Keeping Sadlier on, Kone and Lubala putting it about, Ravazolli enhancing his reputation with every game, defence excellent. Just heard 3CR dismiss a late playoff push out of hand. I hope we prove them wrong!
How is it that a non-striker, in this case Butcher, can seemingly find seconds (certainly seems like seconds) to contemplate a shot, pick his exact target, curly a beauty in and score.... and then do the same again. When our strikers mainly seemed to want to panic and shoot in 00.5 of a second with zero thinking time? Beats me.
With a max score of 74 if we win every game which we won’t, only 11 points above the current lowest score in play off positions . Too late unfortunately.
Goes to show the brutal lot of the goalkeeper. When he came on at Stevenage, Ravazolli’s first touch was to almost drop the ball into his own net. If he had it would’ve been game over. He didn’t, and has been superb since.
King Kone’s impact today was awesome. Space suddenly opened up for all.
Have to say I was unsure, but for me Ravazollii now has the shirt and it's his to lose. Was pretty boring stuff for 60 minutes but then boom.. Butcher has been a great signing, and I'm not just saying this as he scored 2 today. Also, for me, Kone did more In the short time he was on than Lubala did the whole game. I like Lubala so don't get me wrong, but, he can't head the ball ! So why oh why do we insist on lumping the ball up to him ??
Anyway, good result, defo safe, bring on Wembley and a big shiny new expensive training ground !
Kone is a bit of a rough diamond, hard for the opposition to read and looks like he wants to shoot each time he gets the ball, as a consequence his touch and ambition betray him.
Lubala is a slightly older & more experienced player and is prepared to do the hard graft of tracking/tackling back, pressing etc. as well as taking on his defender & trying to turn him/run past him (to be fair Kone does this too but with less success for now).
I also thought Kodua had a decent game, though showed a lack of experience at times.
Couldn't imagine at half time I'd be walking down Hillbottom Road feeling do elated at full time.
Dismal stuff in the 1st half, but excellent in the 2nd, especially after Kone and Scowen came on. Kone made a huge difference, always looking to attack the Northampton defence and it unsettled a back line that had looked very comfortable up to that point. 2 really well taken goals from Butcher, a huge save from Rav at 1-0, but Potts was MOTM for me. Back close to his best today after a few quieter games.
It seems there's mixed thoughts on Kone, which is fine.
He's clearly a finisher, and we have fairly low expectations so anything he does will surprise us positively.
Whereas with Vokes we had high expectations, so he'd do very well to ever match those, especially now.
Lubala looks a good middle option. He can do the big heavy lifting side of things, but also score. Leaving Kone to ease into things and learn the other side of the game bar the instinctive finishing.
That was a really pedestrian game up until 60 mins or so. We improved a bit with the subs, although I get the impression Northampton have already got half a mind on their summer holiday plans.
I respect the criticism of Kone, he’s got a lot to learn. But one thing he has that we haven’t got elsewhere is his laser focus on getting a shot at goal as soon as possible. And this makes him dangerous. Not just because he might just score but what it does to defenders and how they defend him. He’s not the guy to bring on v Wigan when you have 11 men behind the ball for 30 minutes but today he killed any momentum that Northampton might get. Today is a good day.
Really impressed with Butcher’s post-match interview. Evidently very astute. Perceptive guy. Not surprised he has added some great measure to our midfield.
Seems like a very strong signing - I must have seen him play many times before but never really noticed him, but it’s fair to say he’s definitely been a plus point in the second half of the season.
Butcher was excellent and he enables Potts to perform his many tricks. We have a good squad now and one capable of a top half finish and more to come next season.
It was looking very much an end of season, nothing to play for yawn fest. Northampton seemed less interested than we did first half, but (probably expecting us to be rubbish second half) they started to go forward second half and as a result the whole game opened up. I was actually just starting to enjoy it a few minutes before we scored and after that it became a decent watch.
We definitely seem to have used January to reset. We actually seem to be a decent team now some of the time.
Frustratingly, being a half-decent team all of the season would probably have seen us in the play-off picture, as the standard of the teams around us this year does seem to have dropped a fair bit. Having said that (and from where we were a few weeks ago) no complaints for me in a transitionary season.
And, for one of @Shev's 'sliding doors' moments, how much do we owe that idiot Fleetwood player who got himself sent off first half. If he hadn't we probably wouldn't have salvaged a point and what was already an ugly atmosphere around the club would almost certainly have got a lot worse and I'm not sure if MB would have survived despite the public backing.
