Where Cobblers and Hogg are still looking to strengthen in the last month of the window
Chris Hogg says he is still hoping to strengthen ‘all areas’ of his squad as we head into the final month of the summer transfer window.
Cobblers were already fairly well-stocked in defence and midfield before Hogg’s arrival, but they reinforced those areas further by signing James Maxwell, Janoi Donacien and Logan Briggs early in the summer, while Zach Jeacock completed the goalkeeping department after Lee Burge’s departure.
That then put the focus on forward positions and in came striker Matty Warhurst and attacking midfielder Connor Lemonheigh-Evans last week, adding to Harvey Saunders who was first through the door at the start of June.
It’s the attacking area of the field which remains the priority for Hogg and his recruitment team, but he has not ruled out other additions. Grant Ward remains on trial and central midfield is a position the club are looking at, while another defender could also come in before the window shuts on September 1st at 11pm.
Asked if he’s still targeting another defender, as well as more attacking players, Hogg said: "We're trying to make the squad as strong as possible in all areas and that comes down to the options out there and what's available.
“I'll always look at where we can improve the squad and what we need to do to make us stronger. That will continue to progress in the next couple of weeks because we are constantly looking at all areas.”
Hogg is not wedded to a particular style of play and therefore wants to build a squad that is adaptable and flexible and capable of playing a variety of ways.
“For me, football is a game of courage and a game of heart and a game of brains and I want to give the stadium a good feeling in terms of how we play,” he added.
“I want to play in the attacking half and there are various ways to do that. We had a really good moment in the first half (against Birmingham on Saturday) when we skipped their press and nearly got in with Logan making a deeper run. That's one way where you can go over.
"We also went through them once or twice and nearly got something at the end of it and we also went around them, especially down the left-hand side where we looked more of a threat late on.
"They had made changes by that point but it's still progress for us and there's little shoots of what we want to see. The challenge is how do we create chances at the end of those moments and really put pressure on the opposition's goal.”
Hogg is hoping for a different type of game when Cobblers take on Cambridge United this evening (7.30pm kick-off).
"There will no doubt be one or two changes and a few tweaks but Cambridge is a good place to play football and it'll be a challenge for us because they'll be looking to push on from last season,” Hogg continued.
"I'm hoping it will look a bit more like how our league games will look in terms of the style of game and two teams fighting it out. Saturday was a bit more direct, which was good for us to deal with balls coming into our box, but Birmingham also tried to play through us. It will be a different challenge against Cambridge.”