Northampton Town (A)

[Stig]

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

We are 2 games in hand from the top. That is not failure.

Bar Wigan, remind me of our batterings?

Weak? We dug in yesterday and got a point out of nothing. 

All after instrumental changes by our so called clueless manager.

Sorry, battering is the wrong word, as agree, apart from Wigan we've not been battered. It was more we have shockingly bad dips in performance so when we lose it has tended to be well deserved, which is weird for a team at the top. We haven't really had any losses where we've been hammering at the door and just couldn't score, more we've not turned up and lost comfortably.

Like I said, I can't remember that happening with such regularity when we've been promotion contenders.

[tomski]

2 minutes ago, deeane Koontz said:

Thought it was a 'are you having a pint' gesture.

The best gestures

[deeane Koontz]

1 minute ago, tomski said:

The best gestures

Absolutely

[DirtySanchez]

7 minutes ago, Casino said:

A bus?

Like fuck

I don't mind admitting I got the bus to the ground 

After the trains fucking up and Uber being non existent in Northampton it was my only option of making kick off

[desperado]

25 minutes ago, Casino said:

Hes my lads mate

I suspect one or two conversations will be had

I thought it was something along those lines. Definitely in the realms of good banter, he even had a little smile and thumbs up

[DirtySanchez]

The chilli was alreet as football food goes 

[wanderer1984]

13 minutes ago, desperado said:

I’m really hoping this is a cleverly constructed ironic post? 

Because it sums up the 4 -3-3 debate perfectly.

If I was playing FIFA or football manager which I did between the ages of 8-20, then going 4-3-3 would be exactly what I’d do. 

But in the real world, you (should) understand it’s not that simple and just because it works in a one-off unique circumstance, you can’t apply that formula to the next game.

I admit on paper and yesterday it looked good. But you’d be dismissing a whole host of factors - below only captures part of it. 

Our tactics/style of play/set-up;

- has had immense success over the last 3 seasons

- it’s what the squad are used to

- it plays to the strengths of a large part of our squad and players have been recruited accordingly (with variation on this like CMG)

- and a big one which seems to get overlooked by some (and Evatt/Markham have reiterated this on numerous occasions) the formation can be fluid in game-play and formations/rotations/fluidity, is part of the way we play.

Now if we come out with 4-3-3 Tuesday not only would I be extremely surprised but I’d accept I’ve got it wrong and my points above would be questionable.

But if as expected it’s back to normal then the above points have merit and while change of formations is a good debate, we shouldn’t be hearing the style of posts which claim “He should have done this” “I don’t understand why” “Did he not watch the 2nd half vs Northampton”

I’ve shied away from some of the IE isms of recent, I know they used to get trudged out and laughed off.

But it really is a case of trust the process. FV haven’t backed him, his staff, players and recruitment because they have doubts about his footballing decisions. They know he’s the right man. Just wish we had a few more fans who thought the same way. 

I back Evatt 100% 👍🏻

[Zico]

23 minutes ago, Stig said:

Sorry, battering is the wrong word, as agree, apart from Wigan we've not been battered. It was more we have shockingly bad dips in performance so when we lose it has tended to be well deserved, which is weird for a team at the top. We haven't really had any losses where we've been hammering at the door and just couldn't score, more we've not turned up and lost comfortably.

Like I said, I can't remember that happening with such regularity when we've been promotion contenders.

Got to admit when we do lose we've looked pretty rank once that first goal has gone in

[Leyther_Matt]

31 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

I don't mind admitting I got the bus to the ground 

After the trains fucking up and Uber being non existent in Northampton it was my only option of making kick off

We rang for a taxi before the game, turned up sharpish and £12 which wasn’t too bad. After the game, they said they wouldn’t have any five seaters for hours so ended up on the bus back to the train station which was much quicker than expected. Cost a tenner for three adults and two kids, mind.

26 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

The chilli was alreet as football food goes 

Where was that from?! The one to the left of the goal was just some foil wrapped(!) burgers that the Mrs said were awful and a pretty poor £4 Cornish pasty. 

