Archived News from November 2016
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TOUGH TO BEAT BUT MURRAY NEEDS TO TAKE MORE RISKS
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Gaffer highlights players' focus during unbeaten run
mansfieldtown.net, 27th October 2016 Stags’ boss Adam Murray believes a ‘fantastic focus’ from his players has contributed to his side’s six-match unbeaten run. Murray’s men have avoided defeat since the 1-0 loss at home to Grimsby Town in September and during the excellent run, they’ve recorded two victories alongside four 1-1 draws - three of which have been achieved away from home. And the boss has paid tribute to his players for their hard work during the excellent run of results. “I think discipline, organisation and a fantastic focus from the players [has been crucial],” Murray said. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/2016-17/gaffer-highlights-players-focus-during-unbeaten-run-3386041.aspx#6YFdykRJKSzTyFP9.99 “We obviously do a lot of work on the training ground on our structure. I think over the last two years, I’ve learnt and come to realise that my strength is probably organisation and structurally putting a team together and making us hard to beat. “The players have bought in to that, we would’ve liked to turn a couple of those draws in to wins and I think that would see us sitting comfortably in the play-offs. I think before and after the Accrington game, I noted in press that I’d changed certain things and gone back to certain values that I believe in and we’ve done that and since then, we’ve been unbeaten.” Top scorer Matt Green, who has scored eight goals in all competitions this year, has been nominated for the Nottinghamshire Professional Footballer of the Year award and Murray says it is testament to Green’s character and work ethic, whilst also praising youngster Zayn Hakeem after his brace for Antigua and Barbuda under 20s on Tuesday evening. “He’s a fantastic player and, of late, not his ability on the pitch or his performances, I expect that from Matt, his attitude and his focus has been Championship [level], the way he’s gone about his day-to-day business has been Championship [level] and that’s why he’s got the goals he’s scored in recent weeks. “Zayn will be a good player for Mansfield Town, but we’ve got to get his progression right. It’s the same with the likes of Tom Marriott, it was the same with Jack Thomas and I felt I dealt with Jack in the right manner and he’s become an established player so I’ll do the same with Zayn, I’ll do the same with Tom and I’ll do the same with the other young players that we’ve got coming through.” Stags will welcome Stevenage to One Call Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3.00pm kick-off) and Murray says his two sidelined players, Jamie McGuire (dead leg) and George Taft (hamstring), are progressing well with their recoveries, but are likely to be unavailable for Saturday’s clash. Speaking about the opposition, Murray believes the Boro will pose a tougher task for his side than what the league table suggests, with Darren Sarll’s side currently dangling just one place above the relegation zone. “I think the position is a little bit false at the minute. When you look at the squad, they’ve got some household names, they’ve got some good experienced players and they’ve also got some very good talented young players. They like to play a good brand of football and I think the position in the league that they lie in at the minute is probably lying.” Supporters will be able to watch Adam Murray’s pre-Stevenage news conference on Stags PlayerHD soon. --------------- Stags tough to beat, but Murray admits he needs to take more risks at home chad.co.uk, Thursday 27 October 2016 Mansfield Town will try to extend their unbeaten run to seven games at home to Stevenage on Saturday with boss Adam Murray admitting he needs to learn to take a few more risks. After failing to win a game in September, Murray tightened his ship and, although they have not lost in six, they have drawn four of them. He said: “I think it has been down to discipline, organisation, and a fantastic focus from the players. “We obviously do a lot of work on the training ground on our structure. “Over the last two years I’ve come to learn that my strength is probably organisationally and structurally putting a team together and making it hard to beat. The players have bought into that. