Curle responds to criticism of his style of play and reveals long-term plan to 'evolve' Cobblers' philosophy

Cobblers manager Keith Curle has addressed criticism of his defensive approach to recent matches and explained how he plans to 'evolve' Town into a more expansive team in the long-term.

Curle's pragmatic approach has been a hot topic of debate over the last few weeks, and was so again in the aftermath of Saturday's last-gasp 2-1 defeat at Crewe Alexandra when Town failed to take a single shot after the 28th minute.

Despite that defeat at Gresty Road, Cobblers remain three places and two points above the League One relegation zone, and whilst some fans question the lack of possession and the need to be quite so defensive, others will be happy as long as they stay up this season.

Speaking about his approach to playing against possession-based teams prior to Saturday's game, Curle said: "It's finding a way to win. The modern scripture seems to be that there is the right way or the wrong way to play football, but I think plan B is finding a way to win.

"If we want to go out and compete playing football with some teams then we will be in for a difficult afternoon. But in finding ways to win, we give ourselves another opportunity when we are all on the same page, and I think that is important.

"We are gaining an identity, we are gaining a way of winning games that is effective for us and our group. It might not be respected and it might not be applauded by others, but ultimately we have clear objectives of what our main aim is this season.

"Some might say it is short-termism, but within football and within football management, your short-term aim is to win the next game."

However, having said that, Curle does plan to evolve Town's style in the future, like he did at Carlisle United. Grinding out enough points to stay up might be understandable this season given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, plus the fact they only won promotion last year, but it is unlikely to sit well with supporters in the long-term.

"When you walk into a football club, the first thing you have to do as a manager is find a way to win and to create that winning environment," explained Curle.

"You want that winning mentality and that winning philosophy within your team. If you take things back to my previous club, the first year we went there we were four points adrift and we had to stay in the division, but in the two-and-a-half year period that followed we gained a reputation for being very pleasing on the eye.

"We were seen as a good footballing team that had good footballers in it. We were open, expansive, creative and we scored goals. But we had to evolve into that, we couldn't go in and be creative straight away because first and foremost we were adrift at the bottom of the division and we needed to win games.

"It's no different here. When I first came into the football club, on paper we had a very good team, but statistically in the league we were not where we needed to be.

"I think we were third or fourth bottom and we needed to gain points, and again it was about creating that culture, creating that environment, creating that mentality of gaining points.

"Then, the longer a manager is at a football club, you are able to evolve into a passing team, or a team that plays the way you want them to play, with the belief that you are going to get results.

"Sometimes you don't get enough time as a manager to see the youth come through, and to see the players you have brought into the football club flourish. That is always a disappointment from a professional point of view because a lot of supporters only see what happens on a Saturday afternoon.

"But there is a lot that goes on at every football club, and more so or at least as much at this football club. There are a lot of things that are required, not only to get the finished article on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm, it is also about the progression and the development of the team, and the ethos that you want to put into place in a year-and-a-half or two years' time.

"But again you are mindful of the facts. It is highlighted every transfer window where people want new players brought in, and sometimes those players don't hit the ground running, sometimes you are bringing players in that are not for that window.

"Sometimes you bring them in for the next window after that, when you think 'yeah, now we are going to see the best of them'.

"It is certainly a lot harder than it looks! It's not just an hour-and-a-half on a Saturday afternoon."