Welcome Liam Shaw

[TPFKA Marvo]

That was his song when he was a player, but you knew that didn’t you, your just a bit dull in the brain department 

You got that right buddy.

[everbrite]

Looked solid and his height will be an advantage too. Think Nolan's coaching will be good for our central midfielders in general. I thought Hondermark had quite a decent game today.

Hondermark did indeed have a decent game; his surges upfield second half must have given respite to his tiring team mates. On one of his runs he was tackled and then regained the ball, carried on with his surge upfield. He received roars of appreciation from the terrace.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

[everbrite]

We were much worse when Chouchane came off, he does make mistakes, but he’s a young lad, I like him too.

Me too!

[Tabasco Kid]

What’s with this “Super Kev” business ? There is only 1 Super and that is our Sam.

Super Kev Thornton. Now there was a player. Shame about all the cocktails in Hakamous bar though.

[ianmac55]

Super Kev Thornton. Now there was a player. Shame about all the cocktails in Hakamous bar though.

His hand cupped to his ear at the Kop when he scored his penalty in the shootout is the image that always comes to mind.

[Lizard68]

His hand cupped to his ear at the Kop when he scored his penalty in the shootout is the image that always comes to mind.

Wow...Where have you been for 8 plus years!?

I think I'd have forgotten my username and password after that amount of time 

Wrigleys yesterday and you today, good to see people coming back to the forum.

[Tabasco Kid]

His hand cupped to his ear at the Kop when he scored his penalty in the shootout is the image that always comes to mind.

And not forgetting the "shhh" finger to the lips. 

[Mysterious Curle]

Two good performances on the bounce. Certainly showing up the likes of Hondermarck, Chouchane, Hoskins, Odimayo, Pinnock and Eaves!!

[Observing]

I too thought Shaw was our MOM today.

[Ragdoll Cobbler]

Definitely MOM today...

Looks a class signing...

Showed some lovely touches, gets stuck in & always calm & composed on the ball...

He'll thrive in L2! 😜

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

MOM for me as well.. More of the likes of him and we would be fine.

[Manwork04]

Looked good today.

[TPFKA Marvo]

Very disappointing performance all round with two teams lacking in quality. Except their goal came from their one and only decent attacking move which led to the goal. Maybe it was only the decent move of the game us included! At times we were undecided what to do with the ball ; Hondermarck flattered to deceive, Samy Chouchane was awol for long periods and boy did we miss Guthrie! Had they had a couple of above average forwards we would have lost by more than one goal. Eaves managed to look so ineffective especially when in a promising position! We are now in a perilous situation in League 1 as Crawley have two games in hand;  another lack lustre display like today, they will soon overhaul our 5 pts cushion
One saving grace today was that Lincoln defensively played well, smothered our ineffective forwards far too easily. Fosu had a poor game nothing like the player he was against Huddersfield.
Of course our current injury situation contributed to our poor display except the problem was entirely with the fwds. The Midfield had some decent moments and with Shaw showing appetite for the midfield battle at least looked a decent L1 player. Once or twice I glanced over to KN and thought his body language was not good! Finally the crowd appeared to be somewhat apathetic with hearted chants, never heard the young' uns in the South part of the West. We need new blood and quick!                                                                                                                                                                     

Is this on the wrong thread?

[everbrite]

Is this on the wrong thread?

Yes

[guest3474]

Just seen the full game replay - very tedious and a tough watch but for me Shaw probably the only player from either side that showed any L1 class - definitely a keeper

[west stand oap]

No he's a midfielder.

[Welly Cobb]

I know it's early days and I don't want to get ahead of myself with 6 appearences in (I remember 3 games into Hasselbaink's reign where I was convinced we had a tactical genius on our hands after 3 wins on the bounce), but we may well have finally found our Leonard replacement here, and under contract for another year and half. He has slightly different strengths, but using whoscored to dubiously source some stats, if he maintained this sort of form for the rest of the season you could make some comparisons in a very flattering way.

Defensively, Shaw is actually putting up very slightly better numbers than Leonard. At 3 tackles a game, he's almost double his nearest performer in Eyoma and Hondermarck at 1.7, better than comparatively than the 2.5 Leonard made for us last year. His interceptions at 1.3 a game also a comparatively similar to our best performing defenders in Guthrie and Mbete, just being edged out by Leonard at 1.4.

He is also contributing offensively, only Fosu and Roberts attempt more dribbles per game, and he tries more and has better success percentage rate than Leonard last year. He takes 1.2 shots a game, the exact same as Leonard, and out performing his XG by 1.54, not far off Leonards 2.21 over a seaon... which is to say, he's scoring difficult chances. (Gold standard for us being around 3.33 for Hoskins last year where anything he touched went in).

