Improved performance leaves Cobblers boss Edinburgh with selection dilemmas for Fleetwood visit

The Cobblers boss made four changes to his side for their Carabao Cup tie at Queens Park Rangers with Aaron Phillips, Yaser Kasim, Chris Long and Alex Revell all drafted into the starting line-up in place of Daniel Powell, Matt Taylor, Marc Richards and Dean Bowditch.

And those four players were part of a much better team performance compared to the one at Shrewsbury three days earlier, despite being beaten 1-0 by the Championship outfit.

That’s now given Edinburgh plenty of food for thought heading into Saturday when Uwe Rosler’s Fleetwood rock up at Sixfields for Northampton’s first home game of the season.

“We have a squad that can change games and change situations and it’s given me a lot of thought for Saturday’s selection,” admitted the Town manager. “People have played themselves into the team.

“We’re starting to see a coming together and continuity and the players having a bit of fluidity in their play.

“That’s what we want to continue in a big game on Saturday when we want to get off the mark in terms of getting points and goals on the board.”

After an off-colour showing against Shrewsbury, the Cobblers produced a more cohesive, positive display at Loftus Road where they carried a greater attacking threat, albeit without overly testing QPR goalkeeper Matt Ingram.

“That needs to be replicated on Saturday and going forward,” added Edinburgh. “We need to show that bravery, that intensity in possession of the ball.

“Defending again we were resilient. The system and the shape looks good but for me the real positive was that we looked a threat going forward and we didn’t have that on Saturday.

“It needs to continue and it needs to carry on and that starts on Saturday when we’ll look to get something out of the game.”