The Hotel End

Boxing day game against JFH's first opponent as NTFC manager. Can we do the double over them?

Yes

Definitely.

Anybody know if we can we get tickets on the day?

Yes, of course! Same price as advanced sales. We are not going to sellout our (initial) 1032 allocation. Should we even manage that, another 2000 odd red seats available!

For some reason I'm getting a good feeling about this one.Must be the wine..

Me too. Boxing Day morning here and have just finished jumping up and down on the wrapping paper and packaging crap to get it in the recycle bin. Therefore an opinion not clouded by alcohol. Do you reckon the players are starting to be affected by the fact that the cavalry are coming over the horizon (the much anticipated transfer window). Would be typical if they went on an unbeaten run, not that I’d complain or anything?

Yr new found confidence is welcome; the trouble is yr recent predictions have been erractic so a confident outlook for tomorrow should be made with a little more caution, or of course lay off the Jack Daniels!

If we played as well as we did on Saturday , we will win this game .
JJOT and McGugan might tire though .
Hoskins to start .
Long looks on form to me

I'm not

Cavalry? Custer, Reno and friends marching over the hill to the Little Big Horn. That cavalry?  ;D

The Companion Cavalry

A comfortable 3 or 4 goal win for Donny.

Our players will look lethargic and there will be some indiscipline in the second half, probably one, maybe two red cards for the Cobbs.

Our usual youngsters will have far too much to drink and several will be ejected from the ground. One will be arrested for something which we be reading about in the Chronicle for a few months.

The traffic past Leicester Forest East on the way home will be truly shocking and one of our travelling support will be involved in a minor shunt resulting in 18 months of email exchanges with various lawyers and insurance companies.

All in all very few of our fans will have enjoyed the day before returning to the endless drudgery of their pathetic jobs or another grinding week with their loveless families.

And North Korea will start World War 3!!!!

I wish I felt as optimistic as some others on this thread - I’ve got the feeling that this is a pivotal game for us today, we need to grind a result out somehow.

Team -

Ingram, Moloney, Buchanan, Taylor, Foley, Richards (c), McWilliams, Long, O'Toole, Poole, Grimes.

Subs - Cornell, Kasim, Waters, Hoskins, Smith, Hanley, McGugan.

Tinkerman at it again?

Richards ??  Thats a big gamble that needs to pay off soon.

We're playing pretty good. We've gone close and couple of times and the Ingmeister has made 1 or 2 good saves..

I hope you take full responsibility.

I still think there's a goal in us.

I don't

Christmas hangover, we’re not getting near them, allowing them to have 20 passes before we look like making a challenge. They even got three bites for the goal.

Marquis bundled and a pen to Donny now....

SACK 'EM ALL!!!

Not sure about xmas hang over, it's been like that most weeks since Oxford!

game over..im out

Part timer!

All coming true so far. Any p*ssed up kids there?

Back to playing like a team of strangers again. Marquis was looking for the touch for about ten minutes and Grimes was still stupid enough to put his foot in.
I blame Jfh.
We need to come out firing from the off second half.

JFH fielded a side to grind out a draw and to turn things around at 0-2 s going to be very difficult. The selection of Rico to start is baffling.

I do have to laugh when fans say ‘sh1t referee’.....if it was our forward going through and was nudged to the ground we’d cry out for the pen. It’s the way of the world, get the merest touch in the area and fall to the ground. No need for the challenge and certainly didn’t get anywhere near the ball so it’s a pen all day.

Tinkermans tactics not worked, Rico anonymous, Long not a lot better, O’toole lost when more withdrawn.

This complete lack of consistency - not least in relation to team selection - is going to see us relegated at this rate.

Work rate or lack of will be the thing that relegated us

One of the best performances of the season on sat, no real need for change other than maybe Ingram..
Go two nil down first half, and what does Jimmy do half time?... sweet fa.

I seriously question any manager when your team is losing 2-0 at HT and he doesn't make any changes.  

495 Cobblers fans there. The poor bastards.

Too many poor performances put in on long trips for our fans this year. Feel sorry so many times.

