Curle will not change his playing style in League One

A change of division will not necessarily mean a change of playing style for the Cobblers when they jump up to League One next season.

Curle's Cobblers have forged a reputation for being direct, physical and in the faces of the opposition, and they also look to maximise set-piece opportunities through Nicky Adams' corners and free-kicks and Charlie Goode's long throw.

Those tactics served the Cobblers extremely well in the League Two play-offs when they beat Cheltenham Town and Exeter City 3-0 and 4-0 respectively to reach the third tier. Four of the seven goals they scored in those games stemmed from a long throw, corner or free-kick.

What's more, no team in League Two and only two sides across the whole of the EFL - Rotherham (25) and Cardiff (18) - scored more set-piece goals than the Cobblers (17) in 2019/20.

League One may require a more varied approach to adapt to the step up in quality, but Curle says his general philosophy to the game will not change.

"We've been very competitive, we like to win the ball back and we like to use the ball and get it into the opposition's half," he said.

"We're not going to sit off teams next season and I think that was evident in the way that we went about the last couple of games in the play-offs.

"Is there going to be a sudden switch and a sudden change in our profile and our identity? No. Are we going to start rolling the ball around at the back and having 45 passes before we get over the halfway line before we create a scoring attempt? No.

'I was watching one of the Premier League games a few weeks ago. I remember the ball went out for a goal-kick, I went out, made myself a hot chocolate, came back into the front room and the ball was still in their half!

"I was like 'wow' because they've missed a couple of minutes there to create goalscoring opportunities. I want to create scoring chances and I want the ball going forward and I want to get bums off seats and people standing up because something's going happen - that's what we're trying to create."