Archived News from February 2018
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EXETER PREVIEWS
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Boss planning changes for Exeter test
mansfieldtown.net, Thursday 15 February 2018 Despite recording the biggest victory of his Stags' tenure in Tuesday’s 5-0 thrashing of Newport County, boss Steve Evans has insisted he will make changes to his side for Saturday’s trip to Exeter City to deal with the threat posed by the Grecians. Stags blew away their South Wales counterparts with a stunning display on Tuesday and we now face our longest trip of the season on Saturday with the 225-mile journey to St James Park, Exeter. And speaking about Saturday’s clash with the Grecians, the manager maintains a different combination of players will be required to combat Exeter’s style of play. “I have to be saying this in the right way: I think Exeter’s a better team than Newport County, just as a team, but they’ve got totally different attributes," said the Stags' chief. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2018/february/evans-15-feb/ “Exeter’s a footballing side under a man who I’ve said before I hold in the highest regard of many managers in football (Paul Tisdale). “It’s no surprise to me that Exeter’s in the shake-up. It won’t be a surprise when they’re in the top three or four at the end. “As a manager, we’re afforded the luxury of being able to assess the opposition in great depth, courtesy of the analysis we have working for us now. That picks the team. You have to consider the opposition. “Our job is to make sure we analyse the opposition properly, make sure that we pick the team properly to affect the game in a positive way. “We’ll change things from what beat Newport 5-0 and we’ll change things because we’re playing a different type of opposition and it will demand a different type of player for us. “There would be no point going into a battle on the beaches with two armies if you don’t have an idea of what they’re all about. There’s no point you going in there with your rifles and they come overhead with the big aeroplanes; time up. You have to be prepared to get that right.” Just 14 games remain of the 2017/18 Sky Bet League Two season and the boss is determined to keep standards high in a period where there will be ‘twists and turns’ as teams vie for a spot in the upper echelons on the division. “The standards must be high; we’re at a key stage of the season now. The games are reducing very quickly. "We’ll come out of this month and we’ll almost be very close to single figure games. There’ll be twists and turns all the way through this. “There’s going to be twists and turns; when someone does the analysis, which happens more when you come to single figure games, everyone plays each other. “We’ve got five or six of the top group to play home and away as a mixture, and they all have [to play each other]. "Some weeks, people will think they’re nailed on for promotion and other weeks it’ll be doom and gloom but I don’t think this is going to unfold itself until certainly a couple of weeks before the end of the season.” Supporters can login to iFollow Stags to view the manager’s news conference in full. ----------------- Stags boss Evans ready to upset his five-star XI at Exeter chad.co.uk, by JOHN LOMAS, Thursday 15 February 2018 Mansfield Town boss Steve Evans admitted he may have to upset some of his players who were outstanding in the midweek battering of Newport County when he picks the side the big six-pointer at Exeter City this weekend. Anyone dropped from the starting XI at promotion rivals Exeter on Saturday will feel hard done by after the 5-0 win and high quality performance they put together. But Evans said Exeter are a very different proposition to Newport and it would be horses for course selection-wise. “Our job is to analyse the opposition properly and make sure we pick the team properly to try to affect the game in a positive way,” he said. “It would be no good going into a battle on the beaches with two armies and you don’t have an idea what they are all about. Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/stags-boss-evans-ready-to-upset-his-five-star-xi-at-exeter-1-9019033 “There no point in you going in there with your rifles and they come overhead with their big aeroplanes. You have to get that right. “We will change things from the Newport game as we are playing a different type of opposition. It demands a different type of player for us. “We tell players never be surprised when you play and never be surprised when you get left out. We do our homework and pick a team to try to win a game. “We have no friends in the dressing room. We don’t need to pick people just because we like them. We pick them against certain teams because they’re going to do a job.” He added: “I think Exeter are a better team than Newport County. They have totally different attributes. Exeter are better technically. “Newport are a very physical team. They are a team set up to put it straight on you and hurt you. It’s a good way to play. “Them and Lincoln are the two teams that play route one. They go off the big striker and there is not a lot of football played. “But it’s effective. They win games so you can’t knock it.” Evans again praised the work at Exeter of boss Paul Tisdale, England’s second longest-serving manager. “Exeter are a footballing side under a man, I’ve said before, I hold in the highest regard as a coach, a man and a friend,” said Evans. “He is having another fantastic season. It’s no surprise to me that Exeter are in the shake up and it won’t be a surprise when they are in the top three or four at the end. “If they win their games in hand they go back into the top two or three, from that point of view it’s a difficult place for us to go.” City have not lost at home since October 21st and Evans admitted: “They have a great support right behind them down there - that’s a factor. But they also have good players who play the right way and get on top of teams. “The last game they drew at home to Wycombe but should have been three or four nil up and then conceded a goal. “They move