I understand that the Chinese are literally spitting rice at this.

Alternatively I hear that they don’t give a fAck because they now have a few million clean British pounds.

Goog for the Toole, Hoskins for Long......

What a shambles.

That's it jimmy, take of the two players most likely to change the game for us, but leave a season long ineffective Richards on

Rubbish on the road yet again.  Let's face it unless the Chinese have more money than most of us think to spend next month then we are doomed. Unimpressed with JFH's constant tinkering, the more so when he gets it wrong as he does all too often.

Same old story

Hass Out!!! He's useless..The Revmeister would have scored a hatrick today..

He's the greatest.

Christ - if we’re this bad against an average Doncaster side what hope have we against Portsmouth and Wigan?

None

Less than that I reckon

Leaving the pitch to chants of ‘what the effing hell was that’......

Not pretty, nothing I’ve seen from Hass convinces me that we’ll be ok in January....

You could say this is not a time for a knee-jerk reaction but if I was the owner I would be asking questions of JFH's ability to keep this failing side in L1 even allowing for the fact that this is not his side.  I have to say nothing I see from JFH's selections give me much comfort that he is the right man. My own view is that we will find ourselves disappointed with business in January and continue to slide back to the basement.  No leadership is being shown on the pitch or off it with the actual owners (Chinese) mute. Very depressing.

Very poor and we look a genuine relegation side. Richards was terrible. Hanley and Hoskins are clearly not upto anykind of L1 standard. Defensively all over the place and quite frankly could have been 4 or 5 at the end. Wriggle’s was right we were legthargic,abject, abysmal you name it. Did not think much of Ingram either. We need several new players and good ones!

Very negative from you nevers, you feeling okay or is the penny actually dropping?

Must agree about too much tinkering. Why not stay with a winning and drawing  ;D team? Why do we always try to "adapt" to the opposition and not play our best team? Poor overall performance. Richards particularly ineffective (again) and I honestly think Hanley is not physically strong enough to play league football - muscled off the ball very easily. We have to stick with JFH in my opinion but it is getting very frustrating.

It comes to something when Everbrite (finally) gets on the case. The fact that the club has awarded Hoskins a new 3 years contract indicates that we are planning for L2. Appalling decision making at our club is making us relegation favourites.

The only thing that was partially going for us was that it was so tight at the bottom that we were still in touch - the problem is that now a gap is starting to open up and as I mentioned earlier this is likely to get bigger by 5pm on January 1st.

'Maybe I got the team selection wrong'. JFH

At least he's finally [almost] conceded that his tinkering might have had an impact.

If you're struggling as much as we have been you don't change a winning/drawing team, you don't leave yourself open by playing 4-4-2 away from home and you don't leave some of your most effective players on the bench.

Dropping Smith was one of the biggest mistakes today. His final ball was poor on Saturday, but he's worth his place in the team for what he offers in terms of pressing/advanced defence alone. He certainly would have contributed more than Rico today.

As you avoid games you hardly have the right to criticise any one who does! See your side Swindon got walloped!

Don't really know what to say that we haven't said after moat defeats this season.

It doesn't look good.

"Easier game" too today 😂😂😂🙈

True ; also what was the point of playing Foley out on the left! Thought he did ok last Sat on the right? Team selection was terrible today! Reports on this Portuguese fellow are not encouraging, being trialed at left back and is chronically over weight  - apparently! After today truly horrible effort JFH maybe on borrowed time? The only good thing to emerge is that we are not completely adrift. Playing side we maybe but not in the league. However we appear to be working at it 🤨

Just back in Wellingborough and VERY embarressed by todays lack of display. I am bored of Northampton NIL!!!
I am embarressed by Richards lack of effectiveness over the season BUT I blame the person who picks a player 18 months passed his sell by date. Who authorised the new contract to Hoskins who has no end quality for League 1.

We have to have at least TWO wingers and TWO strikers signed ON January 1st NOT even January 2nd or 3rd!!!!!

Can you translate this for me please ?

