I was in no mood to reflect upon getting home from the game last night, but having slept on it, I've managed to assemble my thoughts and here they are for what they worth. Firstly - without sounding like a broken record, I was dismayed that the Ponty End was shut. No one seemed to have a clue why, but upon speaking to a steward, he said (this was at 7:05 bear in mind) that it was closed due to the low attendance, saying that there was only 4,000 coming along. My question was, how do you know this, at this point in time? He just looked at me and didn't say anything, so read into that what you will. The queues to get into the stand were horrendous, and the queues once in the stand for drinks, snacks etc, were just as bad - all in all, a bit of a **** up. Secondly - Credit to the Northampton Town fans, they were excellent - never stopped singing and getting behind their team from the first minute to the last. They looked a well drilled unit, and really limited us in the first half, but on the other hand, they never genuinely looked like scoring, and I actually laughed at both their goals, because, well, it was just one of those nights. Onto my thoughts for the game itself. 1. I thought the lineup was as strong as it could be (minus Winnall). 2. I've never seen us miss as many chances, and also give up the opportunity to have even more chances. 3. Bradshaw lead the line well, but struggled with high balls. Anything into his feet however he did really well with. My only problem was that whenever he got the ball (or flicked on), Moncur was no where near him, and as the CAM in the line up, that was his primary requirement. 4. For the formation to work (4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 on occasion), Moncur was THE focal point, and he just didn't do enough going forward for me. He dropped deep a lot, and tried to link the play, but didn't affect the game going forward, and he never linked up with Bradshaw at all. He had a ten minute spell in the first half where he linked in with Hammill and Hourihane and we built a good few passing moves, but he looked a little out of sorts, which is worrying given the nature of the opposition. 5. On reflection, I don't think we played as badly as I first thought. Yes, it wasn't great, but we dominated the game being truthful and given the amount of chances we created, it should have been all over before Davies made that monumental **** up, which brought NTFC back into the game. 6. The first 20 minutes or so, a lot of the players seemed to be walking around the pitch with a touch of arrogance - this I believe was also a mindset from a lot of the supporters, hence the lack of singing. I honestly believe that a lot of the supporters (at least around me) and a large proportion of the players felt we could just turn up and waltz to victory last night. The end result might well be a blessing in disguise, and give us a much needed kick up the arse. 7. We miss Fletcher and Isgrove. As good as Bradshaw is, for me, he doesn't offer the same physical presence or directness as what Fletcher did last season, the same goes with Watkins and Isgrove - I like Watkins, but he's no Isgrove. I really hope he's still in our plans and we can lure him back to Oakwell, and if we can somehow do a loan deal for Fletcher, that would be a massive bonus for us. The Derby game on Saturday will be a different kettle of fish. We need to be more resilient at the back - we can't afford to keep making sloppy, silly errors, and it goes without saying, that at the other end, we MUST take our chances, otherwise we will continually get punished. We have the attacking quality to get goals, so we need to rediscover sticking the ball away.
Fortunately, it showed last night the League Cup is full of upsets at this stage and we were one of them. Loads of solid Championship teams got knocked out so not worrying. If we play like we did against Ipswich in the first half this coming Saturday, I can't see us losing,
Good write up Poet. I came away really disappointed last night. My footy bets are going about as well as my horsey ones at the minute! Hecky's pre-match comments led me to believe we would be really going for it last night, so I was disappointed at the start to see us playing with only one out and out striker against a team just out of League Two who recently lost their promotion-winning manager. Isn't that what LeeJay was getting stick for this time last year? That said, I wasn't too disappointed at half time, but I said to Grandfathertyke that unless we quickly got a second a banana skin and extra time could loom. Just what you want with a tough game against Derby on Setdi! It seemed to me that we got worse as the game went on, and although we had plenty of efforts (albeit rather fewer on target) we didn't really look a potent attacking force against a team over who we should really have had a class advantage. Whether we're still basking in the afterglow of last season, I know not. But I'm a bit worried about the temptation for us to say "it'll all come reight" - I think we may have to roll up our sleeves even further for that to happen this season. And we won't get away with giving away so much ground in the first half of the season this time around.
