Cobblers Today.....

[BiggsyMalone]

Ross has had this team for a year now and they are no closer to having a formation that gets the best out of the players, nor do the players look any better. Their way of improving that? Making a bloke who just retired from the club, one of their first team coaches. It was good to see some of the players getting 90 minutes today but there's not much else to be excited about. Ling genuinely thinks this squad is good enough to challenge for the playoffs. Not like this they're not.

As I mentioned earlier, Ruel (who is a poacher) was wide left, Wilkinson (who is a mobile target man) was wide right and Dayton (who is a winger) was playing in central midfield. I'm all for giving people minutes but pre-season is also about getting the players to practice what they've worked on in training in a proper match. They started pre-season before anyone else and have had no new signings to integrate, they should be drilled to f*** and fit. They looked neither today. Either Ross doesn't have the players he wants/needs or he genuinely thinks Ruel, Wilkinson and Dayton should be playing in those positions. If it's the former, he needs to change the formation to get the best out of what he has. It's a shame JMD doesn't contribute defensively otherwise I'd change to 4231 and play him behind the striker.

It was good to see Brophy getting time in his best position and improved us immensely when he came on.

[PoliticOs]

Gotta say from today I've had to revise my prediction from 3rd place to 5th

[FargO]

Northampton closed our players down while they seemed to have time and space when they had the ball. At one point Clay tried to get tight to a Cobblers player and then backed off leaving the opponent acres of room to pick a pass. At the other end we missed Jobi's defence splitting passes. Some of our long balls forward were embarrassing. Not encouraging.

[Stan1972]

Judd is not L2 standard, New RB Urgently needed.
Coulson not L2 standard, New CB Urgently needed.
Cisse Is quality and both he & Wright need to stay injury free, we also have Clay & Jobi, but Jobi will play 10-15 games max, so we urgently need another CM.
JMD, Dennis, Brophy & Dayton should be competing for wide positions.
Wilkinson, Angol, Johnson & Ruel shoul all be competing for central forward positions.
New RB, CB & CM Please Ling.
Loan market will be very important...

[Beradogs]

Sorry. But I have to dig out Brophy a little again today. He did have one ok shot but twice got himself into fantastic positions close to the side of the goal with men in the middle and just kind of scuffed/miss-hit a cross both times to no one in particular. It must be said that he was more threatening than the rest of the forwards, Soirtrio put together for the time he was on but that’s what makes him even more annoying. He really has to improve his assists and goals ratio or what exactly is the point. When you know he will not do the right thing at the end of great build up play 99% of the time it takes away what should be a bit of a joy watching him. We have had some great wingers down the years and I have never known one to flatter to deceive as much as he does.

[Scuba Diver]

So Wilkinson 'out of position' again, at wide-right.

Didn't something come to light last season where RE stated he played him there "because he asked to play there"
?

If so, that is a major concern imo, as it means RE has little to no authority, and reinforces the view that he ultimately has no game-plan, and little to no idea of what he is doing..........

[BiggsyMalone]

Sorry. But I have to dig out Brophy a little again today. He did have one ok shot but twice got himself into fantastic positions close to the side of the goal with men in the middle and just kind of scuffed/miss-hit a cross both times to no one in particular. It must be said that he was more threatening than the rest of the forwards, Soirtrio put together for the time he was on but that’s what makes him even more annoying. He really has to improve his assists and goals ratio or what exactly is the point. When you know he will not do the right thing at the end of great build up play 99% of the time it takes away what should be a bit of a joy watching him. We have had some great wingers down the years and I have never known one to flatter to deceive as much as he does.

You mean when he put the ball into the area for them to attack but the strikers didn't move?

[tuffers#1]

If so, that is a major concern imo, as it means RE has little to no authority, and reinforces the view that he ultimately has no game-plan, and little to no idea of what he is doing..........

The Ross HATING has started early

Seasons not even kicked off yet & they're at IT .

[Tent Keague]

While I don't really rate our players much beyond average for this division, I do think things like organsation and understanding should have been more noticeable today.

We're settled. We have no new additions. Yet we appeared to be the team all at sea with a total lack of cohesion or what we were meant to be doing.

As we all very well know, an organised team of average players will 9 times out of 10 look better than a disjointed bunch of superstars.

Let's be honest too, Northampton weren't anything special and didn't really have pace and power or tactical nous but they were organised.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

I love a meltdown, don’t get me wrong. And I don’t believe in Ross or this squad. But it was a meaningless friendly. Calm down.

