The Hotel End

Northampton Town FC (First Team) v Bolton Wanderers FC (First Team)
Football League 1   
Referee: Corlett, Matt
Assistant Referee: O'Shea, Declan
Assistant Referee: Murphy, Ross
Fourth Official: Massey-Ellis, Robert

Love a game under the lights etc.  Home to Bolton tomorrow night and so far they’ve not showed much more than we have albeit two points ahead of us currently. Still they’re a big club and should bring a decent away following with a 1473 allocation given.

No Jay Jay Okocha or Djorkaeff featuring and no indication that Vernon Kay will be there.

Expecting a dirty game with no quarter given, 1-0 win in the 99th minute.

If Fred Dibnah was still with us, he would probably be trying to demolish the lift tower.

Whilst chain smoking and with no safety equipment. Flat cap not hard hat.

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/cobblers-need-fresh-legs-as-brady-weighs-up-changes-for-bolton-wanderers-clash-4803593

I imagine with Fosu and Roberts injury records there is a chance that at least on them will get rotated, obviously the fan in me does not want to see that as I want our best players to play. Eaves might make the bench, hopefully so. But either way hes obviously close to returning which will be a big boost. As much as our overall play has improved with the additional quality, I think a focal point up front is still something we would benefit from.

Be great to see Eaves get a few minutes. Feel like he's the missing piece at the moment.

Morton will probably start, ahead of Roberts. I still think that the Notts County game is earmarked for Eaves to start in.

As its still p*ssing down, any chance of being off?

no

i think morton and hoskins start and we unleash fosu, roberts and eaves from the bench - its essentially a championship front 3!

Hi guys, looking forward to the game tonight but let’s hope this rain stops and doesn’t spoil things. We’ve had a lousy start so far, Evatt trying to be clever changing everything after our Wembley disaster but at least he’s admitted he got it completely wrong in our opening games which is quite something for him! We seem to be back on track now so will definitely be expecting to win tonight though we know it will be far from easy. It would be nice to see Eaves in tonight, he never really got much of a chance when he was at the Reebok so it would be good to see your giant against our giant Santos and see who comes off best. Anyway let’s hope it’s a good game and isn’t spoiled by poor refereeing as so many are? I think we’ve pretty much sold out our allocation so it should be a good atmosphere too as long as you don’t go and spoil it by winning!! 😁

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2024/october/01/matchday-arrangements--northampton-town-v-bolton-wanderers/

I have a horrible feeling he’s going to start the imp, this will result in disjointed play and the aforementioned having shots from all angles when there will be players better placed.
I therefore predict a 1-3 defeat, with a late Fosu consolation.

Are you lot coming by boat😀 no chance it will be off looking forward to the game as well.

Surely it’s a possibility. It’s been torrential for the last hour or so.

Considering after winning (without him) and then losing (without him...bar a cameo), I'd say he will likely start. We need someone to take a decent pen.  :P 

Not sure about the pitch but I was teaching my daughter to drive (she passed yesterday, goodbye to Dad's taxi) on the west car park on Sunday. There are some pretty impressive puddles to drive through. It's good practice as firstly the bays are all numbered...plus it is like a rollercoaster to drive on.

Ah Mr Blobby, I am just trying to weigh up the relative merits of the "big" teams in the division, how did you get on against Huddersfield? Do you see yourselves up there with them as promotion contenders?

As Huddersfield beat Bolton 4-0 and we beat Huddersfield 3-1 logic says we should win tonight 7-1.
Not much history with Bolton and our games rarely end in draws with just 2 from the 15 games, 5 wins for us and 8 for them. At home we have won 2, drawn 1 (last season) and lost 4, I well remember beating them 4-0 in our 1965-66 season in the top flight.
After an iffy start Bolton have won their last 2 games and I watched just over an hour of their game at Crawley when I was surprised that they conceded possession to Crawley (68.6%) although Crawley were impotent up front. Surprisingly Bolton have failed to score in 4 of their 7 games despite having some decent strikers.
Matt Corlett is our referee, in his second EFL season, and he has been busy with his cards handing out 28 yellows and 1 red in his 5 games. We had him twice last season and won both games, in October when we beat Reading 3-1 at home and in December when we won 2-1 at Lincoln so perhaps he could help us extend that run tonight. With a tough October we could do with picking up some points this evening.

Depends how many players we have injured  ;)

The 4-0 was in the previous season on the way to being promoted.