the ball around, they are intelligent, they have good way of playing, they press teams high, they’ve got lots of energy, and they have a lot of youth. So it’s tough to compete against.” ----------------- Stags’ win over Newport even better after second viewing for Evans chad.co.uk, by JOHN LOMAS Steve Evans watched back a recording of the the Stags v Newport midweek massacre and admitted his side had played even better than he thought on the night. But he believes they can play even better still. As Stags prepare for a tough trip to rivals Exeter City, manager Evans analysed the midweek 5-0 win over the visiting Exiles and said: “I think some of it was even better than it looked in real time. I am not usually one for saying that - but it was. “The quality of the individual performances made it an outstanding team performance. “We have always said we are capable of reaching many heights. We are capable of being even better than we were against Newport. “I thought their team showed great character. It would have been nice for someone to mention we played well on the evening rather than be damning of everything else. “I am pleased with the players and their attitude and we have some real competition for places. “When you move the ball as sharply as that you’re always going to give teams a problem. We have played it in spells throughout the season but not for the duration of the game. It really was stunning football.” Evans believes Stags should have hit double figures and had high praise for Newport keeper Joe Day. “It should have been 10. Credit to the Newport keeper. He’s lost five goals but he’s had the game of his season,” said Evans. “There was one he got down low from Danny Rose, then gets up and saves from Kane and then gets up and saves another one - incredible saves. “Credit to him. He has always been a good goalkeeper. “But it was a one-off and we have to get back on the training ground and get ready for a totally different and more stern test at Exeter.” Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/stags-win-over-newport-even-better-after-second-viewing-for-evans-1-9019815 --------------- ‘If he came home with your daughter you’d be proud’ - which Stags player is Steve Evans talking about? chad.co.uk, by JOHN LOMAS Mansfield Town winger CJ Hamilton again showed how good he can be with an electric performance in midweek, just a couple of weeks after Stags rejected bids for him. Hamilton barely figured under previous manager Adam Murray. Current boss Steve Evans smiled: “CJ was outstandingly good on Tuesday after being outstandingly rubbish at Swindon last weekend! “We are working hard with CJ to get some consistency as when he’s at the top of his game, he’s a handful for any defender. It doesn’t matter what level you are. “What you can’t defend against is the pace CJ’s got. When he has an end product on the end of that he’s quite formidable. “He has played a big part since we came in. We identified very quickly the boy’s got that type of pace. He’s got a great left foot. He’s got the biggest heart in the world. “He’s a great kid. If he came home with your daughter you’d be proud.” It’s a far cry from the forgotten player Evans found when he took over the club. He said: “When we arrived here I think he had about four big jackets. He used to put them on on matchdays and sit up in the stands. He couldn’t get near it. “The nice thing is he’s earned this. We’ve not done anything. “We just looked at him and thought ‘you’re good enough to play in our team’. If he plays like he did the other night he’ll be a big reason why we achieve what we are trying to do.” Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/if-he-came-home-with-your-daughter-you-d-be-proud-which-stags-player-is-steve-evans-talking-about-1-9019890 ------------------ Mansfield Town boss Steve Evans impressed with on loan Swansea City midfielder chad.co.uk, by JOHN LOMAS Young Swansea City loanee Adam King impressed on his Mansfield Town debut in midweek - but it was no surprise to manager Steve Evans. King played his part in the 5-0 thumping of Newport and Evans purred: “That boy has got everything in his locker when you watch him play. “You can tell he’s a young man from a higher-placed club. “I watched him at Southend last season in League One and I took a reference from them, and they spoke so highly of him.” At one stage of the game King forced Joe Day to tip over an audacious 50-yard dipper and Evans smiled: “We encourage players to try things. We encourage players to shoot. “We often say with our team we don’t shoot enough from outside the box. Young Kingy was never frightened from the minute he walked into the building. “It was an outstanding performance from one so young. But it helps when you’ve got MacDonald next to you helping and Hamilton and Potter playing like that as well as the rest of the team.” There was a late cameo for fellow young loanee Matt Penney later on and Evans said: “We have to let these boys settle in. “We have to let them find their feet and some games they will play in and some games they won’t. “I thought young Penney looked terrific when he came on.” Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/mansfield-town-boss-steve-evans-impressed-with-on-loan-swansea-city-midfielder-1-9019832 --------------------- Stags 'buzzing' according to stand-in skipper mansfieldtown.net, Thursday 15 February 2018 Commanding central defender Krystian Pearce says the Stags' squad are 'buzzing' following a run of just one defeat in 11 Sky Bet League Two matches. Their excellent form has seen them climb to fifth in the League Two table, just three points outside the automatic promotion spots. And Pearce, who has made the most appearances of any Stags’ defender this season, has given a glimpse into the confident Mansfield Town dressing room. "Everybody in the camp knows that if you aren't doing the business on the pitch, you won't be there next week so everyone tries to put the effort in during training and on a matchday," the 28-year-old said. "Everyone knows the quality's improved. I think generally there's a buzz around the place and everyone's buzzing. