Nolan 'learned a lot' about his players during defeat at Reading
Kevin Nolan ‘learned a lot’ about his players during Boxing Day's defeat to Reading – but he’s confident he can ‘clear a lot of things up quite quickly’ after Cobblers suffered a sixth defeat in seven.
The Town boss saw his new team concede within just five minutes at Reading before they were beaten by a simple long ball as the hosts eased into a two goal lead after half-an-hour. Two further goals – either side of Tom Eaves’ consolation – sealed Northampton's fate in the second half.
"I learned a lot about my players today and I said to them afterwards – we can't feel sorry for ourselves,” said Nolan. “We have to stand up and be counted.
"I told them that they are good players and they are all here for a reason and that's what I want them to show. They need to take a bit of responsibility and start putting that onto the pitch. The more time I get on the training ground and the more time we get in the video room analysing, I feel that will all come."
Cobblers have conceded 15 goals in their last four games but Nolan must somehow turn things around ahead of three huge games in the next week, starting at second-bottom Shrewsbury on Sunday.
"We have talked about principles and what we're going to be,” added Nolan. “We've tried to put as much information into them as we can but I believe bit by bit, training session by session, we'll get the best out of them.
"The day-to-day running of the club is probably going to be massively different to the last manager because we all work differently. They've got to get to know me and I've got to get to know them more.
"But I must admit, in the last 72 hours, I have been really impressed with all of the staff and the lads and how they've tried to take in the information. It was such a blow to concede so early.
"We recovered a bit but not as much as I would have liked and I was disappointed with the goals we conceded but I think we can clear a lot of things up quite quickly."