Martin: The Standard Has Been Set

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Martin: The Standard Has Been Set

Russell Martin believes his side showed many good characteristics during the 3-0 win over Northampton Town, our first pre-season test of the summer.

2026-07-12T14:30+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

23 Hours 8 Mins Ago

Martin: The Standard Has Been Set

Russell Martin believes his side showed many good characteristics during the 3-0 win over Northampton Town, our first pre-season test of the summer.

Sam Jones

2026-07-12T14:30+01:00

Martin: The Standard Has Been Set

Russell Martin believes his side showed many good characteristics during the 3-0 win over Northampton Town, our first pre-season test of the summer.

Sam Jones

2026-07-12T14:30+01:00

Martin: The Standard Has Been Set

Russell Martin believes his side showed many good characteristics during the 3-0 win over Northampton Town, our first pre-season test of the summer.

Sam Jones

2026-07-12T14:30+01:00

Martin: The Standard Has Been Set

Russell Martin believes his side showed many good characteristics during the 3-0 win over Northampton Town, our first pre-season test of the summer.

Sam Jones

2026-07-12T14:30+01:00

City defeated Northampton Town 3-0 in the first game of pre-season
Stephy Mavididi and Will Alves (2) netted the goals at LCFC Training Ground
Manager Russell Martin assessed what he saw from the side on Saturday

The Foxes were pitted against the Sky Bet League Two side at LCFC Training Ground on Saturday, a fixture which saw 22 players come through 45 minutes of action each in front of almost 500 City supporters.

Watching the team in action for the first time since his appointment last month, Martin reflected on the positive signs on display, praising the players for their work across, not just the game, but the last couple of weeks of training.

“I’m feeling really good and really positive about it,” City’s Manager told us post-match. “I saw lots of good stuff, lots of stuff that we need to work on, obviously, this early on.

“But the intention from the players, we spoke about it before the game, the habits, behaviours, the intention, not being defined by the outcome today but the intention of the players, I thought they were great.

“They showed some really good stuff. They are at the end of a really tough two weeks with a lot of running, a lot of work, a lot of detail, so a lot of thinking has had to take place.

“Some of the actions today were really fantastic and I’m really pleased with them. They’ve been a really good group to work with. They’ve set the standard for themselves and now we have to maintain that.

“Part of the process now is matches, which is great, because it gives us so much to learn from and so much to work on.”

Three first half goals from Stephy Mavididi and Will Alves (2) proved the difference in Seagrave, and while it was never going to be a complete performance in the first game of pre-season, there was plenty to build on in the coming weeks.

The 40-year-old continued: “This early on, when you’re fatigued and facing different challenges, there’s always going to be some mistakes, for sure, but we scored some really good goals, created some really brilliant chances and kept a clean sheet at the end of it.

“Good habits, good intention and we need to continue with that. I said to them, pre-season games are not about the outcome so much, but we need some behaviours and habits now that are going to be foundational for us. Part of that means we want to win.

“You have to show desire to run and that needs to become a habit. Today they did lots of that, so I’m really pleased with them for that.”

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