watch their first stock. Newer players tend to only have one gameplan total, and new habits are SO easy to punish. It catches me off guard too, since I don't expect the scrub option, but they are extremely easy to adapt to, since they won't adapt to your own play as well.

 

[Deleted member]

Just figure out to punish it, after their first stock it's fairly easy to do. I myself lose to my noob friends purely because they're doing stupid stuff that experienced players wouldn't do so it catches me off guard.

 

[Xyzz]

Random tip: Run up > shield is pretty overpowered against newer players. Just starting to (dash dance > ) grab you for it is an adaption that they probably won't be able to make in time.. and it handily beats unwarranted smashes / sloppy SHFFLs.