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub said above most of what I was going to reply with, but I do have a couple of other observations. Kone is extremely unpredictable, which as a fan is lovely to watch but for opposition defenders it’s a nightmare and was a big part of why he scared the shit out of the Northampton defenders today. I thought Lubala’s battling today was superb, but even Kone’s pressing was unpredictable so when he came on they never knew where he was going to be or who he was going to press. He tried a couple of fairly audacious things today that didn’t quite come off, but that’s the sort of thing I pay my money to see, someone trying to make stuff happen. I voted for him for MoM, which felt odd given how little time on the ball he actually had, but that unpredictable style of his completely changed the game. I hope we don’t train that unpredictability out of him.
One other thing, he may well also be the best crosser in the side, with either foot. I want to see more of him and Vokes in the same lineup.
My only minor moment of negativity today is that Dale Taylor seems to have slipped back a bit after that purple patch a month or so ago. I can't remember any particular noteworthy contributions today. I think for me, of the four main central midfield options - Scowen, Butcher, Potts, Taylor - he's the one that drops out for now in a 4231 or 4141.
Comments
Ooh, showing your age a bit there #LDF
Is that the first time Sadlier has played the full game?
I hope MB gives Kone a run of 90 minutes now. Really like to see if he can start scoring goals for fun, now the pressure is off somewhat.
Keeping Sadlier on, Kone and Lubala putting it about, Ravazolli enhancing his reputation with every game, defence excellent. Just heard 3CR dismiss a late playoff push out of hand. I hope we prove them wrong!
How is it that a non-striker, in this case Butcher, can seemingly find seconds (certainly seems like seconds) to contemplate a shot, pick his exact target, curly a beauty in and score.... and then do the same again. When our strikers mainly seemed to want to panic and shoot in 00.5 of a second with zero thinking time? Beats me.
Young Virgil at the back (Nigel), had another great game. He is an excellent player and so much so that we haven’t missed the steady Joe Low.
Oh yeh!
9 points from the last 3 games, up to 12th, and further confirmation of what a great signing Matt Butcher was. What's not to like?
However, with an 8-point gap between 10th and 11th in the table, a late playoff push will be a big ask.
With a max score of 74 if we win every game which we won’t, only 11 points above the current lowest score in play off positions . Too late unfortunately.
Goes to show the brutal lot of the goalkeeper. When he came on at Stevenage, Ravazolli’s first touch was to almost drop the ball into his own net. If he had it would’ve been game over. He didn’t, and has been superb since.
King Kone’s impact today was awesome. Space suddenly opened up for all.
Have to say I was unsure, but for me Ravazollii now has the shirt and it's his to lose. Was pretty boring stuff for 60 minutes but then boom.. Butcher has been a great signing, and I'm not just saying this as he scored 2 today. Also, for me, Kone did more In the short time he was on than Lubala did the whole game. I like Lubala so don't get me wrong, but, he can't head the ball ! So why oh why do we insist on lumping the ball up to him ??
Anyway, good result, defo safe, bring on Wembley and a big shiny new expensive training ground !
Agree with the first half but thought Kone looked very much a non league striker today, can't control the ball, giving fouls away.
Not Lubala's best game but in terms of leading the line its chalk and cheese right now.
@Malone I sort of agree
Kone is a bit of a rough diamond, hard for the opposition to read and looks like he wants to shoot each time he gets the ball, as a consequence his touch and ambition betray him.
Lubala is a slightly older & more experienced player and is prepared to do the hard graft of tracking/tackling back, pressing etc. as well as taking on his defender & trying to turn him/run past him (to be fair Kone does this too but with less success for now).
I also thought Kodua had a decent game, though showed a lack of experience at times.
Absolutely zero chance of Playoffs unless we win 8 of our 9 remaining games.
Couldn't imagine at half time I'd be walking down Hillbottom Road feeling do elated at full time.
Dismal stuff in the 1st half, but excellent in the 2nd, especially after Kone and Scowen came on. Kone made a huge difference, always looking to attack the Northampton defence and it unsettled a back line that had looked very comfortable up to that point. 2 really well taken goals from Butcher, a huge save from Rav at 1-0, but Potts was MOTM for me. Back close to his best today after a few quieter games.
It seems there's mixed thoughts on Kone, which is fine.
