Hogg 'seeing small signs' of the team he wants Cobblers to be after Southend win
Chris Hogg says he is seeing ‘small signs’ of the team he wants Cobblers to become after Wednesday’s friendly win at Southend United.
Northampton scored their first goals of pre-season at Roots Hall as Max Dyche headed in an early opener before Matty Warhurst opened his account a day after competing his move from Manchester City. Harvey Saunders grabbed a third in the second half before Southend scored a late consolation.
"I enjoyed it,” said Hogg. “I learned loads again and it was nice to score a few goals, the first ones of pre-season, and that will give those individuals a lift. There was lots of good stuff and lots of stuff we need to work on and be better at. The boys are aware of that but the effort and the attitude was really good and hopefully everyone has come through OK.
"We were wanting to have more attacking third entries and goalscoring opportunities and I thought we were ruthless with the chances we had. We didn’t have loads and loads of chances but one goal was worked well and we took the other two, which was pleasing.
"It’s only pre-season but the mentality around winning a game of football is important because we have to try and change the mindset of the club. We need to give the players that feeling that we’ll go into the season and win football games.”
The system and style of Hogg’s team is increasingly clear with every game. They were again 4-4-2 out of possession against Southend and 4-2-3-1 on the ball with Logan Briggs tucking inside and James Maxwell overlapping on the left.
"There are small signs of the team I want to see,” Hogg added. “I’m a little bit of a perfectionist so I’m always wanting it to be better but we’re on a journey as a team and a club and there’s lots going on behind the scenes to make us better.
"There are signs of the mentality and the traits that I want to see and now it’s about doing it more consistently. There are five or 10 minute spells in games where it’s looking how we want it to look but then we'll have a spell where it doesn’t look right.
"That’s normal at this stage and credit to the boys, they came through it well and scored some nice goals.”