[JimmyRiddle]

The first half was as bad as anything I've seen. How a potential divisional winners can turn up after a week off and look so abysmal I just can't get my head around.

There were a lot of bad individual performances granted,  but watching from behind the goal you could see how static we were as a team, the defenders had no options at all, Sheehan was marked out of the game and we had nothing else, and that is the coaching. Plus Vic and Charles being gash.

If I was a manager of a pub team I would be screaming for more movement, yet we are 3.5 years into Evatt and the team still, on occasion, look absolutely clueless as to what they are meant to be doing. Either that or over coached so they are scared of not sticking to Evatt's master plan???

Either way, the first half yesterday was an embarrassment.

 

 

[L/H White]

4 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

We rang for a taxi before the game, turned up sharpish and £12 which wasn’t too bad. After the game, they said they wouldn’t have any five seaters for hours so ended up on the bus back to the train station which was much quicker than expected. Cost a tenner for three adults and two kids, mind.

Where was that from?! The one to the left of the goal was just some foil wrapped(!) burgers that the Mrs said were awful and a pretty poor £4 Cornish pasty. 

Cheaper than our buses, that'll cost you £35

[MickyD]

Taxi from Wetherspoons to ground £8.80

Meal with drinks at TGI Fridays for 4 £80 (less 25% discount from manager after a bit of flannelling7 £60

Taxi TGI Friday to off licence near station £9.00

I reckon we’ll probably get all that back on delay repay.

[Stig]

50 minutes ago, desperado said:

I’m really hoping this is a cleverly constructed ironic post? 

Because it sums up the 4 -3-3 debate perfectly.

If I was playing FIFA or football manager which I did between the ages of 8-20, then going 4-3-3 would be exactly what I’d do. 

But in the real world, you (should) understand it’s not that simple and just because it works in a one-off unique circumstance, you can’t apply that formula to the next game.

I admit on paper and yesterday it looked good. But you’d be dismissing a whole host of factors - below only captures part of it. 

Our tactics/style of play/set-up;

- has had immense success over the last 3 seasons

- it’s what the squad are used to

- it plays to the strengths of a large part of our squad and players have been recruited accordingly (with variation on this like CMG)

- and a big one which seems to get overlooked by some (and Evatt/Markham have reiterated this on numerous occasions) the formation can be fluid in game-play and formations/rotations/fluidity, is part of the way we play.

Now if we come out with 4-3-3 Tuesday not only would I be extremely surprised but I’d accept I’ve got it wrong and my points above would be questionable.

But if as expected it’s back to normal then the above points have merit and while change of formations is a good debate, we shouldn’t be hearing the style of posts which claim “He should have done this” “I don’t understand why” “Did he not watch the 2nd half vs Northampton”

I’ve shied away from some of the IE isms of recent, I know they used to get trudged out and laughed off.

But it really is a case of trust the process. FV haven’t backed him, his staff, players and recruitment because they have doubts about his footballing decisions. They know he’s the right man. Just wish we had a few more fans who thought the same way. 

We did switch to 433 half way through the L2 season with great results following after a disastrous start in 532. We then switched back to 532 in Jan of a tricky first year in L1 and progress has been steadily improving year on year.

The squad we have available now does seem suited to a switch back to 433, and I wouldn't have thought it would take that much adjustment. Pro footballers will have played 433 plenty

[MickyD]

1 minute ago, Stig said:

We did switch to 433 half way through the L2 season with great results following after a disastrous start in 532. We then switched back to 532 in Jan of a tricky first year in L1 and progress has been steadily improving year on year.

The squad we have available now does seem suited to a switch back to 433, and I wouldn't have thought it would take that much adjustment. Pro footballers will have played 433 plenty

Was that also the season we got rid of Billy Crellin and played Matt Gilkes in goal?