Was in car on way back so didn't hear JFH interview (instead a CW interview on radio Sheffield, how refreshing that was), but too right he got team selection wrong.
Foley had a good game on Sat on RHS so Jim moves him to LHS. Smith I thought did alright on Sat (and did actually put two decent crosses in before being withdrawn), but doesn't even get on today.
I also thought jfh had stumbled upon a solution on Sat with Toole coming from deep to support Long, it looked promising to me, but what does he do today? Play Toole further back and start Richards.
And as for the substitutions... JJ did go over on his ankle just before being withdrawn but did seem to run it off, so if Hoskins and Hanley for Toole and Long were purely tactical as was leaving Richards on, words fail me.
The time to judge Jimmy is after a window?.. I don't think so, he needs judging now.

That is the crux - these new signings need to be proven quality and ready to go from the 1st January - if what Evers says is true and this Portuguese fullback/winger is nowhere near match fit this is obviously not what we need. Tim Oglethorpe hinted that the media already know the names of some incomings which makes it even more odd that there are no rumours - this suggests to me that these new players are going to be loans as if we had made money approaches for anyone this would no doubt have surfaced by now.

Tim O also said he's been told Daniel Powell should be fit for Portsmouth  ;D ;D

That's one out then 😂😆😆🙈🙈

Surprised Jimmy paid no attention to how he beat Doncaster in his first game. Smith might lack quality crossing, but he brings speed, determination and good cover.

FFS Jimmy , stop mucking about with the team selection every week .
Get some consistency going and stick to the players you trust .
What was the point in swapping Foley over to the right and playing Rico ?
We should be better than this and it’s the manager who takes responsibility .
January will not rescue us and we are going down at this rate ...

The JFH school of management clearly involves studying the opposition and trying to pick a team and formation accordingly. Well, either he's regularly getting wrong how the opposition are going to play or our squad is not good enough to adapt to this constant tinkering. Either way, our points tally under him so far suggest he is not going to do any worse by simply trying to play his best team and formation week in/week out - in their best positions, only making adjustments if form/injuries force him to so do and replacing like with like wherever possible. We don't need rocket science. Our current team is not going to set the division alight because we lack a sufficient goal threat but could and should be good enough for lower mid-table if managed well. Today's defeat must be as much down to the manager as the players.

I thought this whilst at the game today!! First game of his reign he through a curveball and brought Smith in, and after only 21 seconds we were a goal up.
Today, after a half decent game on Saturday he drops Smith to the bench and puts Foley over the wrong side. He brings Richards back into the fold after a few weeks off the pitch, and Hanley?? Where has he appeared from again? Even Kasim reappeared in the bench today! What next? Revell to start on Saturday?

A little bewildered by just how many times JFH teams manage to get battered by very average opposition.

As soon as I saw Jimmys comments pre game about looking at our team shape due to the fact Doncaster play with a diamond I knew we would lose (despite still going). The team and squad selections continue to puzzle me. We have two left backs in Smith and Hanley on the bench despite Buchs never coming off the pitch, I am not a big Revell lover but surely he has more use than two left backs we use as wingers. The last time we saw Waters he played really well at Oxford, never to be used again.

We have the worst defensive record in the league so how we are supposed to just back as we did today and soak up pressure is beyond me. There was so little pressure on the centre midfielders for Donny that I am shocked we didnt concede earlier, no pressure on the ball and a high line is suicidal. If we are going to defend deep and go long then we needed pace, yet we play Foley, Rico and Mcwilliams (who I felt sorry for, he did his best but is never a RM).

This is where I dont understand JFH again, there are times when he is insistent on individual players pressing. Yet today there was clearly no urgency as a team to press which has happened on several occasions now. We have no discernable style of play. As soon as we went 2 down it was game over (definite penalty as well, Grimes bit and Marquis went down easy but looked nailed on) as we never built up any steam at all. Doncaster passed it around so easily we made them look like a league 1 Barcelona at times, it was embarrasing the lack of tackles that were coming in. Mcgugan needs to be in that team and as a 10, he needs to be as close to goal as possible. I like Rico and hope he stays with the club in the future in some sort of coaching role but unless he is attacking balls whipped into the box etc then at this stage of his career he is of no use to us. He dosnt have the legs and just gives away a ton of fouls.