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2018/february/pearce15feb/ “I think the boys are more confident this season that we can get the job done and finish in the top three rather than the play-offs. “I think we’ve just got to stay positive, keep doing what we’re doing, stick to our beliefs and play the football we’ve been playing. “It’s very tight at the top so we need to keep getting the points on the board and hope others slip up. “Hopefully we can continue what we’ve been doing. We’ve not lost many games this season and we just need to draw a little bit less and turn those points into three points and end up in that top three.” Nicknamed The Chief by his teammates, Pearce admits keeping a clean sheet in Tuesday’s 5-0 drubbing of Newport was more pleasing than the winning margin, but has stressed his desire to put back-to-back wins together with this week’s trip to Exeter City just 48 hours away. “I’m a defender so clean sheets are my objective every game. A clean sheet and a win is all I ask for every week, so I was pleased. “I think the lads wanted to bounce back from the previous game. Obviously we were on a good run before that game so we’re trying to start a new run now. “We were on a good run and obviously we’re trying to get promoted so we know these are big games and we need to try and win back-to-back games. “It’s going to be another tough game but they’re beatable. We’re in good form and spirits are high so I see no reason why we can’t go down there and get three points. “They’re near enough up there every year so it’s going to be a tough game but I’m confident that we can get three points there.” Krystian Pearce’s news conference is available to view in full by logging into iFollow Stags. ------------------- Pearce & Co look to put distance between themselves and play-off chasers chad.co.uk, by JOHN LOMAS Krystian Pearce and Mansfield Town travel down to Exeter looking to maintain their good run of form and also take three points from one of the teams fighting to get into the League Two play-offs. The Stags are in good spirits following a rise up the table in recent weeks, topped with Tuesday night’s hammering of Newport County, in a stretch of form which has seen them lose just one in 11 league games. Confidence is high on and off the pitch as Steve Evans’ men sit fifth in the table - three points off third place and four points clear of Saturday’s opponents Exeter City, just outside the play-off picture in eighth. “It’s going to be a very tough game,” said Pearce looking ahead to the trip to Exeter. “I think they’re beatable, we’re in good form and spirits are high. I see no reason why we can’t go down there and get three points.” And added: “I think they’ll be a promotion rival come the end of the season. They’re near enough up there every year. It’s going to be a tough game but I’m confident we can get the three points.” Their confidence was undoubtedly boosted in Tuesday night’s 5-0 victory over Newport at the One Call Stadium - and Pearce revealed that home form has been something Evans has been keen to improve since taking the manager’s job. “When the gaffer first came in he said we need to be very solid at home. This needs to be like a warzone for other teams when they come here. We’ve tried to make sure we keep our home form very good,” said Pearce, who predicts a tight finish in the race for promotion this season. “It’s very tight at the top so we need to keep getting the points on the board and hope others slip up. “Hopefully we can continue what we’ve been doing. We’ve not lost many games this season and we just need to draw a little bit less and turn those points into three points and end up in that top three,” he added. Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/pearce-co-look-to-put-distance-between-themselves-and-play-off-chasers-1-9020194 --------------------- Exeter City vs Mansfield Town: Paul Tisdale previews Saturday's clash against promotion chasing Stags It's fifth against eighth in League Two devonlive.com, By Jamie Hawkins, 15 FEB 2018 Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says he is not surprised at how well Mansfield Town are performing in League Two. After a shaky start to the season, Steve Evans’s side have climbed to fifth in the table, losing just one of their last 11 league games. Tisdale has backed The Stags for promotion this season, and says his side will have to be at their best on Saturday. “I’m actually not surprised,” he said. “I think my predictions at the start of the year I had them in my three to challenge for the top. https://www.devonlive.com/sport/football/football-news/exeter-city-vs-mansfield-town-1221109 “They’re a strong side, consistent, a manager who knows exactly what he’s doing, team is competitive every game, hard to play against. “I’d imagine it will be the same on Saturday. We’ll have that to deal with and then we’ve got to try and play our best as well.” Tisdale will face a manager he knows only too well in Steve Evans, and the Grecians boss expects them to be challenging for a top seven finish in May. He said: “The manager certainly knows what he’s doing with his team and they’ve been very consistent, so we have to be on our toes. “We’ve got to be ready for the game because the line is so far between winning and losing in this league. "But in Mansfield, we are against one of the more consistent performers and they will certainly be challenging at the end of the year.” City skipper Jordan Moore-Taylor returned to the side during last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wycombe Wanderers, Tisdale is hoping to welcome back the likes of Troy Brown and Luke Croll to this squad soon. “We’ve still got a couple absentees,” he commented. “But we’re not going to have it all our way. “We’ve got plenty of players available. Enough in our squad to get a result. “There will be one or two out, but we’ve got a good enough squad to cope. “Still hoping Luke Croll and Troy Brown make good progress back towards the team, Ryan Brunt. “But generally we’re in a pretty good place.” ------------------------- |
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