Kevin Nolan reveals why he's played three at the back in pre-season and whether it's here to stay
Cobblers have played three at the back in all of their pre-season games so far because manager Kevin Nolan believes it is the best fit for the group of players currently at his disposal.
Nolan almost exclusively played a variation of 3-5-2/3-4-3 after taking charge in December last year but he revealed in an interview towards the end of the season that it is not necessarily his preferred formation and he’d rather play with a back four.
However, despite making wholesale changes to his squad this summer, Nolan has deployed 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 in all four friendlies so far, with the likes of Joe Wormleighton, Jack Perkins and Sam Hoskins operating at wing-back and Cameron McGeehan, Michael Jacobs and Elliott List partnering each other in attack.
The club are still keen to strengthen in a number of positions before the window closes and whoever arrives in the next few weeks will influence how Cobblers will set up next season, although flexibility is a key cornerstone for the manager.
"I want us to be adaptable and to be able to play with the three at the back but I want us to play with a four as well,” said Nolan. “But with the personnel we have available at the moment, I think it suits us to play with a back three and that's what we've done in pre-season.
"Hopefully we’ll make few more additions in the next week or two because that will give us the flexibility to go to a four and to adapt to different systems, but I still want to be able to play with a four and all of the players need to understand that. That's something I talked about with all of the players when I spoke to them on Zoom before they signed. They know what will be expected of them.”
Whilst most of pre-season has been centred around improving the squad’s fitness, Nolan plans to delve deeper into the tactical side of things as next month’s League One opener at Wigan edges ever closer.
"With the acquisitions we've brought in this summer, they are getting to where we want to be,” he added. “We haven't gone into detail in terms of what we want to be in possession but we’ve given them glimpses and I thought we saw that and they did it really well against Norwich at times.
"I’ve been impressed with the information they’ve taken on, and with some new additions in the next few weeks – and we're still working hard behind the scenes on that – it'll help the squad to get even better.”