Northampton H

[bolty58]

22 minutes ago, Ratwhite said:

This is like the last two seasons.

I'll take a crawl and slowly improving. 

Spot on. Don't like to recall it but the DMB domination under old red nose had season after season of sputtering excellence punctuated with error strewn periods from the beginning of the season until Christmas. After that, consistency and long streaks of wins.

This is what I am expecting from us this season. We are in the perfect spot at present. The hunter rather than the hunted. Very happy with the win yesterday and highly optimistic about what our final league position will be next May.

That little period where Santos had the brain fart and we conceded was typical of what I mean. Didn't cost us anything overall unless someone wants to make a thing of one more goal in the "A' column. I put it down to him needing to shake off a cobweb or two.

Venters gotta vent. Just let em.

[Take Hunt Off]

7 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Great ball from him for the second goal but against dips in and out. All three of them struggled in their own ways with GT not looking comfortable playing wider and Sheehan has a tremendous habit of going missing when the going gets tough. 

I agree with all of that , Sheehan was brilliant in that first half but seemed to be bypassed in the second. Thomason would run through a brick wall for the team even though his limitations are obvious.Morley has more ability but lacks George’s motivation or so it seems to me.

[FrancisFogarty]

2 hours ago, Spider said:

First half was great

Second half nervier than it needed to be.

We need to kill teams off when we’re on top, and have a bit more confidence in ourselves generally.

But we’re 4th, we’d all have taken this at the start, and Evatt will be aware of what’s needed. He just needs to graft away and sort it.

#EvattOut

We eased off on the pissing about at the back in the first half and scored two. Much better, but in the second half we rediscovered our pissing about credentials and conceded. 
Highlights were Sheehan getting a decent game , and Thomason not getting booked.

[Spider]

3 minutes ago, FrancisFogarty said:

We eased off on the pissing about at the back in the first half and scored two. Much better, but in the second half we rediscovered our pissing about credentials and conceded. 
Highlights were Sheehan getting a decent game , and Thomason not getting booked.

Highlight was 3 points. Time was we’d not have held on.

We all want perfection but the reality is that even the lesser teams will have a go at us and it will be nervy.

The talent is there to get promoted, just needs some work on the mental aspect I think. That’s down to Evatt to sort,

[Zico]

3 hours ago, Zico said:

The issue for me was we didn't win comfortably 

We were in a position to but didn't take it 

And because of that the second half was anything but comfortable and was massively relieved at the final whistle 

For uncomfortable see highlights after our goals 

 

 

[FrancisFogarty]

That was a great through ball for the second goal, but that sloppy ball out from Santos could have been costly in the scoreline, but it could have got the crowd on their backs.

As Spider said, the talent is there, but concentration seems to be lacking, and it's costing us week after week.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

Talent takes different forms for me.

Technical ability is all well and good, but if you've no stomach for a scrap, you can be found out.

It's that winning mentality. 

As previously- take points off teams in the forthcoming aways and I might start to believe. At the moment, nothing has changed my mind to suggest we will grab an automatic spot.

[Ani]

52 minutes ago, Zico said:

For uncomfortable see highlights after our goals 

 

 

They do not show the two chances Dion had or the shot Morley had that just hit someone . 
As much as we fell off second half we created chances for 15-20 minutes after the break. 
 

[Wanderlust]

I don't buy this lack of fitness thing. IE said we're not a team to sit back - we're a team that stays on the front foot. Clearly we weren't yesterday and there's no way the players could run out of steam halfway through the first half.

If we'd scored a third or even a fourth when we were dominating them, I could understand the players easing off a bit but we didn't - and that needs looking at because we were still overelaborate and shot shy when in good positions - but seemed to me that they totally took the foot off the pedal and started to play sloppy. Why did passes start to go astray? I reckon it's because they weren't making the effort in the runs to get into open positions to receive the ball so the margin of error for passes shrunk.

Why did they ease off? I am seriously thinking that there is a bit of ego at play in the team. Two nil up and they seem to think they can just pass it around like Barca - without doing the work required to make that possible. I am genuinely concerned that a few of our players have a prima donna complex and believe their own hype - exactly the opposite of IE's comments about "entitlement".

