David Artell says Town’s unbeaten start to the Sky Bet League Two season is evidence of the progress being made at the Club, but insists the Mariners must continue to improve as they prepare to face Newport County.
Town remain unbeaten after their opening seven league fixtures, a feat achieved just four times in the Club’s history, while Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy fixture also provided valuable minutes for a number of players.
Artell was pleased with the opportunity to give senior players minutes and younger members of the squad experience, while also discussing the development of Town’s players out on loan and the Club’s approach to creating a clearer pathway into first-team football.
The Head Coach also looked ahead to Saturday’s trip to Newport, assessing Hayden Mullins’ side, their direct approach and the threat they pose from set pieces.
Here’s everything Artell had to say ahead of Saturday’s trip…
On Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy game
Artell was pleased with what Town got from the 2-1 defeat to Notts County, despite conceding a late goal, with minutes for several players who needed game time and valuable experience for the Club’s younger players.
“I thought it was a really positive night.
“I don’t want the last three seconds of the game to cloud the judgement of what we wanted to get out of it and I thought we did that really well.
“Minutes in the legs of plenty of players that needed it. Experience for a lot of our younger players.
“There were lots and lots of players under 20, 21 who finished the game, and a lot of them played a lot of minutes.
“We’re quite happy with how it went. Really happy with quite a lot of the performances, reflective of where people are at, whether that was senior players or younger players, whether that’s capability or rustiness.
“Different formation, same principles.
“No injuries, helpful. Really helpful.
“So, all in all, I thought it was a good night. Like I said, just a shame the last three seconds. That’s football.”
On Jayden Sweeney’s development
Sweeney scored his first goal of the season against Notts County, with Artell keen to see the full back continue to add an attacking threat to his game.
“He’s doing well. There’s areas for improvement in him, without shadow of a doubt, like there is all of them.
“He’s got a good goal the other night, getting forward. We want to see more of that from him, the fact that he gets beyond their back line.
“So, we just keep working with him and keep making him a better player.
“You’ve got to understand, I think Sweens is only 24, something like that. He’s still relatively young.
“He’s certainly young in football terms. I bet he’s played under 30, 40 games.
“So, he’s got plenty of growth in him and we’ve got to get it out of him.”
On the goalkeeper situation
Harvey Cartwright returned from injury during Tuesday’s fixture, giving Artell another option alongside Christy Pym and Seb Auton.
However, Artell explained that the situation is complicated by Hull City’s restrictions on Cartwright’s minutes.
“Not at this moment in time because Hull won’t let us play him more than one game a week.
“They limited his minutes the other day and they’ve said one game a week this week.
“So, that’ll be a question for next Thursday!”
On the players currently out on loan
Town have several young players gaining experience with clubs in the local area, and Artell believes those opportunities are an important part of improving the pathway from the Academy into the first team.
“They’re all doing great.
“We’ve tried to sort of improve our pathway by doing this.
“But they’ll only go out if they’re good enough, number one. They’ll only go out if we think they can cope and they’ll only go out if a club wants them.
“And they’re all doing fine.
“It’s really good for them. Obviously, Elliot’s doing really well.
“I get feedback after every game from Dave Ricardo. We’re really appreciative of taking Elliot and helping him and guiding him.
“But it’s the same with Craig Rouse at Cleethorpes, where Charlie’s had maybe 20 minutes, half an hour, but then he started a couple of games at Cleethorpes.
“It’s much more valuable than had they not been playing or playing for our youth team because he’s beyond the youth team now.
“So, it’s like the next step, even if it was only 20 minutes.”
On developing a pathway
Artell explained that Town are looking to establish stronger relationships with local clubs to give Academy players the opportunity to experience regular men’s football.
“One or two more will probably go out on loan because we want them to get experience of men’s first-team football.
“They’re close to our first team. That’s the plan, whilst also getting the training, so they get sort of the best of both worlds really.
“We were really grateful for Craig in particular at Cleethorpes allowing Henry to play the other night because they had a game and he did really well.
“I think that’s part of what I want to do this season, if you like, is get greater relationships with local clubs that trust us as a football club and our players.
“Now we’re near the top of the league, I think they think that they are, and that’s a good thing because they are.
“They’ve had some good coaching in the Academy. They’ve got a year or two years with us and they’re further on in their development.
“Then the local clubs taking them adds to that development, as well as the coaching that they get here.
“They get a different voice, a different way of playing, a men’s changing room and all the experience that brings.”
On the benefits of men’s football
Artell believes playing senior football provides young players with experiences that cannot always be replicated in training or Academy football.
“They’re different. That is different to even our dressing room, never mind a youth team dressing room.
“They get exposure to a lot of things that they wouldn’t otherwise get exposure to, and that’s really helpful.
