Arnold accepts Cobblers 'need to get better' after poor run

Goalkeeper Steve Arnold says the Cobblers are well aware of the need to improve following a run of three straight league defeats.

The last of those defeats was inflicted by rivals Peterborough United at the weekend and leaves Town with one win, one draw and three losses from their first five fixtures, identical to their record after the same number of games last season.

Cobblers turned things around to win promotion through the League Two play-offs in June and will need a similar level of improvement this time around as they prepare for a busy and tricky run of fixtures.

"It's never nice to lose any game, especially against your local rivals," said Arnold. "The mood in the camp afterwards was that we need to put this right straightaway and that's what we've been working on this week and hopefully we can do that on Saturday.

"I think you have to give a lot of credit to Peterborough because they did play very well - probably the best team we've played so far. Their movement and their interchanges were very clever and we've got to get up to speed with that quickly. It shows us what this league is about and it's down to us to get up to that level."

Keith Curle's squad has undergone some major changes this summer and it is still not as settled as it might otherwise have been with the transfer window - set to close this Friday - extending well into the season due to the coronavirus pandemic. Town were also not helped by a spate of injuries at the start of the campaign.

"It might take us a bit of time, especially with the limited pre-season and all the injuries," added Arnold. "We had two 17-year-olds on the bench at Shrewsbury only a few weeks ago and then within about 10 days we had seven or eight players back.

"So it is going to take time for us to get together and understand each other but we know we need to get better as soon as possible because we want to put those wrongs right and get points on the board."