The best teams take nothing for granted and the best players put in the work required to be good. Yesterday some of ours didn't and that, in conjunction with a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal when we were on top made it an unnecessarily uncomfortable afternoon. The team shrink should be working overtime this week IMO.

[Leyther_Matt]

That 10 seconds from Santos sums up the second half. Just a complete lack of concentration.  

[Matt Lofthouse]

Very frustrating 2nd half after a great first half. We do fuck about with the hall  far too much at times and invite the pressure.

The 3 points was a must after the Carlisle game and the 2 tough away games coming in a week. 

[Johnnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Ratwhite said:

Is that not what Northampton did?

We seemed to sit back in second half, but they defo improved.

I wasn't paying attention to Northampton's formations, but a mate said they changed from 4-2-3-1 to 3 at the back in the 2nd half.  Changing formation mid-match will never catch on!  To be fair to them they did improve and no longer looked like the worst team I've seen here in ages, in the last half hour they showed some quality especially down the left side, whatever we say about our own performance.

[Deanu]

First half was a real joy to watch at times, our usual slow build up around the back but then when our midfield did see the chance to put us on the front foot with a sharp progressive pass they usually found it having us attacking the spaces with real intent. F knows what happened from HT onwards, as soon as we came out we were giving the ball away with nearly every pass ultra sloppily, nobody looked on the same wavelength anymore & we did a great job at inviting them on allowing them to grow in confidence due to our complacency. 

[frank_spencer]

Watched it on my phone so only saw what Ifollow showed but too many times in that 2nd half we'd clear the ball upfield to no fucker and it was coming right back. That's on Evatt it's no good bringing on the 'big lads' to hold the ball up if they're not there to do that.

[Johnnyrotten]

2 hours ago, Zico said:

For uncomfortable see highlights after our goals 

 

 

Our goals were great to watch, but the defending for Northampton's goal has to be seen to be believed.  Fair enough if we get hit on the break after an attack, but how do you have 6 or 7 clearly defending, yet allow their full back to jog half paced into 20 yards of space, then look up casually and pick out his unmarked striker?  Its the same pattern when defending a corner, 11 men back, 2 or 3 unmarked awaiting a free pot shot.  Carlisle scored from their's, Pinnock hit one just over in the 1st half and they had other half chances where it should have been no chances.  When did marking space rather than preventing crosses/shots become fashionable. 

[bolton va va]

Still not sure what to make of it......for an hour we were very, very good, scored 2 & could/should have had more but for the last half hour, seemed to lose any control.

Some thoughts why....Northampton improved & their subs gave them a lift, after their goal we didn't seem to know whether to stick or twist & did neither & our 3 subs were poor & weakened us.....Maghoma was well off the pace but will hopefully sharpen up, Bod, like Jerome, is looking like it's a season too many for him & Dan.....I still want him to do well but can't see what he is, he isn't a striker !!

Overall more good than bad, the first hour, 3 points & 4th in the league, but we still look 1 or 2 players short & a work in progress......currently more a play off contender than top 2.

[RUREADY2ROLL]

8 minutes ago, bolton va va said:

Still not sure what to make of it......for an hour we were very, very good, scored 2 & could/should have had more but for the last half hour, seemed to lose any control.

Some thoughts why....Northampton improved & their subs gave them a lift, after their goal we didn't seem to know whether to stick or twist & did neither & our 3 subs were poor & weakened us.....Maghoma was well off the pace but will hopefully sharpen up, Bod, like Jerome, is looking like it's a season too many for him & Dan.....I still want him to do well but can't see what he is, he isn't a striker !!

Overall more good than bad, the first hour, 3 points & 4th in the league, but we still look 1 or 2 players short & a work in progress......currently more a play off contender than top 2.

The next six games are massive and will confirm if we are even top six material 

[Eddie]

13 minutes ago, bolton va va said:

Still not sure what to make of it......for an hour we were very, very good, scored 2 & could/should have had more but for the last half hour, seemed to lose any control.