I think the jury’s still out on us yet Bingers, we had an awful start culminating in that atrocious defeat to Huddersfield  but I think that was mainly down to Evatt completely upturning the team and playing just two in midfield. The furore from the fans was immense and indeed Evatt was lucky to keep his job after criticising the fans as being like a black cloud since Wembley. He immediately returned to the normal set up and results obviously have improved. For ages though the fans have been critical of his playing out slowly slowly from the back and holding possession but in our own half. He seems to accept now that possession is pointless unless you do something with it so at Crawley we let them have more of the ball and tightened up at the back allowing our pacy forwards to hit them on the break. In fairness we should have won more convincingly at Crawley as their keeper made two cracking saves from Charles and Dempsey was so unlucky hitting the underside of the bar. I’m expecting a similar set up tonight although I’d expect you to be a little more dangerous than Crawley were. Like I said the jury’s still out on us but I believe other than Birmingham we have probably the best squad in L1 so as long as Evatt uses it well I still see the automatics as within our grasp. 🤷‍♂️

our 8th game. And I have only attended two. Proper part timer 😁 Up for it tonight..

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GY0nVphXgAEiR13?format=jpg&name=small)

Eaves on the bench, will he get a chance to prove his worth this evening?

Unchanged! Lovely.

So much for fresh legs.

Hopefully we’ve got our shooting boots on.

Not quite, Odimayo back for McGowan.

According to the official site it's supposed to be on Sky Sports +, can't see hide nor hair of any L1 games.

Was there and Foley got the first, Hodgekinson too small and the ball went straight over his head. TBF it was a centre/cum shot.
Bitterly cold night with over 15000 there.

Red button on sky sports through virgin isn’t working at all!

 Hello Bingers, I've got a very good feeling about tonight's game mark my words.

Looks like loads of us are staying at home to watch this one (judging by shots of the East Stand). Sky was late to televise but we're up and running and raring to go now.

Yes they have just put it up, a last minute jobby.

No dice. Working ok on tablet but when I press the red button it’s just a black screen

Decided that my principles of not giving money to sky was more important than watching The Mighty Cobblers.

1-0 Bolton. Mcatee.

This could be a very long night. Could be 0-3 already.

We’re not out the starting blocks yet.

They seem to be targeting and having good success down our right.

Silly booking for Mcgeehan. Hopefully doesn’t come back to bite us.

We look leggy and incapable of measuring a pass on a wet surface.

Brady out!!!

dear oh dear. I Blame doctor Feelgood. I'm only saying

And its now 2-0. A long night ahead.

Zut alors

Embarrassing.

Baldwin and AK on the first hand side of a back 4 is being exposed.

And as for Burge. I think that’s the third shot he’s conceded in a row…

This is like watching Cogenhoe Utd Under 12s v Real Madrid.

Im done for today
.

Well this is fecking awful so far

We are making it so easy for them!

Yep, time and space all over tge oark, totally disorganised and just giving the ball  back to them. Sodding awful.

I dare say Hoskins would have finished at least one of those chances pinnock has had.

We look so poor going forward

If Odimayo isn’t hooked at half time I’ll be very surprised.

Attacking 3td pass accuracy is 52% which is woeful. Get Eaves on and start going long

Burge, Baldwin, Odimayo, Fosu, Sowerby, McGeehan all been very poor.

I’d change it up at the break.

Unlikley

Well that was just awful , we were all at sea in defence for the goals and just simply not good enough going foward. Pinnock needs to come off and give McCarron a go, or failing that Sammy. Neither Roberts or Fosu are impacting the game although that could be down to tiredness. Chouchane our best player in my opinion.

The pitch and conditions aren't helping but it's the same for both sides. Can't see us scoring 2 let alone 3.

It's strange, Odimayo is a good player who always looks terrible when he's been out for a while & takes about five games to get up to speed.

Bolton won't have an easier half.

FFS 3-0.  >:(

Don’t normally single out players for criticism but ….. Burge WTF!!!!!!!

Bolton haven't even been that good. We've just been properly, properly bad. Amateur defending, perhaps the worst under Brady's reign.

2nd and 3rd Sunday League defending I'm afraid

Why wait till it’s 3-0 to make changes?

This could get embarrassing. Wasn't happy with the team selection - couldn't see us scoring. Still can't. Would love to be proved wrong.