[Beradogs]

Sorry. But I have to dig out Brophy a little again today. He did have one ok shot but twice got himself into fantastic positions close to the side of the goal with men in the middle and just kind of scuffed/miss-hit a cross both times to no one in particular. It must be said that he was more threatening than the rest of the forwards, Soirtrio put together for the time he was on but that’s what makes him even more annoying. He really has to improve his assists and goals ratio or what exactly is the point. When you know he will not do the right thing at the end of great build up play 99% of the time it takes away what should be a bit of a joy watching him. We have had some great wingers down the years and I have never known one to flatter to deceive as much as he does.

You mean when he put the ball into the area for them to attack but the strikers didn't move?

He didn’t though did he. Once you get into that position that is when you need the composure to wait for a split second and pick out the man or even drive further into the area. He just crossed it weakly straight to the centre half to boot away. You are right though, the strikers didn’t do a lot of moving.

[tuffers#1]

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Why not try 442 for once. we have the players to do that and who knows, it may work.

Think we basically did once Brophy came on

Missed the first 20 minutes of the second half but was still 4-3-3 from what I saw.

I think the fear is still that we haven’t got 2 decent CMs to play in the middle - who would you put with Cisse? Jobi probably could, I guess.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Why not try 442 for once. we have the players to do that and who knows, it may work.

Think we basically did once Brophy came on

Missed the first 20 minutes of the second half but was still 4-3-3 from what I saw.

I think the fear is still that we haven’t got 2 decent CMs to play in the middle - who would you put with Cisse? Jobi probably could, I guess.

For the last 15 mins it seemed like Brophy was on the left, Dayton on the right and angol and Wilko up top. Hard to tell on the stream though.

Jobi and Cisse first choice but can’t see Jobi starting more than 15-20 games.

If we play 4-3-3 then we can probably get away with clay or wright in there. It’s still weak though

[Thor]

So Wilkinson 'out of position' again, at wide-right.

Didn't something come to light last season where RE stated he played him there "because he asked to play there"
?

If so, that is a major concern imo, as it means RE has little to no authority, and reinforces the view that he ultimately has no game-plan, and little to no idea of what he is doing..........

Yes Ross did say he wanted to play there. Since then that's where wilko has played.

[Tom Chance]

Don't get all the negativity here.
Ross seems to think we'll be fine once the pitches are wetter!

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Think we basically did once Brophy came on

Missed the first 20 minutes of the second half but was still 4-3-3 from what I saw.

I think the fear is still that we haven’t got 2 decent CMs to play in the middle - who would you put with Cisse? Jobi probably could, I guess.

For the last 15 mins it seemed like Brophy was on the left, Dayton on the right and angol and Wilko up top. Hard to tell on the stream though.

Jobi and Cisse first choice but can’t see Jobi starting more than 15-20 games.

If we play 4-3-3 then we can probably get away with clay or wright in there. It’s still weak though

I didn’t see it that way, thought it was still 4-3-3.

As you said, difficult to comment based on the stream - but we’ll have to get used to that - but the problem seems to be the front 3 are so far apart. You watch the top teams play this formation and their front 3 are all linking up regularly. Ours seem to be constantly alone and outnumbered. If Ross persists with this formation, we need to get them together somehow. Possibly by having more adventurous full backs to fill those wide positions, meaning Ruel and Wilko can tuck in with Angol.

[Disoriented]

Judd beaten to the ball for the goal

I think he will be out for the start of the season due to that

Wrong. Judd has looked good so far. Will start the season in front of your fella.

[tuffers#1]

Judd beaten to the ball for the goal

I think he will be out for the start of the season due to that

Wrong. Judd has looked good so far. Will start the season in front of your fella.

Sorry to say this Dis , but he ain't starting in front of a fit sam ling

Like it or not ling jnr is number 1 choice.

[RedDwarf 1881]

Judd beaten to the ball for the goal

I think he will be out for the start of the season due to that

Wrong. Judd has looked good so far. Will start the season in front of your fella.

Sorry to say this Dos , but he ain't starting in fornt of a fit sam ling

Like it or not ling jnr is number 1 choice.

I repeat , and that's why we new a new RB.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

You can’t play Ling (and Widdowson) as full backs in a 4-3-3.

[tuffers#1]

Wrong. Judd has looked good so far. Will start the season in front of your fella.

Sorry to say this Dos , but he ain't starting in fornt of a fit sam ling

Like it or not ling jnr is number 1 choice.

I repeat , and that's why we new a new RB.

Unlikely to happen

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

I like Widdowson but he was poor yesterday.

[MrB]

I like Widdowson but he was poor yesterday.

Personally I’ve never rated him.He’s Just an ok player in my view

[Disoriented]

Judd beaten to the ball for the goal

I think he will be out for the start of the season due to that

Wrong. Judd has looked good so far. Will start the season in front of your fella.

Sorry to say this Dis , but he ain't starting in front of a fit sam ling

Like it or not ling jnr is number 1 choice.

Why do you say that Tiff?

Are you accusing the club of nepotism?