Some thoughts why....Northampton improved & their subs gave them a lift, after their goal we didn't seem to know whether to stick or twist & did neither & our 3 subs were poor & weakened us.....Maghoma was well off the pace but will hopefully sharpen up, Bod, like Jerome, is looking like it's a season too many for him & Dan.....I still want him to do well but can't see what he is, he isn't a striker !!

Overall more good than bad, the first hour, 3 points & 4th in the league, but we still look 1 or 2 players short & a work in progress......currently more a play off contender than top 2.

I think you’re being massively generous with an hour. I’d say we were brilliant for half an hour but well before half time we’d switched off and I was hoping that Evatt would have spotted the complacency that had crept in and given us a rocket to make sure we came out with purpose again in the second half - no such thing!

Like you say, 3 points, 4th in the league and other positives such as Santos back and other than his lapse in concentration he showed how immense he is in general, and the strikers playing well / scoring consistently.

We’re all just frustrated because we see glimpses of how good we can be - but instead of cruising through a game we should have been out of sight in at half time, we’ve all lost a year or two of our lives again waiting for the final whistle.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Eddie

[ianofcleveleys]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

That 10 seconds from Santos sums up the second half. Just a complete lack of concentration.  

I thought that, we'd started to drop off top level a few mins before but that slack, casual pass set the tone for the next 20 minutes. The defending for their goal a couple of minutes later was horrendous 

[Rizlar]

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I wasn't paying attention to Northampton's formations, but a mate said they changed from 4-2-3-1 to 3 at the back in the 2nd half.  Changing formation mid-match will never catch on!  To be fair to them they did improve and no longer looked like the worst team I've seen here in ages, in the last half hour they showed some quality especially down the left side, whatever we say about our own performance.

They did and put more players in midfield and IE did nothing therefore we got overrun and ended up hanging on.
So predictable with his subs which drives me mad as Dan is useless. 

Just hope he brings in a coach with some tactical nous not 1 of his mates who will do as he is told as IE tactically  is either poor or just stubborn. 
But as some have said a wins a win! 

[Popeye doyle]

The first half play was the best I’ve seen us play this season.
Clearly Northampton had a rocket at half time and raised their game. This is when we need to raise ours, not technically, I don’t think we can play better than we did first half, but in attitude and effort. I still think we need a couple more leaders on the pitch.

[Zulu]

Great day out for my annual (unless I’m lucky) visit. Had a cracking day out with my brother and a group of friends, followed by a decent nosebag in Luciano’s. Watched the first half of the rugby at my brother’s and got back to Northamptonshire just after midnight. 
Just been talking to a good pal of mine from Northampton who travelled up for the game. He reckoned that, for the first 40 minutes, we were the best team he’d seen in the division in three years. For the rest of the game he said ‘we looked like all the other shite in the division’. 
Hard to argue with that. 

Edited October 22, 2023 by Zulu

[Johnnyrotten]

3 hours ago, RUREADY2ROLL said:

The next six games are massive and will confirm if we are even top six material 

If the 6 is extended to 8 that includes the top 2 away, fair to say after those games we'll no longer be saying we've had an easy run of fixtures.  But yes if we don't get a decent return from the next 6 the writing's on the wall; if we're still top 6 after Pompey its a very decent start.  

[Cheese]

Extended highlights.

 

 

[Whitesince63]

There’s no question we dropped off in the second half but it’s only fair to give Northampton their due for upping their game and certainly after their  goal putting us under increasing pressure. We were actually though more than a little unlucky with a couple of shots blocked and Jones and Vic getting in each others way when I think Vic was perfectly placed to nod it in and any one of those would have killed the game.
 

Our final ball though is atrocious and that’s not just in this game. A little more composure would bring results I’m sure. We’re just missing the cool head of a Kieran Lee type for me and in January IE needs to be looking for an experienced head to provide that stability that’s missing. We’re still well on track and with quite a few of our next run of games being 6 pointers against challengers we should have a better idea of how good we really are.