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/stags-tough-to-beat-but-murray-admits-he-needs-to-take-more-risks-at-home-1-8205067 “We would have liked to have turned a couple of those draws into wins. I think that would have seen us comfortably in the play-offs. “But I think before and after the Accrington game I noted in press that I’d changed things and gone back to certain values I believed in. “We’ve done that and, since then, we’ve been unbeaten.” He added: “I like being organised. I like not conceding goals. I like being solid and hard to beat. “But I am not stupid. I know that at times I do need to take more risks. That’s something as an individual I am working on.” Stags will take on Stevenage with confidence after holding high-flying Luton 1-1 away from home last Saturday. “I want my team to epitomise me in terms of its attitude,” said Murray. “You look at our attitude at Luton on Saturday. “We went there confident, not arrogant, but we walked in with our chests out as we were five unbeaten and we’d been to some tough places. We felt we could go there and beat Luton. “I think for the first 55-60 minutes the lads put an incredible shift it. It isn’t just physical, it was mental as well as we were that organised in our shape.” Murray added: “I think their manager came out and said for the first three or four minutes we didn’t touch the ball - we were over the moon with that as that was the plan. “We knew they have some very good players and tremendous resources and there are some games when you have to control the game without the ball and dictate it without the ball. I felt we did that. “We made our changes for a reason as they were piling a bit more pressure on us and throwing a few more bodies forward. But that ultimately was going to lead to their weakness. “We put a bit more pace into the team to try to catch them on the counter-attack and get that second goal. “I think we had four opportunities when if that final pass is right, we are in one-on-one with the keeper.” -------------------- Home advantage disappearing in football, says Stags boss Murray chad.co.uk, Thursday 27 October 2016 Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray said home advantage was going out of the game as tactical awareness grew and called on fans to help Stags to victory against struggling Stevenage on Saturday. Currently six games unbeaten, Mansfield have only won twice at home as the season reaches its third of the way through point this weekend, but Murray pointed out home frustration was a growing trend and Stags were far from the worst. “I know a lot has been made out of the home form,” he said. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/home-advantage-disappearing-in-football-says-stags-boss-murray-1-8205025? “But I can’t really be bothered to speak about it. We know it’s there and we are not the only club in this position. “You look at football in general at the minute - there was only one home win in our division last weekend. “I think out of the whole three leagues, about 34/35 games, there were only eight home wins. “The week before that, it was around the same number. “The game has become a tactical minefield in the modern era. “In the modern game players are more aware, fans are more aware and obviously managers and coaches are a lot more aware that the away performances now see sides want to use the home team’s so called advantage/strength as their weakness. “We do it and every other team does it, not just in this league bit through the leagues.” Murray continued: “Back in the day Jim Smith would go - ‘you’re away from home lads so get whatever you can and, don’t worry, we’re back at home next week.’ “That’s how the thought process was at home. It was a given that you’d win. Away you’d just get what you could. But the game has changed. “It has become a very even playing field now. Last season in League Two over the whole season, I think it was something like 39 per cent home wins, 36 per cent away wins and the rest draws. There is no difference now.” Murray said the only way to make a difference was the noise supporters made. “The difference comes in the environment your home ground creates - and that’s where we need our supporters as they make the difference,” he said. “You look at the game now, that’s how tight it is. The percentages and the facts don’t lie. “Away teams go - you’re the home team, you’ve got to come out at us, your fans want you to attack, so we’re going to let you come out and then we’re going to sucker punch you. That’s the game. It happens at the top level and it happens in League Two. “Yes you are the home team and you have to take that little bit more risk, but that’s my job. “That is a personal thing for me. I know I am very structural in my work. “But we are not the only club in the world of football at minute that has, I’m not going to say, home issues. “We are 14th in the home table, so it’s not as if we are bottom and one more win takes us into the top 10 for home form. So it’s not a catastrophe. “But for us to get into the higher regions and break that top seven barrier we have got to start picking three points up at home and we will be dong everything we can. “We are looking at every single thing, as the margins are that tight in terms of home and away, especially in League Two as we don’t get huge crowds. “They are very level environments you go into. So we need our fans. “If we get our fans that made all the noise at Luton, or the fans that made all the noise at Crewe, the ones