[DirtySanchez]

18 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

We rang for a taxi before the game, turned up sharpish and £12 which wasn’t too bad. After the game, they said they wouldn’t have any five seaters for hours so ended up on the bus back to the train station which was much quicker than expected. Cost a tenner for three adults and two kids, mind.

Where was that from?! The one to the left of the goal was just some foil wrapped(!) burgers that the Mrs said were awful and a pretty poor £4 Cornish pasty. 

I was in the stand down the side 

Kiosk there had it, grated cheese and a piece of crusty bread for £4

[noxid]

Was Cogley injured or rested yesterday?

[Farnywhite]

4 minutes ago, noxid said:

Was Cogley injured or rested yesterday?

Rested 

[Stig]

29 minutes ago, MickyD said:

Was that also the season we got rid of Billy Crellin and played Matt Gilkes in goal?

Yeah. Much more desperate times than this season!

[tomski]

57 minutes ago, L/H White said:

Cheaper than our buses, that'll cost you £35

Tell you what them coaches don’t mess about. We thought we did well being back for 19:50 and saw a few of them on M62 etc

[gonzo]

1 hour ago, JimmyRiddle said:

The first half was as bad as anything I've seen. How a potential divisional winners can turn up after a week off and look so abysmal I just can't get my head around.

There were a lot of bad individual performances granted,  but watching from behind the goal you could see how static we were as a team, the defenders had no options at all, Sheehan was marked out of the game and we had nothing else, and that is the coaching. Plus Vic and Charles being gash.

If I was a manager of a pub team I would be screaming for more movement, yet we are 3.5 years into Evatt and the team still, on occasion, look absolutely clueless as to what they are meant to be doing. Either that or over coached so they are scared of not sticking to Evatt's master plan???

Either way, the first half yesterday was an embarrassment.

 

 

We had the sucker punch of conceding then another sucker punch having a man sent off.

A game is 90 mins. We regrouped, made changes and came away with a point.

[gonzo]

1 hour ago, Stig said:

Sorry, battering is the wrong word, as agree, apart from Wigan we've not been battered. It was more we have shockingly bad dips in performance so when we lose it has tended to be well deserved, which is weird for a team at the top. We haven't really had any losses where we've been hammering at the door and just couldn't score, more we've not turned up and lost comfortably.

Like I said, I can't remember that happening with such regularity when we've been promotion contenders.

Aye said it yesterday. We do seem to have the occasional heads gone moments in games.

Can only put it down to a system like ours requires everyone to be bang on all of the time. One loose ball and its fucked.

 

[Mutley]

Enjoyable day and a good point in the end especially going down to ten (would have taken before KO)

Nice to see regular faces and @jeep

Rico and Forrester back light training on Saturday (didn’t travel with squad) 

mtly 

[TrickyTrotter]

People may think Bolton TC is a dump, but Northampton exceeded it by a margin.  More eating places in the centre- we went to PizzaExpress - but that's only cos most of ours are out of town.   Walked up the main road from the centre to the ground and back round the rear of the Rugby ground, it didn't get any better.  

Some strange folk as well  presumably many working in them huge sheds by the M1.

 

[desperado]

1 hour ago, Stig said:

We did switch to 433 half way through the L2 season with great results following after a disastrous start in 532. We then switched back to 532 in Jan of a tricky first year in L1 and progress has been steadily improving year on year.

The squad we have available now does seem suited to a switch back to 433, and I wouldn't have thought it would take that much adjustment. Pro footballers will have played 433 plenty

It's a good debate and a debate that's valid especially after seeing it work well.

But I think you hit the nail on the head when you identify the shift change in season 1 with Evatt going 4-3-3 coming about after a disastrous start and 5-3-2 not working.

That isn't the case at the moment. I think like yesterday it's something to have up our sleeve. 

I fully expect, predict and understand going back to wing backs on Tuesday.

[MickyD]

1 hour ago, Stig said:

Yeah. Much more desperate times than this season!

I think you may have missed my point. I reckon the Crellin/Gilkes switch probably had a bigger influence on the season than a swap of defensive formation.