Not a clue here! Brady has got it totally wrong tonight

For me, Bolton have been impressive - a good division more accomplished than we are. They aren't sitting back either.

Mbete has pulled his hamstring.

Probably one of the players in the red zone that should have been rested!?

Just checking in, currently in Turkey and haven't got access to my records, however I believe we have now conceded more goals (all games) under Brady in charge than we have scored. First time that's been the case since October 2021. Quite surprising really when you consider that we've had two very successful seasons in League 2 and a fairly respectable one in League 1 since.

Ah brilliant, now our best player so far this season has done his hamstring. The left-back curse continues. What a truly miserable night.

Bring back Irvine Gernon.

Shocking defending all night, we have no pace in defence, all teams have to do is bang tge ball down pitch to cause panic in our defence.

Why the hell is Pinnock still on the pitch,  he gets worse every game.

I'll take 20th right now.

4-0 and people are walking out.

Look forward to seeing how the usual suspects put a positive spin on this shambles.

Outclassed and outfought in every single position.

Some very poor performances from the off which weren’t acted on by the manager until we were 3-0 with 30 minutes left.

An injury to another left back.

One positive, Eaves is alive.

The lack of pace all over the pitch is a big concern

Only because we gave let them

Maybe the worst I've seen Guthrie play for us, we're really missing the balance he & Sherring had together. Baldwin & him far too slow to play in a two against a side with the firepower & pace of Bolton.

As for Pinnock, how he's starting games is anyone's guess. Perhaps he'll be more effective with Eaves now coming back to fitness.

4-1 Eaves!

Let's all wait for the Brady spin, he is out of his depth. Relegation by Christmas just on home form.

Eaves showing what we've been missing all season.

There we go, SOMETHING to give us a tiny bit of hope going forward. Nice header

Old fashioned Centre Forward play. Excellent.

McCarron has been really lively, should get more minutes than he does.

I really didn't think Eaves would be the solution, but maybe he has potential

4-2 Guthrie.

Having a focal point up front at least gives me a little hope for Saturday.

Hopeless, relegation fodder on that performance

You'd be surprised if Birmingham & Bolton aren't the top two.

Turned it off after their fourth... Not sure which annoyed me more, our abject defending or the commentary...

Well, at least a bit of fight at the end - and a collector's item - a proper centre forward's goal from Eaves. but overall a terrible performance. Flat footed in defence, no creativity, no attacking play till it was too late.

Same Bolton that Huddersfield beat 4-0????

So, Brady spends the last 3 days saying he’ll need to rotate as we have players in the red zone.

He doesn’t and we’re miles off the pace.

He then makes 5 changes when we’re 3-0 down with 60 minutes left.

We start to play a little and win the last 30 minutes 2-1!

The Hoskins effect

He did feck all

Ok he played better tonight (marginally) but why oh why is Pinnock supposedly undroppable?

The positive for the evening…

Eaves is now our joint second highest goalscorer for the season.

Why is anyone surprised? They are a very well funded, well supported side. Ignore the fact that they reside in the same league as use. Because that is where the similarity stops. We have to be realistic. We are not in their ball park. Slagging Brady off for not beating a Ferrari in is Fiesta is ridiculous…

When teams that well funded come alive you’re bòlloxed.

I don’t think it’s ridiculous to ask questions.

Defensively it was very poor.

Another Derby/Portsmouth performance from last season, frustrating but inevitable. Lose on Saturday and I suppose the usual suspects will be straight on the Brady out bandwagon for a couple of weeks. 🥱

And Huddersfield are not????

Its tge lack or passion, desire and simply basic defensive shape that was shocking tonight, we disnt compete on any level and that t simply is not good enough

Bolton are just a much better side than us, simple fact, we can't compete with them.

My thoughts
No need to start flapping yet.
Eaves , Fosu and Roberts will likely keep us up.
Pinnock needs to be dropped
McCarron definitely needs more game time
We need another good CDM

Not sure what Roberts offered tonight?

I thought any points tonight would be a bonus but 4 points from our first 4 home games against Exeter, Burton, Wycombe and Mansfield was very disappointing and ought to have been more like 8.

How did the referee only allow 7 minutes added time, 30 seconds allowance for each of the 10 substitutions is 5 minutes plus the time for treatment to their 'keeper and a long delay for Mbete's injury it should have been much more. We scored twice in the first 3 minutes and given the correct added time we could have salvaged a 4-4 draw.