that stood here against Wycombe and made all the noise, the fans here against Yeovil that made all the noise, that’s our environment and gives us that extra five per cent to make this our home environment and gives us the advantage on the opposition.” Although Stevenage are 22nd and struggling, Murray said: “We are expecting a tough game. “I think their position is a little bit false at the minute. You look at their squad and they’ve got some household names. “They have some good experienced players and also some very good talented young player. “They like to play a good brand of football and I think their position is the league at the moment is lying. “But that’s the league right now. It’s that tight you win two games and you’re up there in the mix and you lose a few and you’re down the in the doldrums.” Stags’ treatment table is finally clear at the moment, but Murray felt Jamie McGuire (leg injury) was unlikely to return. “I think Saturday will be too soon for him. But he back in training, which is good. “Tafty’s (George Taft) back in training as well, so we’ll see how the next two days go. To have them both back in the group is good news.” ------------------- Adam Murray: ‘Mansfield Town will make the play-offs’ (comment - Adam Murray later said he never said Mansfield will make the play-offs, he said his expectation is that we can get in the play-offs but we've got plenty of other teams that will try and stop us) chad.co.uk Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray says he expects Stags to be in the League Two play-offs. Stags are just one point behind Accrington in the final play-off place despite having won just two of their last 10 league fixtures. But Murray feels that his goal-shy Stags are in a good place right now with a third of the sesson gone. “We have had a good month. The atmosphere in the camp at the minute is where I wanted it to be probably two months ago,” he said. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/adam-murray-mansfield-town-will-make-the-play-offs-1-8205690 “It’s one of those things in football that you don’t know what tweaks it or what changes it. Sometimes it just happens, it’s just time. “But the boys are in a real good place, the camaraderie, the focus, the intensity in the work at the minute, I am proud of them at the minute the way they are going about their business. “We have got to continue that now and push on to achieve the goal we want to achieve. “My expectations are probably too high. I have to manage my expectations more than anybody else has to,” said Murray. “I’ve said on a number of occasions we were behind schedule for a number of reason. “But we’re slowly catching up now and I expect us to be in the play-offs. I think we are on course for doing that.” Mansfield Town will try to extend their unbeaten run to seven games at home to Stevenage on Saturday. And Murray admits he needs to learn to take a few more risks. After failing to win a game in September, Murray tightened his ship and, although they have not lost in six, they have drawn four of them. He said: “I think it has been down to discipline, organisation, and a fantastic focus from the players. “We obviously do a lot of work on the training ground on our structure. “Over the last two years I’ve come to learn that my strength is probably organisationally and structurally putting a team together and making it hard to beat. The players have bought into that.” ----------------- Stags star Green in the running for county award chad.co.uk, Wednesday 26 October 2016 In-form Mansfield Town hotshot Matt Green will attend the Nottingham Sports Awards tonight at the East Midlands Conference Centre where he among the finalists for Nottinghamshire Professional Footballer of the Year. Also in the running are former Forest starlet Oliver Burke and Notts County hitman Jon Stead. “Apart from the two years he had injured I think Matt has had a very good career,” said Stags boss Adam Murray, who has helped spark a return to the goals for Green after dropping him for five games. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/stags-star-green-in-the-running-for-county-award-1-8204893 Green now has eight goals this season with five in the last four to end his drought. “He is a centre forward so he’s always going to have highs and lows - that’s the way centre forwards go,” said Murray. “He is a fantastic player and, of late - not his ability and performances as I expect that from Matt, it’s his attitude and focus that have been Championship. “The way he’s gone about his day to day business has been Championship, and that’s why he’s got the goals he has scored in recent weeks. “Defenders fear Matt at the minute, and they should do as he will eat you alive at the minute. That’s the frame of mind he’s in along with the other strikers we’ve got. “They are all very aggressive to their approach to playing football at the minute which is fantastic. “Hopefully that will continue on Saturday.” ----------------- Stags boss Murray warns of Stevenage ‘false position’ chad.co.uk, Wednesday 26 October 2016 With Mansfield Town continuing to produce play-off form away from home, boss Adam Murray knows his side now need to string some consistent results together at home, starting with Saturday’s visit of Stevenage (3pm). But Murray has warned that he believes struggling Stevenage are in a false position in the League Two table. “If we can keep our away form and just tweak our home form, it is play-off form,” he said. “We now want to get three points on the board this weekend and that will push us right on. