Turning draws into wins key for top 10 push next season – boss Curle

Cobblers boss Keith Curle admits his side must learn to turn draws into wins if they are to operate in the top 10 next season.
Keith CurleKeith Curle
Keith Curle

Town finished the 2018/19 campaign with a league-high 19 draws – only Stoke City (22) had more in the entire Football League – 15 of which have come during Curle’s 36 games in charge.

Town lost only twice in 18 home games between Curle’s appointment in October and the end of the season but their inability to turn all those draws into wins ultimately cost them a chance of challenging for the play-offs, eventually falling 11 points short of seventh-placed Newport County.

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“We’ve drawn a lot of games this season and if we can turn some of those draws into wins, that gets us operating in the top 10 of the table,” admitted Curle.

“Where we’ve finished now is our starting point to aim for next season. There’s going to be lots of factors ahead of next season and there’ll be lots of new players.

“We need to go on runs within the season and have seven, eight games in a row where we have back-to-back wins because that can propel you.”

With so many changes expected in the summer, Curle also accepts it will be imperative to build team cohesion in preparation for the first game of next season.

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“It’ll be about how quickly we gel those players together and how quickly we can get them to buy into the ethos and the philosophy we’re trying to create,” he added.

“We’ll have a full pre-season as well. It’s not easy coming into a changing room and implementing your philosophy - you can’t do it straightaway.

“You have to identify what’s in there and what’s the best way to get results for that group of players and then you need a few transfer windows to bring in a style of play.”