“It means something to the players. That’s not to say that youth team matches don’t. That’s not what I’m saying.
“But there’s much more on it.
“They’re going to get bumps just playing the games, and I don’t just mean physical bumps.
“Some of the highs of scoring a goal in men’s football to the lows of giving one away, and everything else that I’ve just sort of alluded to.
“So, we’re really pleased with how that’s started and where that’s going, and hopefully that’ll carry on.”
On seeing players develop through loan spells
Artell says players can return from successful loan spells with greater physical and tactical awareness, as well as an improved understanding of the demands of senior football.
“It’s not so much sharp, just a bit more robust all around and a bit more understanding of, ‘If I take more than one, two, three, four touches in whatever situation it is, I’m going to get walloped.’
“We can’t practise that in training because we don’t wallop each other in that sense.
“It’s not always structured like that because it’s much more technical and detailed.
“The players that come back tend to come back with, ‘Okay, he wouldn’t have done that three weeks ago.’
“And there are some things where you go, ‘Oh, he wouldn’t have done that. I’m not sure he should do that.’
“But you have to take that with the rough and the smooth.
“You have to go, ‘Okay, he’s probably learned that,’ and it’s not the best habit, but it’s not going to hurt him.
“It’s not our way, but that’s fine as well.
“There are lots of benefits if they have a successful loan spell.”
On Town’s unbeaten start
Town remain unbeaten after seven league games, something Artell believes is another indication of the progress made during his time at the Club.
“I think the pleasing thing for me is the fact that we haven’t deserved to lose in any of them.
“We haven’t had a lucky draw. If anything, we should have probably won a couple more of the draws.
“But yeah, it does show progress, doesn’t it?
“We can look at lots of things as signs of progress.
“I don’t think anyone can argue that we haven’t progressed over the last nearly three years since I’ve been here.
“And we’ve got to keep making progress. It’s as simple as that.
“That’s the challenge.”
On nutrition and recovery
Artell also highlighted the progress made away from the pitch, with Town placing greater emphasis on nutrition, rest and recovery as part of their wider development as a football club.
“Jack Hancock is invaluable really. He comes in probably a couple of times a fortnight and keeps the players on top of their diets, the rest, the nutrition, the sleeping habits.
“The things that you sort of take for granted.
“We’ve got to sometimes educate them, sometimes direct them, sometimes sort of nudge them in a certain way just for nutrition and eating habits.
“There’s definitely times where we’ve had to speak about sleep with them.
“We’re just trying to educate them to be better footballers and Jack’s a big part of that.”
Artell also pointed to the Club’s willingness to invest in areas that can benefit the first team, including travelling a day earlier ahead of a midweek fixture last season.
“As a football club, I think that’s progressed.
“We’re trying to progress as a football club all round, if you like.
“So, little things like that can have a big impact.”
On Newport County
Town travel to a Newport side who are unbeaten in their last three games, with Artell expecting a different challenge to recent opponents.
“They’re unbeaten in their last three, so they’re doing well.
“I think out of every single game that they’ve played this year, they’ve played out from a goal kick – once against Bristol Rovers, who dropped off them.
“Every other one, Jordan kicks up the pitch, which immediately lowers possession stats.
“It doesn’t mean they’re not effective at what they do or they’re not good at what they do.
“They’ve also had plenty of practice at doing it that way.
“Possession doesn’t always correlate to success or wins.
“At the end of the day, they’ve got the threats and they’ve got the weaknesses and we’ve got to exploit the weaknesses and stop their threats.”
On Newport’s set-piece threat
Newport have scored more set-piece goals than any other side in League Two so far this season, and Artell knows Town will need to be switched on defensively.
“They’ve got more than that.
“They cross lots of balls, whether that’s dead balls or in open play.
“We’ve got to stop crosses and head balls out of our box, track runners, don’t get played around – the normal defensive side.
“We haven’t conceded too many chances against us in any game really, and we’ve got to keep that standard high.
“If we do, then we should limit a threat that they’ve got.
“With the ball, we’ve got to be really good to expose their weaknesses.”
On Hayden Mullins
Newport are under the management of Hayden Mullins, who has overseen an unbeaten run of three games, and Artell believes Mullins deserves credit for the work he has done so far.
“He’s obviously doing a good job.
“It’s not an easy place to manage in the sense that they’re not one of the biggest budgets.
“They’ve been near the bottom of the league for a couple of years, so attracting players isn’t always easy.
“But he’s obviously making a really good fist of it.
“They’re three unbeaten, they’re doing well, so we’ve got to make sure that we play well.
“If we don’t, you’ll get kicked in the shins, that’s for sure.”
You can watch David’s full pre-match press conference below:
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