Nolan 'fed up' with conceding soft goals as Cobblers boss blames 'decision-making' for attacking struggles
Kevin Nolan declared himself ‘fed up’ with having to watch his side concede ‘really sloppy goals’ after they were beaten 2-0 for the second home game running.
Rotherham did not have to work hard for their chances against Northampton at Sixfields on Tuesday and both goals, scored by Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu and Sam Nombe, stemmed from mistakes, while life was made similarly easy for previous visitors Blackpool.
And whilst their defence struggled at one end, the attack also failed to fire. Cobblers also registered a solitary shot throughout the first half on Tuesday before a couple of opportunities went begging after the break.
"It comes down to decision-making,” said Nolan when asked why his side struggled to create chances. “I can't help them with that. We can only show them the pictures on the training ground but that's something the players have to do on the pitch.
"We thought we did really well with our decision-making in the first half against Cambridge but the second half we wasn’t as good before we brought it back towards the end.
"Blackpool was really poor and then tonight we were well below our standards and that's not good enough for us. We have to get back to what we believe in because I'm fed up of giving really sloppy goals away. That's where I am and where I stand.
"We need to get back to wanting to defend properly and wanting to keep clean sheets. Sometimes you win nicely but sometimes you have to win ugly.
"The players have been getting plaudits for all those good performance but they've only been draws. I think only one was a win. This one has hurt because this is our second defeat in a row at Sixfields and that's not what I'm about. I don't want it to be as easy as we made it for Rotherham and for Blackpool.”