They were clearly better than us and we get caught out with balls over the top (2nd goal) or threaded through for players running through. How did a corner come straight across the face of goal for their 3rd goal? You also have to remember that their 2 first choice strikers were on the bench. Up to 90 minutes we did not look like scoring and I don't recall their 'keeper having to make a decent save. I thought McCarron did very well when he came on and probably created more down the left flank than Fosu did.

Finally, where were the Bolton supporters? They took the full allocation of 1473 and had said they had sold the bulk of them yet they only brought 633.

He’s playing too deep for me, play him just behind Eaves.
Burge doesn’t seem to have a save in his body and just looks terrified, Mbete had a terrible game, totally at fault for their third.
McGeehan is a passenger and adds nothing, another shocker this evening.
Bolton were literally a league above us, we need to win our games against the teams in and around us.
Depressing night.

Roberts looked OK, Fosu will probably not see the season out, Brady looked completely clueless as to what to do. Either just standing with his arms folded or hiding in the dugout. No encouragement of the players , no trying to get them to up their game, nothing.  Couchane looks poor, Pinnock is nowhere near the game , awful corners ,freekicks and throw ins but Brady won't drop him. Hoskins is finished as a League One player.  Too much deadwood including the Manager at the moment.

Brady has to stop being stubborn.

Accept we can’t go toe to toe with some teams and change our tactics accordingly.

I don’t think anyone is surprised and expected to walk away with any points. The concern is the lack of application and fight, coupled with the inability to change and try something different as we sleepwalked into a hammering.

If any of the top funded sides turn up on their day, including Huddersfield we are in trouble. You are playing in effect against mid level championship players, due to the wages they attract. If the top funded side gels on that day, a team that is funded at lower league one level, is going to get opened up and exposed. If people can't understand the vast difference and gulf between us and them in quality, I'm not sure what else I can say. Losing is always disappointing. But we simply do not have the tools at our disposal to take on an on song Bolton side. At an estimation I would say they are funded at least six times above what we are. Occasionally we might give sides like that a bit of an issue, but on the whole we are real trouble if they are playing to their standard.

Their will always be rare exceptions. But generally the rule favours the better financed sides.

Quite true, if the top teams are on their game they are going to beat us and some times comfortably as happened last last season against Portsmouth and Peterborough.

I don't think you can level the accusation that the players "lack application and fight" we just came up against a much better team and if that statement was true it would have been 4-0 but they kept going to the end when there was no realistic chance of salvaging any points and were rewarded with the 2 late goals. Was there a "lack of application and fight" on Saturday against Mansfield when we played the best football of the season at home and but for poor finishing would have not been beaten. That game showed that we we are more than capable of competing against the teams in the division whose budget is not considerably more than ours.

Very sensible post Tel, there is two leagues within a league, there’s us, Crawley, Burton, Cambridge, Shrewsbury and Stevenage etc and then the likes of Bolton, Birmingham, Charlton, Wrexham etc like you say the disparity in quality of players is vast.
Having said all that, getting pumped 4 at home is never good.

A very disappointing night all around. A heavy home defeat in awful conditions and with what looked to be a really bad injury for Mbete, would be staggered if he is not out for several months as he looked in real pain (speedy recovery Luke!).

Im not going to go too over the top after a defeat to a clearly really good side who played some slick football at times (there first goal looked offside in real time though?).

The Baldwin / Guthrie partnership does really lack pace and playing such a high line against so many deep runners seemed suicidal. I think Willis is more of a natural fit for Guthrie due to better athleticism he can offer. Losing Mbete is a huge loss, no idea what Guinness is like as a player but otherwise I guess its McCarron there.

A huge positive to see Eaves feature and score, clearly a physical presence up top we have missed in recent seasons and can offer us something completely different. I thought Roberts showed grit and quality yesterday, others were clearly not on the same wave length. That being said I dont think hes a natural number 9 and think with Eaves back it could allow Roberts to drop a bit deeper and get on the half turn like McAtee did for them.

One criticism I will lead at Brady and its something I have noticed over the whole of his tenure is the lack of bodies in the CM position when we have the ball. Both wingers, the striker and then often a midfielder tend to push right up against the defence. It tends to leave almost a straight line of our defenders and a midfielder (Chouchaine / Sowerby) and then a straight line of forwards and wingers. It inevitably means the ball goes long at some point as no one drops in to receive it and no one prior had the physical tools to do a huge amount with it when it came long.

