Curle to encourage Cobblers to play more on the 'front foot' after defending too deep against Crewe

Keith Curle will encourage his players to play more on the 'front foot' at Oxford United tonight, both in their defending and attacking, after Saturday's overly defensive showing against Crewe Alexandra.

Town were criticised for the nature of their performance at Gresty Road and the way they surrendered the initiative immediately after scoring just three minutes into the game. Crewe bossed the contest thereafter and turned things around to win 2-1.

Whilst Curle is often content for his side not to have masses of the ball, he was not comfortable with just how deep they sat at the weekend and will hope to see an improvement at another possession-based team this evening.

"I watched Saturday's game back and there are still positives to come out of it, but ultimately there are also lots of improvements to make in and out of possession," said Curle.

"We're up against good teams and good players this season and we need to find ways to win. Sometimes we'll have to be a pressing team, sometimes we'll have to be a team that's prepared to sit behind the ball and wait to intercept and pick the right time to go.

"That's the attitude within the club. Whatever we do, we do it together. If we're attacking, we're all on the front foot. If we're defending, we're all waiting for that opportunity to get the ball back and hunt the ball down.

"We want to go and score three goals like we did at Burton and we want to be on the front foot and be attacking but you've got to have a foundation and a base to work from and that comes from the video analysis we do because we're respectful of the opposition.

"We got involved in a game of football at Portsmouth and got turned over 4-0 and a scoreline like that affects confidence. We need to be more competitive so we're saying 'this is our foundation but within it, we need to be on the front foot and hunt the ball down'."

Ricky Holmes made his feelings clear after Saturday's defeat when he demanded the Cobblers 'stand up and be counted' and suggested it's up to the players to take the game to the opposition.

Asked if he agreed with Holmes' assessment, Curle said: "Yes, but you take the game to the opposition through your decision-making on the ball and your delivery up to the front man and retention of possession because then you get on the front foot.

"If there's a break in that chain, you end up not taking the chance to get on the front foot. We had chances to progress up the pitch but we sat in a little bit too much. It's something we can do but when we are given opportunities to break, we need to break better."