Good Friday: please win today so I/we can eradicate the bad Friday 2015 at Millwall when Chris Solly had the ball smashed into his face on the goal line just as he was waving to a family member in the crowd, resulting in the ball brushing his hand, CS seeing red, and despite the penalty save and going into lead we snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory.
Some of you think about Jesus over this Easter weekend, I have night meires that 10 sessions at the priory couldn't cure.
Northampton are fighting for their lives and that 4-1 victory against them at The Valley all those months ago, whilst a welcome ray of light in a dark season, was slightly false in that 2 of those goals came in time added on when Northampton were dejected. That said if we can play like we did against Plymouth we have a better than even chance of a point and, if lucky, maybe more.
Stick with the same team, bar Konsa in for Reeves. Really ought to be another convincing win. 3-0 Charlton.
Play Konsa RB and Dijksteel CM?
I do not think Dijksteel is a better attacking midfielder than Reeves and feel this change would unbalance the side. I have not got an issue with Reeves if he plays as well as he did on Saturday AND we play the diamond again. Playing in a more natural position helped him of course.
If Bow were to decide on a flat 4-4-2 there would be a good argument to replace Reeves with Marshall as you would need a more natural winger, and if you wanted Konsa in then it would be at the expense of Aribo and this is what I would do.
I can’t see Northampton going all out for the points so would think they will go more for a 4-5-1. It would be brave for Bow to go for a 3-5-2 to match the midfield, but will he select a team that has the flexibility to play both as a 3 or a 4?All very interesting. In Bow we trust!
Sorry if this has already been covered, but I think the suggestion would be to move Dijksteel to the base of a diamond (or the holding midfielder in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1) and give JFC more freedom.
It's certainly worth considering. I have Konsa in midfield coming in for Reeves and Dijksteel at RB again. I do still think Dijksteel can be caught out of position at RB at times (totally understandable given it's not a natural position for him), but his 1-v-1 defending it so good, and he seems to be getting more comfortable in the position. I think Konsa is better positionally at RB, but his 1-v-1 isn't quite as good as what Dijksteel has shown.
For me it's actually more down to JFC and how he played. I thought he was so good in that holding hold that I wouldn't want to change it. His breaking up play was excellent, and we know he has the ability to start attacks from the back of midfield as well. Konsa's athleticism makes him a threat in midfield (see reverse fixture against Northampton). I thought Reeves did a really good job in a deeper role for him on Saturday, but with two games in four days I expect we'll need to rotate on Monday and I think he's better suited to home games/coming off the bench to help break teams down.
On going three at the back, starting with Dijksteel and Konsa would mean we could go three at the back (one moving into one of the center back roles, the other at right wingback), but as is always the case with a back three, we don't have a right wingback. It's a matter or shoehorning someone in, like Konsa or Dijksteel, neither of whom look particularly natural going forward from fullback, or putting a winger there like Marshall. Also, I expect Northampton to go 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 and I don't know that we need three at the back for that. It can mean that you have three defenders marking one forward, which is something Josh used to his advantage when they played 3 at the back at The Valley.
I do expect this game to be more of a slog and for Northampton to sit deep and compact, which we've struggled with all season. As others have pointed out, including sage, Plymouth really let us play and tried to play football in return. Some of that may have been down to the early goal, but Zyro had a chance in the first minute or so where we carved them open with a couple good passes. I don't expect Northampton to give us that kind of space, which will make the first goal in the game (if there is one) incredibly important.
I still worry about teams sitting back against us. I think Plymouth came out to beat us and that played into our hands. I'm not convinced we have enough goals through the team but desperate to be wrong. Confidence can change things positively and I'm hoping for that!
Players like Fosu and Mav should be able to unlock defensive teams - they certainly have the ability to beat players but their decision making is key.
That bench is quality, even better when you add Dasilva in hopefully Monday and Kashi in again in a couple of weeks...
Really hopeful for a good result today, wish I could be there.
You can watch it on ifollow if you are able to sort it out (don't ask me!), alternatively there is the match thread on here, or if the worst comes to the worst there is Valley Pass to endure.