It would leave a chasm of space of say 25 yards in the centre of the pitch and it happens ALL the time. I can only put that down to coaching and its something that has frustrated me for some time. I hope that if we see Roberts in more of a number 10 role that I think will suit him he can help us alleviate that problem slightly.

I still think we will be ok this season. I think the quality we have further forward will see us stay up. But giving away goals with such ease and already quite a poor home record this season does not bode well. Tough run of fixtures coming up also!

I think we will be OK. The slight frustration is that there is no sign that they'll ever be an 'easy' L1 and unless it's because we don't experience it enough, it feels as though there is a growing elite element....a bit like the Prem I guess. So much for FFP! Maybe it has always been there but have never noticed it as much.

Whilst the top 8-10 rotates, could be become the next Everton?! We have always demonstrated that we can pretty much beat anyone in the same division as us on our day, so it is not as though the likes of Bolton, Birmingham and co are like us playing Man City. All of the 'big' teams are going to have blips and off days. We just have to make sure we have the odd win against the likes of Huddersfield (and hopefully the P*sh!) and then get better results against the mid table and lower teams. If we start losing at home to the likes of Cambridge then we are going to have bigger problems.

Certainly no need to panic. 

That was simple case of us not doing our homework and them doing theirs and executing it too perfection.

We didn't press enough like we usually do let Bolton pass it around, Bolton played very wide meaning our wingers should have tracked back, they didn't so the full backs had to close, leaving our 2 CB exposed on every attack, needed 2 holding midfielders as Sowerby was over run, if we aren't pressing we should be back in position stopping that. 2 x we pressed their No5 he fell over and gave the ball away.

They pressed us every time we had the ball, then doubled up on our FB or winger when we had the ball going forward so we had to turn back, they worked extremely hard on and off the ball, we had acres of space the previous to games Bolton made the pitch small when we had the ball like a 5 a side pitch, then when they had it they found acres of space and us all over the shop.

Midfield three were dominated by Bolton, they did not get on the ball enough, but again Bolton closed the space down well.
Roberts and Fosu were clearly targeted by Bolton as they stopped them getting the ball and surrounded them every time, nullified anything going forward.

Pinnock is a myth, great first season, set pieces, throw ins and crosses were brilliant, now he is a liability, does not compete for anything his delivery for corners and free kicks is woeful and his long throws are shocking.

It was obvious we needed to match their width with 3 at the back and 2 wide players get crosses in then pack the middle to stop them, we did that and we get 2 goals.

I'm not going to get too upset over this based on our other performances, and the fact Bolton look a very good team, we were just out run and out done tactically.

Tough league this year, but we have the squad to match most in this division easily bar the top 9/10 teams.

Take 2

I don’t think anyone is surprised and expected to walk away with any points. The concern is the lack of application and fight, coupled with the inability to change and try something different as we sleepwalked into a hammering.

I see Mansfield are on for the autos.

Had to watch online as have man-flu (picture quality good on the Sky Sports app) but as others have said we were against a top budget experienced side who were on their game. We will have these encounters this season. I’ve seen enough of us to think we will be ok and get enough points to survive. Eaves will be a big plus, a target man striker we’ve been missing for a while. With him, Roberts and Fosu and McGeeehan we should pose enough threat. Losing Mbete is a hammer blow and gives us a problem. Maybe we miss Magloires pace at centre-back on occasions? I actually thought Pinnock had a good game! Had chances of his own. Burge doesn’t inspire confidence and Odimayo has rarely looked confident when I’ve seen him.
Unfortunately it doesn’t get any easier these next couple of weeks. Any points picked up at Wrexham or Wigan will be a bonus. We must then find some home form against Orient and Crawley. They are the games we must be winning.

Nobody's expecting us to beat the top teams, what everybody is expecting is a bit of fight, Brady struggles in some games to adapt to the opposition, that's he's biggest weakness.
Home form will be the key to staying up, we will always pick up some points away , but , Mansfield,  Burton,  Exeter and Wycombe can be considered similar with similar budgets and we have gained 4 points from 12 against those at home and that will be what gets us relegated.

