Curle reveals his thinking behind formation change and explains Chukwuemeka's absence from squad

Keith Curle has explained why he made the surprise decision to change formation and go with a four-man defence for Tuesday night's League One fixture against Fleetwood Town.

Curle caught everyone by surprise when he abandoned the 3-5-2 system he has so regularly deployed during his time in charge of the club. Instead, he went with 4-4-2 for the visit of Fleetwood for only the second time this season.

Whatever the reasoning behind Curle's thinking, it worked out a treat with Cobblers keeping just their second clean sheet of the season as they edged past Joey Barton's in-form team courtesy of Cian Bolger's second-half header.

"I had a feeling that we were becoming slightly predictable and when you become predictable, teams can set up to cause you problems," explained Curle afterwards. "It's something I've been thinking about recently.

"I've mentioned that the mentality needed to change in terms of how we play at home but that wasn't so much personnel but more to do with the formation.

"It's giving the players something else to think about when they're going out but also turning it into a positive - this is how we're going to defend, this is our shape and this is where we can cause them problems. We're not a one-trick pony and there are different ways to win a game of football."

Curle also explained why he left academy striker Caleb Chukwuemeka out of Tuesday's squad despite the teenager's impressive form of late.

"It wasn't about giving Caleb a break," said Curle. "If you look at the level of experience that they've got in their team, I didn't think it was a game for Caleb, pure and simple.

"Everybody knows what I think of Caleb. He's a fantastic talent but he's a work in progress and he's a developing progress and Tuesday was not the type of game for him, either to start or come on, in my mind.

"Christopher Missilou showed that when he came on because we needed to plug gaps and he worked tirelessly. Harry Smith emptied the tank and then (Danny) Rosy came on and he understood the role."