Archived News from October 2015
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MURRAY: PREPARATIONS FOR BRISTOL ROVERS
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Murray insists high standards must be maintained
mansfieldtown.net, 12th October 2015, by Will Ward Manager Adam Murray has challenged his players to maintain their high standards following their highly promising start to the Sky Bet League Two season. Stags currently sit in fourth position after their comprehensive 3-0 victory over Newport County at One Call Stadium on Saturday, which leaves them one point from the automatic-promotion places. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/murray-wants-to-maintain-high-standards-2739938.aspx#gEVjab3v6BYKgzIF.99 Despite seeing his team notch their third consecutive win, Murray was quick to urge the Stags not to rest on their laurels ahead of League Two's tough schedule. The manager added: "We need to make sure our standards don't drop, we need to continue nailing the little things and we need to be strict with ourselves - we go into some good games now so we want more points. We prepare to make sure that we're 100 percent right, and we prepare to limit the risk of failure. "At the minute I love it - we're little old Mansfield just chugging along and nobody cares about us. Our players aren't getting the credit they deserve and it's brilliant. Let us go under the radar, we know how good our players have been for the whole of the season so far. "The question is now, how long can you be good for? That is the question I'll be putting to them. We need to be consistent and you don't win anything by being good in a month, it needs to be over the course of the season. We have to make sure our intensity and focus gets even higher now - the work load will go up and people have got to keep up with that.” Although Plymouth Argyle opened the gap at the top to three points with a win over Notts County yesterday, the Stags’ boss doesn’t believe any side will break away from the rest. "I can't see anyone that's realistically going to run away massively with it - it's going to be a league of consistency more than ever this year. It's going to be tight because there's a lot of good teams in there this season. It will be a lot tougher than it was last year. "There's only going to be a few points from top to bottom, we need to make sure that when we don't win, we draw - and keep the belief. At the moment our belief in the team is very good and we need to make sure that it stays there." Malvind Benning netted a second stunning strike twice in the space of seven days as he doubled Mansfield's lead with a long-range volley, which won the goal of the weekend for Sky Bet League Two, but Murray says he was more pleased with the defender's work ethic at the back. After being asked which of his two sensational goals was better, the manager declared: "His clean sheet [was better]. Goals are brilliant, goals win games but the basis of any successful team is clean sheets and if you get clean sheets, you don't lose. "Mal's (Malvind Benning) an attacking full-back, he's always going to cause problems and we've worked on a lot of things with him to put him in the positions to do that. The learning curve for him was learning his defensive shape and discipline. Everyone will see the top corner finishes and all the pretty stuff but for me the hardcore work he's done is what pleases me." View Adam Murray's news conference in full on Stags Player. -------------------- Benning makes Team of the Week mansfieldtown.net, 12th October 2015 Stags’ defender Malvind Benning has been named in The Football League’s Team of the Week following his performance in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Newport County AFC. Benning was part of a defensive unit which kept a clean sheet for the fifth time this season and also scored the Sky Bet League Two goal of the week for the second game running thanks to his stupendous second half volley. http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/benning-makes-team-of-the-week-2740679.aspx? The former Walsall left-back was a constant threat all afternoon against the Exiles and it was he who whipped in the cross which led to Craig Westcarr’s opening goal. The Team of the Week in full is as follows: Reice Charles-Cook (Coventry City), Malvind Benning (Mansfield Town), Luke Prosser (Southend United), George Baldock (Oxford United), Liam Kinsella (Walsall), Che Adams (Sheffield United), Ryan Colclough (Crewe Alexandra), David Wheeler (Exeter City), Matt Tubbs (Portsmouth), Reuben Reid (Plymouth Argyle), Shaun Miller (Morecambe). Manager: Micky Mellon (Shrewsbury Town). ------------------- Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray happy his side’s successful start is going ‘under the radar’ chad.co.uk, by John Lomas, Monday 12 October 2015 Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray feels his side’s impressive start to the new season seems to be going unnoticed by most people outside the town - and that is just the way he likes it. The Stags’ third win on the trot - a 3-0 success against Newport County on Saturday - left them fourth in League Two, one point from the automatic promotion slots and four points off top spot with a quarter of the season gone. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/mansfield-town-news/mansfield-town-boss-adam-murray-happy-his-side-s-successful-start-is-going-under-the-radar-1-7509960 Murray smiled: “I love it at the minute. We are little old Mansfield just chugging along and no one cares about us. “Our players aren’t getting the credit they deserve at the minute and it’s brilliant. Let us go under the radar. “We know how good our players have been, not just in the month gone but for the season so far. We are a quarter of the way through and these boys have been fantastic. “The big question mark now is how good can you be and how long can you be that good for? That’s what I will be putting to them. “We need to be consistent. You don’t win anything in a month. You’ve got to do it over the course of a season and the focus now will go straight onto Bristol Rovers for Saturday.” Murray added: “All the signs are positive at the minute. But we have to make sure this intense focus, the tempo of our work and our intensity, gets even higher now. Everything will go up a notch. The foot goes down and the workload goes up. People have got to keep up with that. “It’s easy for people to say we want to be successful, actions speak louder than words and it’s the doing that matters. “I believe I can get this club where it wants to be and we’ve got to do it at the right pace and people have to keep up.” After a season of struggle last time around and a massive changeover of playing staff in the summer, Murray said it was vital everyone kept a sense of perspective about this season. “I keep harping on about it, and I will keep harping on about it, I said from the start of the season it is important that we understand where we’ve come from,” he said. “We’ve had a massive overhaul, a massive change. “I keep using the words progression and realism. This is what this season