It seems harsh to criticise our players for 'lack of fight', I thought the one thing they had got last night was 'fight', they were just beaten by a better team on the night.
The Bolton manager accused his players of being unprofessional for conceding two late goals. Swing that around and we can praise our team for their professionalism.
For Bolton's 1st,2nd and 4th goals they basically outpaced our defence, for their 3rd Mbete was blocked and the Bolton player is unmarked to score.
Take Bolton's 2nd goal, a chip over our defence and their player races away to lob over Burge, so easy. At least twice in the first half Tyler Roberts makes similar forward runs, the ball never arrives. It's this sort of understanding our team still have to build, there were signs of it against Mansfield so let's hope we keep improving and just like the team don't give up. UTC.

There is only 1 person who is accusing the players of "a lack of fight" which clearly is untrue. As I said earlier if that was true we would have lost 4-0 but the team kept going to the end, as they usually do, and were justly awarded for doing so with the 2 late goals.

I didn't see a 'lack of application and fight' from last nights perfomance?

Dont know why people are knocking Burge. He could not have done anything about the 4 goals and did make 3 good saves.
Bad day at the office but I do think the bottom 4 of Burton Cambridge Shrewsbury and Crawley have poorer squads and will keep us up.

I'm assuming a decent proportion of our fans (who went to the game) didn't witness our goals live last night?

Own up!!  ;D

And they certainly weren't trying to avoid any traffic congestion due to the rugby. ;D

The traffic congestion was before the match due to only 1 gate being open at the north car park leading to grid lock around the stadium. I am usually parked and in the ground about 30 minutes before kick off last night the game was kicking off as I took my seat.

4-2 is not a hammering. I could repeat what I have said ad infinitum. You're never going to allow anyone to cloud your views. There was plenty of fight. And plenty of application. There just wasn't the skill and ability to combat what Bolton turned up with last night.

Ah, is that what it was? It took ages to get to the disabled car park last night and we only just got sat down in time for kick off.

Guilty as charged. Pay my money, make my choices.
 Mbete’s injury looked bad and very much like a hamstring the way he pulled up and went down.
Bolton looked sharper in all areas and were the better team on the night.


 
 

Seriously, Burge has been terrible this season, looks as though he lacks confidence has struggled to keep out shots and makes bad decisions.

After an excellent first season Burge's form has dipped significantly last season and this, I think it is time to give Tzanev his chance.

Absolutely bang on. Im surprised someone else has precisely the same take on last night as I did literally after 10 minutes!  ;D

I said to my lad why on earth are we playing with such a high line after less than 10 minutes of the game. That they were simply soaking up our possession and then playing long passes over/through our defensive players for their forwards to run onto. It just kept working. And working. And working.

We showed zero respect to a very decent opponent, our approach was 'arrogant' and we got properly punished for it. Like we did in a few games last season (eg Pompey home and way).

Nothing else to add other than I hope we do finally learn from it and consider the team we are playing a bit more with the tactics we employ on the day.

You weren't West stand, towards the back row of the lower tier, around seat 20 were you?

For a flavour of the comparative financials (both year ended June 30th 2023 - the latest filed)

Turnover;

Cobblers - £5,147,380
Bolton - £19,429,171

Employee Costs;

Cobblers - £4,625,921
Bolton - £12,834,631

Operating Loss;

Cobblers - £1,030,919
Bolton - £5,169,037

Bolton's financial statements are here;

https://cdn.bwfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/2024-03/Football%20Ventures%20%28Whites%29%20Limited%20Consolidated%20Accounts.pdf

Ours can be obtained via the Company House website (I couldn't locate them on the NTFC website.)
 

Strange how these clubs deem a £5m loss as a good performance.
You'd never buy a football club as a way to make money.

"Despite the loss to 30 June 2023, the Group has a sound financial base from which to further improve the business.
The Group is reliant on funding from its shareholders and such funding has been and continues to be made
available from the shareholders when required."

Speculate to accumulate....debt.

Overall, in comparison to last season I would say that we have improved the squad from an attacking perspective but have declined in quality defensively.

The most obvious gap is the lack of an 'athletic destroyer' CDM like McWilliams. McWilliams enabled us to compete in midfield in games against the better sides last year, even if it sometimes meant that the overall central midfield mix was quite defensive. The addition of McGeehan gives us more goal threat, but it comes at the expense of pressing capacity and defensive screening when we're playing the better sides in the division. Sowerby is great and Choucanne has the potential to develop into a Leonard-esque deep lying playmaker, but neither of them can really play the CDM role in the McWilliams vein. 