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/stags-boss-murray-warns-of-stevenage-false-position-1-8202727 “You look at our away form, going back to last season. We are one of the toughest teams to break down in this league. “Our focus is our home form and, if we can tweak that, we’ll be in the mix at the end.” Stevenage are currently struggling, but Murray warned: “They’re a team who like to play football and have some good young players. “They have some experienced players in vital areas and have put a strong squad together. When you look at some of the names within their squad, their position is false. “So we know that it will be another tough game and, as we’ve found out from the results across the board so far this season, this league is unforgiving and on any given day anybody can beat anybody. “But we go into the game six games unbeaten, one point off the play-offs, a chance for us to go into the play-off pack on Saturday, along with an opportunity to progress into the next round of the FA Cup and the Checkatrade Trophy all within the space of two weeks.” Stags will be hoping midfielder Jamie McGuire has recovered from a leg injury to rejoin the squad. Visiting Stevenage went into the season looking for a better campaign than last year, targeting a top half finish, possibly leading to the play-offs - but it’s been a tough few months. Darren Sarll’s men have just the one win on the road in the league and are now third bottom. Defensively they have struggled for consistency while in the last three games all four goals conceded have come from set pieces. In those three games Stevenage have played Plymouth (2-1 home defeat), Morecambe (2-0 away win) and Carlisle (2-1 home defeat), which is a tough run of opposition, but against Morecambe and again last Saturday they played quite well. Matt Godden felt his calf on Saturday and was taken off a few minutes before the end, but should be fine to play. Nottingham Forest loanee Tyler Walker has missed the last three games with a knee injury but could also be back in contention. However, Jobi McAnuff (fractured toe) is a couple of weeks away from a return. ------------ SARLL: WE HAVE GOT A LOT OF THE SEASON AHEAD OF US stevenagefc.com, 28th October 2016, by Dan Branowsky Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Mansfield Town, Darren Sarll reflected on the previous weekend’s defeat to the hands of unbeaten Carlisle United. Having put so much into the game, Sarll says he felt for his players after the final whistle. “I thought it was a really good performance and I came away frustrated and a little bit heartbroken actually for the players. “The players had tried their absolute hardest, it was a good product out on the pitch and there were some academy and young players out on the pitch. “I thought they represented the football club well and ultimately, if we all dig deep, the biggest thing we all want is a group of people working for a common goal, in one direction and I think the players did that Saturday.” The defeat leaves Boro languishing towards the bottom of the table but Sarll believes it is too early to draw any conclusions about where the season is heading. “We have got a lot of the season ahead of us and we are showing that promise and signs that we can still make this a good season. It only takes a few wins to bump yourself up and everyone’s moods changes. “We just need to make sure now we cement our place amongst the group of teams that we really want to consider ourselves against.” This weekend’s opponents, Mansfield Town come into the game on a six game unbeaten run and Sarll admits that he has been impressed by Stags boss, Adam Murray. “I have lots of admiration for the manager. I was very impressed with his side last year in particular and when I was a first team coach, I did cast an eye over Mansfield quite a lot because I quite enjoyed what he was trying to achieve there. “They have got a good side, very established and they have got a lot of senior players. They run for the manager and we know that going to Mansfield is a difficult place in terms of the environment and the atmosphere that they produce there.” Read more at http://www.stevenagefc.com/news/article/2016-17/sarll-we-have-got-a-lot-of-the-season-ahead-of-us-3386953.aspx#AqiMzEb0EOSeTwyu.99 ------------------- |
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