‘Mentality Is Really Important’ – Martin Speaks Prior To Doncaster Bout

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‘Mentality Is Really Important’ – Martin Speaks Prior To Doncaster Bout

With another home fixture against Doncaster Rovers on the horizon, Russell Martin is seeking the desired response from his players following a disappointing result last time out.

2026-10-17T08:00+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

17 Oct, 2026

‘Mentality Is Really Important’ – Martin Speaks Prior To Doncaster Bout

With another home fixture against Doncaster Rovers on the horizon, Russell Martin is seeking the desired response from his players following a disappointing result last time out.

Sam Jones

2026-10-17T08:00+01:00

‘Mentality Is Really Important’ – Martin Speaks Prior To Doncaster Bout

With another home fixture against Doncaster Rovers on the horizon, Russell Martin is seeking the desired response from his players following a disappointing result last time out.

Sam Jones

2026-10-17T08:00+01:00

‘Mentality Is Really Important’ – Martin Speaks Prior To Doncaster Bout

With another home fixture against Doncaster Rovers on the horizon, Russell Martin is seeking the desired response from his players following a disappointing result last time out.

Sam Jones

2026-10-17T08:00+01:00

‘Mentality Is Really Important’ – Martin Speaks Prior To Doncaster Bout

With another home fixture against Doncaster Rovers on the horizon, Russell Martin is seeking the desired response from his players following a disappointing result last time out.

Sam Jones

2026-10-17T08:00+01:00

Looking to turn a corner in our season, we welcome Grant McCann’s side to King Power Stadium, a week on from defeat to Peterborough United on Filbert Way, which left us 17th in Sky Bet League One.

Ahead of Saturday’s 3pm BST kick-off, Martin expressed his determination to work towards a positive outcome, addressing recent concerns and areas for improvements in his pre-match press conference at LCFC Training Ground.

“There’s nothing different, everyone in the building has worked so hard whether we win, lose or draw,” the 40-year-old told the media on Friday afternoon. “The players have been great, the staff, everyone is on the same page; frustrated and a bit hurt after last weekend, which I think is normal and natural.

“Peterborough was a really important game, but we didn’t do what we wanted to do and we put in a performance that we were really disappointed about and frustrated and hurt by. We hurt ourselves.

“The only reaction that matters is tomorrow when we step over the white line and have to go and perform against Doncaster. We can talk until we are blue in the face about how we’ve trained but it will really matter tomorrow when we kick off. We work really hard, stay focused, understand what is hurting us and make sure we improve.

“When we score or the game is 0-0, the team looks fine and really close to what we want it to be. We have to try and be more clinical and get the first goal. We haven’t responded to conceding first very well. If we do have a setback, we need to deal with it in a better way.

“How we respond to tough moments will define us. Right now, we haven’t responded well enough to them. It’s something we’ve tried to address. I think mentality can be measured and is something that is really important to us as a group and the players are really clear on that.

“So often we feel we are so close and then we had the result last weekend and it makes people feel we are far away again. But we have to focus on the real good stuff we do, because the team do lots of it.

“But we also can’t give away a goal and make it really difficult for ourselves. It’s something we can focus on in training sessions, in the meeting room and we can develop as a club for sure.”

Adapting to how opposition sides set up against us is a key aspect to get right, he believes, alongside players showing the right mentality to stand up and be counted in big moments of the game.

“We can’t be completely led by the opposition, but we have to be really aware of that,” our Manager explained. “We try and prepare that way as much as possible. Ultimately, we have to be better at what we do.

“Even with the individual mistakes, it’s my fault. I’m the coach of the team. I have to find a way to eradicate that. It’s not the players not trying. In really tough moments at the minute, there are behaviours coming out which are not us and not going to be us. We have to find a way of changing that.

“The players are trying so hard, but when we have a bad moment, the team looks very different in the way it performs and the energy it has. We have to respect the opposition as well. Every team will have a moment in a game.

“We have to find a way, in that moment, to be really together, really strong and get through it. I think we can develop resilience and robustness and toughness and character and personality. We’ll continue to try and do that.

“I think we’ll improve a lot on that. If you have a group which is together a long time and you have these problems, then it’s a big problem. When it’s a new group and with a lot of new players and young players learning their way and in a tough situation at the moment, it’s been frustrating.

“We have a few players who really understand what it takes and they have to share that experience with the other players and take on some real leadership and ownership. It’s our job as a coaching staff to try and develop that, for sure, so we have a team that runs so hard for everyone who is connected to this Football Club.”

Praising the work of the opposition manager in his analysis, guiding our visitors to promotion and consolidation in the third tier, Martin also referenced the duty of giving the Blue Army something more to shout about, having performed, at least results-wise, much better on the road so far this term.

He added: “Grant [McCann] is someone I have a lot of respect for; I’ve come across his teams a few times. Really well organised, really well coached, really aggressive, really good at certain aspects of the game, but can also mix the game up.

“They’re a really good team but I wouldn’t expect anything less from one of Grant’s teams. I expect them to be aggressive and front-footed in their approach. We have to make the game the one that we want it to be.

“Also we have to show big personality, big character and big desire tomorrow, in the context of last week, to put in a performance to win the game and one everyone feels connected to and happy about.

“In house, we treat it the same as every game. It’s important to react, for sure. It’s a really important game. We have to show a reaction, but everyone is really calm and working extremely hard for us to become the team we want to become and to win football matches.

“It’s going to be really important for us. We’re unbeaten away from home. We have to find a way to change the [home] results and the energy of the stadium. That’s up to us. We have to give the supporters something to connect to and to lift them.

“The crowd have been really good on the whole. It’s been a really tough moment for them. There’s never a game where every moment is going well. When we build some momentum, it will be really powerful.

“It’s frustrating we haven’t been able to quite do that yet, but I’m convinced we will. When we do, it’ll be really exciting. We have to make sure we support the players and challenge them enough, so they understand what it takes and I’m excited to watch the team tomorrow.”

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