I would happily free up wages with Revell/Rico, Bowditch, Hanley, Kasim, Waters and get some pacy widemen / another forward in the Eoin Doyle mould. The only concern is can JFH make it work even with better players, im not convinced but I hope so. We create so little and fall part so easily, he takes some responsibilty for that regardless of the squads shortcomings.

I think the big issue is whether JFH is a good enough manager to keep us in this division.  Even allowing for the fact he inherited the present poor squad nothing so far suggests to me he is the right man for this job.  If it was my money I wouldn't let JFH start spending it next week.

A truly shocking display, I've had the misfortune to watch this shower for over 30 years and that was one of the most gutless clueless performances, JFH hasn't got a clue, agree with what's been said on here about tinkering etc. Once he took Long off for no reason I walked out. JFH will be gone by March.

Sometimes the art of management is to not really manage.

Something JFH doesn't seem to realise.

On the plus side, the DFS sofa sale started today.

JFH is not performing
He has done next to nothing with this squad and we are no further forward than we were under JED.

We've already been to Gillingham...

Well done for the last two performances prior to today. Foley, albeit in an alien position has been exceptional wide right so let’s play him wide left... ffs! Four points in the last two games with a settled formation then this.
He constantly tinkers thinking he’s some football genius, he isn’t, he’s the complete opposite!
It seems the penny has dropped with a lot of posters tonight, I hope it’s dropped with the people that matter.
I’ve been paying to watch the Cobblers for over 40 years, forget the transfer window it won’t make any difference as he’s one of the worst managers we’ve ever had!!

Like it. ;D ;D

I agree its poorly worded and missing some punctuation. It was cold up there and given the display together with some very poor managerial selection of players; aided by venting some frustration on a mobile. I suppose its nice to make grammatical corrections from a nice warm room on a comfy sofa. CobblerForever is something you are not. Otherwise you would have been at Doncaster moaning with the rest of us.

All that is quite correct ; I too am losing patience with JFH. To me that was a shocking display and we were fortunate it was only 3-0. JFH now has to pick another side for the 30th ::) The side picked today was certainly not playing for the manager. No longer sure if he is capable of selecting a side on a regular basis, let alone bringing in new players.

I'm 99% players can't be signed on 1st Jan as it's a public holiday and the FA/EFL offices are closed.

At some stage we have to stick with a manager. To keep changing does not work so we have to give him the chance of bringing in the type of player he requires. It might be painful in the short term but we have to give him the opportunity.
Yesterday was awful though!

At least the cricket is a worth just getting up for.......................Cook just got his first 50 of the tour!

Agreed, also, yesterday's changes may have party been down to playing 3 games in a week.  McGuigan still isn't fully fit so probably needed the rest and JFH would want him fresh for Wigan.  Feel sorry for Smith however and think he was unlucky to be dropped.  People may have criticised his crossing on Saturday, but I watched the Leicester Man Utd game that evening and believe me, the majority of those ''Premier League' crosses were no better. 

Where was Crooks? I thought he was only suspended for one game?

Two games

That game yesterday was so bad I almost miss rob Page as manager.

I feel for Jimmy inheriting this dog turd of a squad however I've lost my patience with him as a manager (I'm not calling for his head despite this)

Yes he has more personality than JED and Page combined but his tactics and selections are causing more of our problems than the inept players.

He cost us the game yesterday before it started, to say we came away from it annoyed is a slight understatement.

The fact the fans were singing 'what the F***ing hell is this' part way through the second half shows the level of discontent at ALL involved at the moment.

I didn't go yesterday so cannot comment on the game specifically so just a few observations.