To be honest, at half time, I could only see the game going one way, and that was to us, with a probable scoreline of 2-0/3-0. To say we had what, 30 or so efforts on goal, I can only remember their keeper having to stretch himself once in the entire game, and that was in extra time when Ryan Kent went through and he was quick off his line to smother. All in all, a disappointing evening.
Agree with most of that Poet. East Stand supposedly holds what, 7,200? Can't agree with crowd figure given. It was a bit embarrassing, the situation with the turnstiles. yes, credit to Northampton fans, and to their No.6, black lad, who I thought gave an excellent defensive performance. The scoreboard was nice - it's lovely to sit watching a match thinking you have taken your living room along with you Onto us, well, I too thought there was only one winner. We should have murdered them. My main observations: Last year, when we were in the depths of despair, I fully agreed with the philosophy of giving it to Hammill at every opportunity. It worked. The rest is history. It should NOT be the strategy now, with the team we have, and especially in a game like last night. He is NOT our only outlet, and hopefully is not going to be our ONLY strategy this year. That would smack of desperation. I hope and pray we are not going to do an Arsenal and try to walk the ball in at every opportunity. How many times last night did we collectively scream "put your foot through it"? The game should have been buried at H/T if we'd have had a shot. Young Mr Kent, however dangerous he looked on occasion, was the biggest culprit second half, but he was not alone. Scowen, Watkins, Hourihane, Hammill were all guilty. Just ph00king bury it lads. Keeper. I'm a big fan, let's hope he is just showing early season nerves and is getting it out of his system. We don't want the situation of early last year and start swapping and changing. Defense. All in all, OK. Can't make my mind up about Bree, but will give him time. For someone so classy and composed on the ball he doesn't always do a lot with it. White did OK, some good breaks and quick at tracking back. Roberts and Alfie didn't do too bad, just hope Alfie doesn't think it's all too easy. Played some lovely balls. Yiadom looked OK. I don't yet know him as well as Bree, but my gut feeling is he should start the next game. Midfield. Josh was good, as was Connor (really looks the part and his tackling is 10 times what it was). Hammill was up for it but not many decent deliveries given the amount of chances to deliver. Cross for goal was good. Bit too greedy at times and yes, OK Adam, we'd all LOVE IT if you recreated *THAT* goal, but please don't feel you have to try it at every single opportunity. Moncur - jury still out. Looked off the pace. Watched him closely; time and again he made the space, but when he got it he was crowded out too quickly. Early days. Up top. Bradshaw looks the best of the summer recruits. Like others say, when he gets it at his feet, he's superb. Playing it to his head is just nonsense, unless we have an advancing second wave to support and pick up. So far so good. Marley did what Marley does. Never stops, great control and effort, will run himself into the ground. Just wish we knew (and he knew) where his best position is. Kent looks the part, he is quick and oh-so comfortable. Also very lightweight and needs to improve his decision making. I get the feeling he will be a world-beater on his day, totally anonymous on others. Payne did well, looks strong and willing, couple of nice touches and a well struck shot (swore blind that took a touch for a corner!) I enjoyed the first half and thought it was going to be floodgates second half. Hope it's a kick up the ar53 for the players and the squad as a whole.
It's going to be interesting to see how we approach the game from a tactical standpoint on Saturday. I think it's a fair guess to say, that if we continue playing like we have been, then we'll get picked off by what is a very good Derby County team. We can't afford any silly, sloppy mistakes on Saturday, but I really do fear for us. I think we'll lose, and it will be another high scoring affair, and my prediction, although I hope I'm wrong, is Barnsley 2-3 Derby. I personally would play the following: Davies Bree Roberts Mawson White Scowen Hammill Hourihane (CM) Watkins (CM/AM) Yiadom Bradshaw Yiadom is probably a divisive selection, but I feel he can operate on that right hand side perfectly fine, and will offer some much needed protection for Bree, as he understand the full back roll well. If Winnall is fit, I'd probably stick Yiadom at RB, stick Watkins at RM and go two up top with Bradshaw and Winnall.