He's clearly a finisher, and we have fairly low expectations so anything he does will surprise us positively.
Whereas with Vokes we had high expectations, so he'd do very well to ever match those, especially now.
Lubala looks a good middle option. He can do the big heavy lifting side of things, but also score. Leaving Kone to ease into things and learn the other side of the game bar the instinctive finishing.
Fans really picked up the atmosphere around the hour mark today, it was dour up until that point. Hopefully helped to spur the team on.
That was a really pedestrian game up until 60 mins or so. We improved a bit with the subs, although I get the impression Northampton have already got half a mind on their summer holiday plans.
I respect the criticism of Kone, he’s got a lot to learn. But one thing he has that we haven’t got elsewhere is his laser focus on getting a shot at goal as soon as possible. And this makes him dangerous. Not just because he might just score but what it does to defenders and how they defend him. He’s not the guy to bring on v Wigan when you have 11 men behind the ball for 30 minutes but today he killed any momentum that Northampton might get. Today is a good day.
As for Butcher, he's a surprisingly good finisher isn't he!
Really impressed with Butcher’s post-match interview. Evidently very astute. Perceptive guy. Not surprised he has added some great measure to our midfield.
Seems like a very strong signing - I must have seen him play many times before but never really noticed him, but it’s fair to say he’s definitely been a plus point in the second half of the season.
Butcher was excellent and he enables Potts to perform his many tricks. We have a good squad now and one capable of a top half finish and more to come next season.
It was looking very much an end of season, nothing to play for yawn fest. Northampton seemed less interested than we did first half, but (probably expecting us to be rubbish second half) they started to go forward second half and as a result the whole game opened up. I was actually just starting to enjoy it a few minutes before we scored and after that it became a decent watch.
We definitely seem to have used January to reset. We actually seem to be a decent team now some of the time.
Frustratingly, being a half-decent team all of the season would probably have seen us in the play-off picture, as the standard of the teams around us this year does seem to have dropped a fair bit. Having said that (and from where we were a few weeks ago) no complaints for me in a transitionary season.
And, for one of @Shev's 'sliding doors' moments, how much do we owe that idiot Fleetwood player who got himself sent off first half. If he hadn't we probably wouldn't have salvaged a point and what was already an ugly atmosphere around the club would almost certainly have got a lot worse and I'm not sure if MB would have survived despite the public backing.
My new favourite player....
Liverpool's Virgil Van Dijk song (Dirty Old Town) fits Nigel Longwijk perfectly - would quite like to hear that echoing around Wembley...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4xR1QMJg84&t=140s
Isn't Dirty Old Slough sung to that though?
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub said above most of what I was going to reply with, but I do have a couple of other observations. Kone is extremely unpredictable, which as a fan is lovely to watch but for opposition defenders it’s a nightmare and was a big part of why he scared the shit out of the Northampton defenders today. I thought Lubala’s battling today was superb, but even Kone’s pressing was unpredictable so when he came on they never knew where he was going to be or who he was going to press. He tried a couple of fairly audacious things today that didn’t quite come off, but that’s the sort of thing I pay my money to see, someone trying to make stuff happen. I voted for him for MoM, which felt odd given how little time on the ball he actually had, but that unpredictable style of his completely changed the game. I hope we don’t train that unpredictability out of him.
One other thing, he may well also be the best crosser in the side, with either foot. I want to see more of him and Vokes in the same lineup.
Reminded me of a lot of Gareth's games to be honest...a lot of endeavour with no result...and then we win.
To win without McLeary, Low, Vokes and Scowen on the pitch (for most of it in Josh's case) was good.
Butcher is one of those players a bit like Wheeler used to be...they seen anonymous and then pop up.
Nice to see Saddlier stay the course and still create late on in the game.
Taylor and Lubala have some nice close skills...and Bez likes a shot even if its too far out.
It was nice to see we bought on players to add energy...and Forino only came on as a replacement for Taff rather than to make up a back five.
Kone may be raw but you can see he will improve. Good day at the office.
Props to Blooms for the timing and nature of the subs, indeed!
My only minor moment of negativity today is that Dale Taylor seems to have slipped back a bit after that purple patch a month or so ago. I can't remember any particular noteworthy contributions today. I think for me, of the four main central midfield options - Scowen, Butcher, Potts, Taylor - he's the one that drops out for now in a 4231 or 4141.