Adam Long is relishing the opportunity to show his ability on the ball under Rovers head coach Danny Schofield.
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s trip to Grimsby Town in Sky Bet League Two, the centre back said he is confident in his ability to deliver Schofield’s instructions to build play out from the back.
Long on working under Danny Schofield so far:
“It’s been good. I feel like ever since he came in we’ve become a better team on the ball. We’re starting to retain it a lot more, passing wise. The patterns of play we’ve been producing have been really influential on the games we’ve been playing in.
“He’s been good with everyone. He’s got really good man management and he’s been able to get around and speak to all the lads. He’s coached on a one-to-one basis as well as a group.
“I had a chat with him about his plans going forward, how he wants to play and how I can implement that into my game to make it work.”
On taking on more responsibility in possession:
“I feel like when you’re brought up through academies, you’re more used to that style of football any way.
“It feels a lot better in games when you’re getting results and playing a good style of football.
“I do feel that on the ball, we all need to be good enough and confident to take it and be able to trust each other in possession.”
On his own position in the squad under Schofield:
“I feel like it’s been a breath of fresh air for me, being able to get some minutes under my belt and some confidence.
“We got off to a good start to the season but then through factors we sometimes couldn’t control, it kind of dipped a bit.
“But since the gaffer has come in, we’ve started to adopt a new style of play that the lads have really gelled into.”
On the permanent addition of Chad Gribble and Paul Green to the senior coaching staff:
“I feel like it’s been good for both of them. They’ve been in since the gaffer came in and they’ve been a great addition to it.
“It gives us more of a stepping stone as a group to be confident and push on.”
On responding to defeat the previous weekend:
“I think we knew it was a disappointing performance - the result showed that in a way. But this week we’ve been in, working hard, trying to put it right on Saturday and hopefully get a good result.
“I felt we never really got started. We were on the back foot too much and we got punished for it in the end.
“I just feel like as a team we can only keep training and working hard to get the performances and put stuff where it should be.”
On the potential of the team:
“I firmly believe the more we work on the fundamentals day in, day out that we’ll really be able to push on.”
On this weekend’s trip to Grimsby:
“We all feel as a group that it’s a chance to go out and put things right from Saturday.
“It’s important for all of us to get off to a good start to be able to put in a performance in this game.”