1. Rico. By bringing in the old war horse to accommodate a 4-4-2 formation, it compromised the overall quality and balance of the team as a whole. A deeper laying McGugan is scarified, natural width (Foley on the right, Smith on the left) are replaced by more centrally suited players and players being played out of position.
2. Cornell. Dropping him after Saturday is playing the short game, something JFH seems to have in his DNA. Its something most failed or failing managers have. Trying to pick their best X1 on paper without factoring in team spirit and the dressing room moral as a whole. If a player is picked it should be his shirt to lose, END OF. Most regular readers on here will know I don't rate Cornell not bit and have been highly critical of him on more than one occasion (!!) BUT the boy played a blinder on Saturday and should have kept his place. If he'd had a mare, so be it. He then gets dropped for the following game. But over a 46 game season, its better to have a squad of players content with their managers team selections than factions within the group feeling that they are just being 'used' as a last resort. That causes rifts, bad feelings etc.
3. Poole. Send him back. Im sorry but he doesn't bring anything to the party, he doesn't excel in any particular area and he's not likely to positively contribute in a relegation dog fight. And he's certainly not big enough, commanding enough or quick enough to play as a centre back in this division at this point in time. We will concede lots of goals with him in the defence.
4. Foley on the left. Now that was just plain stupid. Not on a par with playing Revell on the wing but not far off!
5. Subs. Taking off your talisman in addition to your top scorer when you are 2-0 down, even if they are playing poorly, is agin just plain daft. Their replacements straight way made us weaker, when it happened I said we'd lose 4 or 5-0. The 3rd quickly followed and by all accounts it should and could have easily been far worse.

JFH basically had an absolute nightmare yesterday BUT fair play to him for admitting he made mistakes. That was the only positive that came out of yesterday.

In summary, the only formation our current squad can cope with is 4-3-3/4-5-1. Anything else is handing 3 points straight away to the opposition. We don't have the players to play a wing back formation, our full backs are far better than any wing backs we have. And our centre backs (Taylor aside) are not our strong point. Our midfield is where we have options and we need to stick to picking 5 of them. Up front, other than Long we don't have a single forward who will score regularly. So just pick Long until that situation is resolved. Forget the opposition, we don't have the flexibility to pick and choose dependent on opponents perceived weaknesses. We have to play to our own strengths and leave it at that.

I've been saying for weeks that we should play a system to accommodate our million and one midfield players, but it's a bit late now because hopefully things will be resolved very soon and we can get some players in to turn our season around. Here's hoping.   

This.

I think JFH's starting point yesterday was 'I have to rest McGugan, he's played too many games in quick succession'. Unfortunately, in making this [probably correct] decision to rest him he decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater and tinker with the closest we've had to a successful formula this season.

What he should have done, IMO, is kept the 4-5-1/4-3-3 by bringing in Waters or even Bowditch for McGugan and keeping Smith in on the left to provide some high pressing/pace.

JFH needs to stop the tinkering, find a successful system and stick to it. January reinforcements will improve us, but ultimately his decision making needs to be a lot more consistent if we're going to stay up.

Excellent post Drilling. Agree 100%. First criticism I've seen of Poole in central defence, but I agree. He's better as a defensive midfielder but that's not wht we need! Gets caught out of position too often and not phsical enough for a CB.

I would agree with most of the posting.

My main disagreement was the comment re JJ. Far from taking him off too early I question whether he should have played at all. He was hobbling after only a couple of minutes. I just hope that it's just soreness and he is not out for a while.

I am fully in agreement re Poole. He is no centre back at the moment. Too small and not strong enough. You can see why Man Utd see him as a defensive midfielder.

Why we reverted to 442 is a mystery. It hasn't worked all season. I am retry sure that as soon as the newcsigningings come in we will go 3 centre backs and wing backs.

we played 4-4-2 at home to portsmouth when we beat them 3-1.

it worked that day.

when was the last time we scored 3..............................

erm....then!! Unless you include the 3-3 Chuckletrade game with Southampton juniors!!

Likewise and agree completely - whilst everyone can see the squad is far from ideal, JFH’s general inability to manage or use solid consistent tactics to avoid heavy defeats is obvious - give him money in January and you will simply reproduce the Howard Wilkinson effect - clearly he won’t be sacked any time soon so the very likely conclusion is relegation or at best a last game survival drama

I think that this is likely. I was ejected from Leeds, for responding to the abuse from the w@nkers to our left, from the Windmill pub, displaying a "Kingsthorpe Whites" flag.