Curle tells Cobblers: Stop 'overplaying' and be more clinical

Stop 'overplaying' and start being more 'ruthless' is the message from Keith Curle to his players after their defeat to Peterborough United in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday evening.
Keith CurleKeith Curle
Keith Curle

Town made a strong start against their League One opponents and found some great positions in attacking areas, but they failed to convert their promising approach play into goals.

Matty Warburton headed over while Harry Smith and Chris Lines were both denied by Christy Pym as Posh, more ruthless at the other end, took a 2-0 lead into half-time and never relented.

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"We caused them problems but I still think when we got on the front foot and we caused problems with our movement, we didn't put the ball in the box enough," said Curle.

"We tried to overplay and be over-creative and when we got into the final third there was a reluctance to put the ball in the box whereas on Saturday we did that.

"That's something we need to take away. There were a few changes and we still need the squad to get the mentality where we want to play but we also want an end product and we want to put the ball in the box.

"We don't need to dress it up and we don't need to take the extra pass. We need to be clinical and we need to be a threat in the final third.

"We created the chances on Tuesday and you have to be ruthless when you're playing against good teams.