Cobblers boss may make changes for Chesterfield visit
"Chesterfield will be tough opposition but we think we're tough opposition as well," he said.
"I think it will be a very good game and I'm looking forward to it.
“We had a really good hard fought battling performance at Dagenham and we’ve got to a position in the last few games where we are looking pretty solid.
“You are not always going to play well but every day has got to be a good defending day. You are not always going to play well but you make sure that you are not going to concede many goals.
“We’ve been creating chances as well and it’s about getting that balance right between playing well and creating chances while at the same time making sure that you are solid defensively.
"The plan here is to have a culture where it is competitive and you have got to be ready for anything because at anytime you could be called upon.
"The players have got to like it here and enjoy it but at the same time you don't want them becoming comfortable because when that happens you've got problems.
"Although I've gone with a settled team in the past I'll change a winning team as well as a team that isn't winning.
"When you work with people closely you find out all kinds of things.
"I pick the team and if we win everybody thinks you are right and if you don't then everyone thinks they can do better.
"That's not a criticism that's just the way of life.
"When I pick the team I look at where I think we can hurt the opposition and I listen to the information from my staff.
"If I put all my stock in what the supporters thought then I'd be picking 5,000 different teams.
"I've got a great deal of respect for our supporters especially those ones who travel home and away and come to the fans forum but they don't pick the team.
"I'm the boss, I pick the team and I will stand and fall on results.
"Everybody has their favourites but I know our players very well now, some of them need to be stroked and treated really well and told how good they are and some of our players get too comfortable and need to be kicked and prodded now and again while being stroked!
"I think that's maybe where I have a bit of an edge on the supporters because I know the players, I know what makes them tick and I know what they need.
"Football is such a brilliant game that everybody has got an opinion.
"Do we want to be a one man team? Well it hasn't got this club very far in the past and I think we are a little bit more than that now. We have more than one threat and we can mix and match it and that makes us more dangerous opponents.
"I treat all our players the same, nobody gets preferential treatment.
"It doesn't worry me what anybody really thinks and if I started worrying about what people think then I'd probably be the wrong man for the job."