I'd like to see Brady sign another CDM option to rotate with McGeehan in games when we are likely to be under cosh.
I'd also say that a front three of Fosu, Roberts and Pinnock lacks pressing capacity, which is another important facet of competing against top sides who like to play it out from the back. Pressing is a strong point of Hoskins' game and I'd also like to see him recalled in games against the more dominant sides in the division.
I agree with others who have said that Willis is probably a better bet at CB against sides with pace up front who want to run in behind. Baldwin was immense at Huddersfield, so it may well be that Brady needs to use the squad and rotate in order to combat the specific threats offered by the opposition.

Lastly, those who are criticising Brady should do one IMO. The guy has assembled a cracking squad on a shoestring and players like Eaves, Roberts and Fosu look a  cut above anything we've had up front for a long time. The football we played against Huddersfield was a joy to watch and Brady has a genuine chance of  achieving a third successive season at this level, something that no Cobblers manager has done in 20+ odd years. As TFMAH says, when the moneyed sides like Bolton/Birmingham etc show up at full throttle then all we can do really is be organised and compete as best we can - we need to stick with them and show a bit of patience and pragmatism.

The own goal at Huddersfield was caused by our front 3 pressing which was Fosu, Roberts and Pinnock so they done it very effectively that day.

I see / know a bit about Bolton as the entirety of the in-laws are Trotters.

Even I know three basic facts about them; Sheehan runs the show, Thomason is a walking yellow card and they have a very decent forward line.

Tactically Brady got a few things wrong. Someone needed to be hustling Sheehan all night, even at the sacrifice of providing any attacking threat, just snuff him out. Someone needed to be in Thomasons face too, especially after his yellow. You could even throw Schar in the same category too.

The forward line is harder to deal with. They brought off nearly £2m worth of talent and could still bring on two strikers who are better than anything we have. That said, Guthrie needed to do a lot better for their fourth. I've seen milk turn faster.

My point is, Brady should have known all this basic stuff and planned accordingly. I'd say we were more naive than arrogant and the tactics reflected.

On a positive note, from their second to half time I actually thought we moved the ball well and made them look very ordinary but as ever, no end product.

Let's hope we can get and keep Eaves fit as currently (or until Marvo says otherwise) he's the best Cobblers striker ever based on goals per minute....

So... In a nutshell.

Brady got his tactics wrong.....  What he should have done. Is reduce them to the economic status of a minor league one side. Whilst employing the 20+ different versions of tactics suggested on here. I can't imagine how daft he must feel, after accumulating and honing his skills for years, that he neglected to consult with the footballing geniuses on social media. 😂😁

Great post. I only saw part of the Bolton game on ifollow, but I've seen enough of us playing the better teams to know this is true. I never understand those posters who slam the team as if everything depends exclusively on how we play. My version of us playing the top teams is:

We play well and they play badly = possible win (e.g. Huddersfield)
We play well and they are average = maybe a draw
We play well and they play well = they win
we don't play well = we lose
we don't play well and they play well = we get hammered

I so agree with this!
The facts are clear.
We're one of the poorer clubs in the league.
So - our skill and athleticism levels will match that relative poverty.
It doesn't matter. It's OK.
What does matter is that I saw our players performing to the maximum of their ability.
That's what I pay to see ...and that's what I enjoy seeing.

I didn't witness our goals and I was watching on SKY. Car trouble meant I couldn't get to the game but I turned over to watch bake off after the fourth went in. I was amazed when I saw the final score and I certainly feel that a 4-2 loss seems a lot better than a 4-0 hammerring. Let's hope Eaves starts on Saturday with a possible start for McCarron as well.

To add to this - I always hate people who moan about 'fight' or 'passion' against teams that have 11 better players. It's really hard to look good when you're chasing shadows for a full 90 mins!

Don't take this comment too seriously but;

We've just lost two games in a row without Hoskins starting. Something of an inconvenient truth perhaps (at least for some).

They kept going to get the 2 late goals which is good. It’s early in the season but gd is important.

I'm sure that fact is not lost on Hoskins himself.

I don't think Sam will let the grass grow under his feet if he's not in the squad. I can see a bunch of decent league two sides that would/should bite his hand off. 

Sorry don't agree with that - Bolton were a better side period but we were not chasing shadows for some periods of the game - at the end after Eaves scored he grabbed the ball from the net to hurry the restart even though the chance of actually getting back in the game was a million to one showed the passion I personally love to see irrespective of how good the opposition are.