That bench is quality, even better when you add Dasilva in hopefully Monday and Kashi in again in a couple of weeks...
Really hopeful for a good result today, wish I could be there.
You can watch it on ifollow if you are able to sort it out (don't ask me!), alternatively there is the match thread on here, or if the worst comes to the worst there is Valley Pass to endure.
Will be following on the match thread and twitter, you guys do a great job on it.
I should try and get my head around iFollow myself but I haven’t got a clue either. VPN is foreign language to me.
I'm going to give I follow a go today- I have downloaded Hola wich is apparently a free VPN that works - I have the Austrian flag shwoing at the top of my browser so let's see if it works!
That bench is quality, even better when you add Dasilva in hopefully Monday and Kashi in again in a couple of weeks...
Really hopeful for a good result today, wish I could be there.
You can watch it on ifollow if you are able to sort it out (don't ask me!), alternatively there is the match thread on here, or if the worst comes to the worst there is Valley Pass to endure.
Will be following on the match thread and twitter, you guys do a great job on it.
I should try and get my head around iFollow myself but I haven’t got a clue either. VPN is foreign language to me.
I am going to watch on ifollow. Gave up on the match thread updates when we were forced into Valley Pass. Previously I was able to avoid the 'Charlton' commentators, and 90% of the time followed the commentary from the other club.
Northampton are fighting for their lives and that 4-1 victory against them at The Valley all those months ago, whilst a welcome ray of light in a dark season, was slightly false in that 2 of those goals came in time added on when Northampton were dejected. That said if we can play like we did against Plymouth we have a better than even chance of a point and, if lucky, maybe more.
Comments
Hopefully, we can have a bit of luck with other results going our way as well.
Some of you think about Jesus over this Easter weekend, I have night meires that 10 sessions at the priory couldn't cure.
Please win and give me some redemption.
Northampton 1 Bowyer boys 3
Lee, Lee, Lee Bowyer (for 2 more games anyway).
Northampton just look poor. No wins in the last 6, 1 win in the last 10. We really ought to win today....
It's certainly worth considering. I have Konsa in midfield coming in for Reeves and Dijksteel at RB again. I do still think Dijksteel can be caught out of position at RB at times (totally understandable given it's not a natural position for him), but his 1-v-1 defending it so good, and he seems to be getting more comfortable in the position. I think Konsa is better positionally at RB, but his 1-v-1 isn't quite as good as what Dijksteel has shown.
For me it's actually more down to JFC and how he played. I thought he was so good in that holding hold that I wouldn't want to change it. His breaking up play was excellent, and we know he has the ability to start attacks from the back of midfield as well. Konsa's athleticism makes him a threat in midfield (see reverse fixture against Northampton). I thought Reeves did a really good job in a deeper role for him on Saturday, but with two games in four days I expect we'll need to rotate on Monday and I think he's better suited to home games/coming off the bench to help break teams down.
On going three at the back, starting with Dijksteel and Konsa would mean we could go three at the back (one moving into one of the center back roles, the other at right wingback), but as is always the case with a back three, we don't have a right wingback. It's a matter or shoehorning someone in, like Konsa or Dijksteel, neither of whom look particularly natural going forward from fullback, or putting a winger there like Marshall. Also, I expect Northampton to go 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 and I don't know that we need three at the back for that. It can mean that you have three defenders marking one forward, which is something Josh used to his advantage when they played 3 at the back at The Valley.
I do expect this game to be more of a slog and for Northampton to sit deep and compact, which we've struggled with all season. As others have pointed out, including sage, Plymouth really let us play and tried to play football in return. Some of that may have been down to the early goal, but Zyro had a chance in the first minute or so where we carved them open with a couple good passes. I don't expect Northampton to give us that kind of space, which will make the first goal in the game (if there is one) incredibly important.
Players like Fosu and Mav should be able to unlock defensive teams - they certainly have the ability to beat players but their decision making is key.
COYA
Really hopeful for a good result today, wish I could be there.
I should try and get my head around iFollow myself but I haven’t got a clue either. VPN is foreign language to me.
That's a quality bench, masses of attacking options