He isn't the complete package yet. His passing is a fair bit behind Leonard in both creating chances through key passes (0.7 per game vs 1.5 per game for Leonard), overall passing success at 68% vs 81.6% for Leonard, and while there is a gap it's the only metric that you'd say he's tailing him in.

Leonard was our best performer last year both defensively and offensively which made him so difficult to replace, and Shaw matches him defensively and in terms of shooting, and while his passing isn't of the same grade currently, he is however substancially better in the air. In fact, both Taylor and Shaw are winning as many headers as our centrebacks - at 4.3 a game, only Guthrie and Baldwin are winning more headers than Shaw. This is a big upgrade from last year where no-one outside our defenders won more than 1 a game (Leonard sat a 0.9).

So, to summarise, if this form was held for a much longer period, you'd have a player that is almost as good as Leonard at everything but playing killer balls and ball retention, but in return significantly much better in the air.

Not a bad pickup for someone considered to be surplus to requirements to a League 2 team... wonder if this one was recruitment team, or Nolan knowledge signing.

[1971cobbler]

I know it's early days and I don't want to get ahead of myself with 6 appearences in (I remember 3 games into Hasselbaink's reign where I was convinced we had a tactical genius on our hands after 3 wins on the bounce), but we may well have finally found our Leonard replacement here, and under contract for another year and half. He has slightly different strengths, but using whoscored to dubiously source some stats, if he maintained this sort of form for the rest of the season you could make some comparisons in a very flattering way.

Defensively, Shaw is actually putting up very slightly better numbers than Leonard. At 3 tackles a game, he's almost double his nearest performer in Eyoma and Hondermarck at 1.7, better than comparatively than the 2.5 Leonard made for us last year. His interceptions at 1.3 a game also a comparatively similar to our best performing defenders in Guthrie and Mbete, just being edged out by Leonard at 1.4.

He is also contributing offensively, only Fosu and Roberts attempt more dribbles per game, and he tries more and has better success percentage rate than Leonard last year. He takes 1.2 shots a game, the exact same as Leonard, and out performing his XG by 1.54, not far off Leonards 2.21 over a seaon... which is to say, he's scoring difficult chances. (Gold standard for us being around 3.33 for Hoskins last year where anything he touched went in).

He isn't the complete package yet. His passing is a fair bit behind Leonard in both creating chances through key passes (0.7 per game vs 1.5 per game for Leonard), overall passing success at 68% vs 81.6% for Leonard, and while there is a gap it's the only metric that you'd say he's tailing him in.

Leonard was our best performer last year both defensively and offensively which made him so difficult to replace, and Shaw matches him defensively and in terms of shooting, and while his passing isn't of the same grade currently, he is however substancially better in the air. In fact, both Taylor and Shaw are winning as many headers as our centrebacks - at 4.3 a game, only Guthrie and Baldwin are winning more headers than Shaw. This is a big upgrade from last year where no-one outside our defenders won more than 1 a game (Leonard sat a 0.9).

So, to summarise, if this form was held for a much longer period, you'd have a player that is almost as good as Leonard at everything but playing killer balls and ball retention, but in return significantly much better in the air.

Not a bad pickup for someone considered to be surplus to requirements to a League 2 team... wonder if this one was recruitment team, or Nolan knowledge signing.

Enjoyed reading this. Thanks for the information. 

[Fred_NTFC]

Yeah really interesting stuff Welly, though they are definitely quite different players as Shaw is much less a quarterback & much better at bursting forward from midfield, I can't remember Leonard making many of those types of runs. I've been impressed by his mobility & dribbling skills for a tall guy.

I'd be trying to extend his contract in the summer if possible because if he keeps improving he's going to be worth a bob or two.

I know it's early days, but I was actually trying to think if I can remember a better central-midfield partnership than Taylor & Shaw in my time supporting the Cobblers since the mid 90s. Ian Taylor & Bradley Johnson were here at the same time but I can't remember them playing loads together. Any other suggestions?

[Ragdoll Cobbler]

Yeah really interesting stuff Welly, though they are definitely quite different players as Shaw is much less a quarterback & much better at bursting forward from midfield, I can't remember Leonard making many of those types of runs. I've been impressed by his mobility & dribbling skills for a tall guy.

I'd be trying to extend his contract in the summer if possible because if he keeps improving he's going to be worth a bob or two.

I know it's early days, but I was actually trying to think if I can remember a better central-midfield partnership than Taylor & Shaw in my time supporting the Cobblers since the mid 90s. Ian Taylor & Bradley Johnson were here at the same time but I can't remember them playing loads together. Any other suggestions?

Already my favourite player... An absolute joy to watch.

Also, he still has 2 years left on his contract this summer, as he signed a two and a half year deal 😉

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2025/january/03/liam-shaw-joins-northampton-town-for-undisclosed-fee/