for me is about. “It’s about making sure I can see the work and the way I believe in work, I’m seeing bits of that, making sure I see the football club progress, I’ve seen that, making sure my team progresses, I’ve seen that, and at the end of it whether it’s one, two or three years, we ultimately are a team and club that continually has success. “I believe we can do that, but we have to keep the realism and keep the focus on what has got us to fourth in the league and that is an unbelievable work ethic and an unbelievable team spirit. We do the basics very well day in day out.” Again Newport, Stags rarely looked in any trouble though keeper Brian Jensen had to stay alert to make a couple of important saves, one with the game finely balanced at 1-0. “It wasn’t as complete a performance as I would have liked,” said Murray. “We were good first half, dominated the game, had a lot of possession, and took onto the pitch what we worked on in the week, which was pleasing to see. But we lacked that cutting edge and that bit of intensity needed. “I had a word at half-time and the lads came out for the second half a little bit more expansive in their play, especially in the final third and we stretched them a little bit more, made the pitch a bit bigger, got our goal, relaxed a little bit, got our second goal, relaxed even more, and then we lost a little bit of our defensive structure and the discipline that we have had. “At 2-0 up it’s a horrible scoreline and you can’t take your foot off the gas. “They had a couple of chances that I wasn’t happy with. Then we finished off with another great great goal that made it comfortable, but there were bits in the second half we must do better.” Murray continued: “We should have created more clear chances first half. And the basis of all our work is our defensive discipline. “We scored three great goals but I was more pleased with the clean sheet. Brian has made two great saves which he shouldn’t have had to make. We shouldn’t be in those positions. “We spend a lot of time on our defensive organisation. When we scored the first and second goals we got a little bit sloppy with our shape and could have been on the back end of conceding. “We need to look at that and make sure our standards don’t drop, but overall it was a really pleasing outcome. We got the majority of the process right on Saturday which will always lead to points.” ------------------- Mansfield Town prepare for home clash with in-form Bristol Rovers chad.co.uk, by John Lomas, Monday 12 October 2015 Adam Murray knows his Mansfield Town side will face a searching examination from in-form Bristol Rovers when they visit on Saturday. Managed by former Stags star Darrell Clarke, Rovers have made a good start to their return to the Football League after only one season in the Conference and, like Stags, have just won three on the bounce, including scoring seven goals in two away wins. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/mansfield-town-news/mansfield-town-prepare-for-home-clash-with-in-form-bristol-rovers-1-7510020?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed “They are a good team,” said Murray. “I know Clarkey well and he is a good guy. “He’s done very well obviously to get them back up at the first attempt and they are having a good season. “So it will be a challenging game for us, but one we will go into with full confidence and go into with momentum. As I keep saying, we don’t fear anyone. “It’s important we keep that ruthless mindset. We know it’s going to be a tough game - we know we have a group of games coming up now that will be tough - but we go into it knowing we can affect any team in this league and if we keep doing what we are doing and don’t get complacent and sloppy in our ethics, then we will be okay.” He added: “They have picked up a couple of good away results, so it will be a good game. It will be tight, but we have seen chinks in their armoury and we will be looking to exploit it.” Murray said this season’s League Two looked set to be the tightest for a while with little between top and bottom. “I went to watch Notts County v Plymouth yesterday and I think that everyone there would agree Notts dominated but ended up losing, that’s the nature of this league,” said Murray. “Plymouth have pulled away by three points, but that will be the league this season. “I can’t see, realistically, anybody that’s going to run away massively with it. I think it will be a league of consistency. It will be tight. There are a lot of good teams. “I said pre-season, this league will be a lot tougher than it was last year, probably the last couple of years. There will only be a few points difference from top to bottom. “So it’s important that in games where we are not fully on it, we grind out results and when we can’t win, we draw. We don’t lose. We must keep the belief. “We need to understand why we are doing things. You need to understand your purpose as purpose is power.” ----------------- New era sees training moved to afternoons for Mansfield Town players chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Mansfield Town’s players are seeing training sessions being moved to afternoons to try to tune their bodies with Saturday afternoon kick-offs. Stags boss Adam Murray has made a lot of changes behind the scenes this season and is now trying to move the club’s traditional training sessions to later in the day. Ahead of a busy eight days in which they take on in-form Bristol Rovers at home before long trips to Yeovil and Portsmouth, Murray said: “We will have a very intense week this week in preparation for three games in a week next week. “Next week’s planning will be vital to the games and to us picking points up. The planning is literally minute by minute and what we are doing lately is training in the afternoons. “I believe it is something that makes a difference. “We are trying to tune athletes’ bodies to train to be ready to perform at that time on a Saturday instead of being asleep in the afternoon. “Next week there will be a lot of rest and lie-ins so the lads can get their sleep as we have got a lot of travelling to do, hence why this week will be tough.” ----------------------- Adam Murray: “I can get this club where it needs to be.” chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Adam Murray believes he can continue to progress Mansfield Town Football Club, and has asked everyone at the club to keep up an intense workrate. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/mansfield-town-news/video-adam-murray-i-can-get-this-club-where-it-needs-to-be-1-7511271 Rather than rest on the laurels of three wins on the bounce, the Stags manager says he wants things to ‘go up a notch’ so they can sustain their form. “We know how good our players have been,” he said. “We’re a quarter of the way through and these boys have been fantastic. How good can you be? How long can you be that good for? We need to be consistent. “I believe I can get this football club to where it needs to be, and we have to do it at a pace, and people have got to keep up.” ------------------- |
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