Match Thread: Lincoln City v Crewe Alexandra | Page 14 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Lincoln City v Crewe Alexandra

Very disappointing first half with virtually everybody not on it and that to me was worrying i hope the Cowleys try and work out why it was so.I did expect more with the promise to pay back the supporters from the support at the 4-1 debacle last year( a game i missed through illness).Second was alittle better with Pett and the unlucky Greeny coming on and we just about deserved the points in the end!
At times you have to win ugly and we did that today,whereas tuesday we got nothing when i believe we deserved more.
Anyway onwards and upwards see you all at Vale park.
 
Brendan Bradley said:
Thank God that's over. Hardly any football until the last 15 minutes. At least not from Lincoln as Crewe were tidy enough.

There was no "nearly" about it, that implies that things were about to happen, and they weren't.

If I was a Crewe supporter I'd be miffed not to get a point from that, even with the missed penalty. I'm pretty sure Vickers had more to do than their keeper. We have a lot more forward power than most sides though, and it makes a difference.

The first substitution did change things - not because of the instant goal - but it meant we were further up the pitch and could actually play through midfield a bit. Green looked pretty good. The third substitution at least seemed popular with the crowd.
Click to expand...
Not sure why you think the third substitution was a popular one.
 
Scrappy game great three points especially looking at other results.

Crewe play some nice football but didn’t offer a goal threat and one goal was always going to win it.
 
Not great today, but not terrible either. Those who can remember pre Cowley know what terrible really is. Felt a bit like an end of season game between two middling teams. I think we perhaps just edged the game overall. Crewe had a 5-10 period in the first half and went for broke at the end of the match after the penalty, but other than we controlled the match. Had freck scored the penalty we would have probably coasted to a win as Crewe got some motivation from the poor miss. However instead we had withstand a small siege. Normally we’re very good at eating up the minutes in injury time, but today we kept giving the ball away.

We had a couple of very good opportunities today but the final ball and finishing was again lacking. I was a bit surprised to see O’connor named man of the match. He didn’t have a bad game as such, but he often over complicates what should be simple passes. Instead of keeping it on the floor he likes to put them in the air, which are often more difficult to control. For me man of the match should have been Shackell. He was dominant in defence and was a cool head at all times.

With regards to Akinde; I thought he started a bit sloppy but quickly grew into the game. He seems to often be involved in goals. Just needs a goal to keep the haters off his back.

As people have said Pett coming on turned the game and Green looked very sharp as well. Pett plays incisive passes and asks questions of defence; he’s aware and not one afraid to battle. It seemed a harsh decision to drop him before the match and now I’d be very surprised if he hasn’t played himself to the starting 11 again.

Crewe looked a semi-decent outfit. They played some good football at times and looked to exploit some of our weaknesses: balls over the top, loading the midfield and some width at times. That said we defended most of the game very well and limited them to little. They’ll be a comfortable upper mid table team.

One thing that did concern me slightly was how tired some of the players looked. At times players seemed to be slow to react to the ball or maybe I’m being overly critical. I know we had a Tuesday game and most of the starting 11 have played a lot of minutes, but still a worry. Harry looked knackered after 10 minutes!

Solid 3 points today! Give the players a good rest and they’ll be raring to go. The table looks a good sight tonight. Enjoy the moment.
 
imps_joe said:
Not great today, but not terrible either. Those who can remember pre Cowley know what terrible really is. Felt a bit like an end of season game between two middling teams. I think we perhaps just edged the game overall. Crewe had a 5-10 period in the first half and went for broke at the end of the match after the penalty, but other than we controlled the match. Had freck scored the penalty we would have probably coasted to a win as Crewe got some motivation from the poor miss. However instead we had withstand a small siege. Normally we’re very good at eating up the minutes in injury time, but today we kept giving the ball away.

We had a couple of very good opportunities today but the final ball and finishing was again lacking. I was a bit surprised to see O’connor named man of the match. He didn’t have a bad game as such, but he often over complicates what should be simple passes. Instead of keeping it on the floor he likes to put them in the air, which are often more difficult to control. For me man of the match should have been Shackell. He was dominant in defence and was a cool head at all times.

With regards to Akinde; I thought he started a bit sloppy but quickly grew into the game. He seems to often be involved in goals. Just needs a goal to keep the haters off his back.

As people have said Pett coming on turned the game and Green looked very sharp as well. Pett plays incisive passes and asks questions of defence; he’s aware and not one afraid to battle. It seemed a harsh decision to drop him before the match and now I’d be very surprised if he hasn’t played himself to the starting 11 again.

Crewe looked a semi-decent outfit. They played some good football at times and looked to exploit some of our weaknesses: balls over the top, loading the midfield and some width at times. That said we defended most of the game very well and limited them to little. They’ll be a comfortable upper mid table team.

One thing that did concern me slightly was how tired some of the players looked. At times players seemed to be slow to react to the ball or maybe I’m being overly critical. I know we had a Tuesday game and most of the starting 11 have played a lot of minutes, but still a worry. Harry looked knackered after 10 minutes!

Solid 3 points today! Give the players a good rest and they’ll be raring to go. The table looks a good sight tonight. Enjoy the moment.
Click to expand...

A good summary.

On the tiredness point Andrade appeared knackered in the last few minutes, possibly taken a knock.
 
Not great today, but not bad either, very much ok.

Thought Freck was actually having a good game until pen miss. Also thought Akinde won a lot in the air today but the support act didn’t get close enough. We needed to get Andrade in the game more early on.

One thing is for sure, Pett should be the 2nd name on the team sheet at the moment only behind Shackell. Speaking of Shackell, he was immense and man of the match for me. Although O’Connor did have a solid game to be fair.
 
Chimpimp said:
The only thing that disappointed me today was our player, with 100% penalty record, this season, had already been substituted. He makes it looks so easy, when it isn’t.
Click to expand...


I was thinking it's a shame Akinde's not still on. Would have deflected his detractors a little. Although some people don't want to even give him credit for his 100% record with us. Career wise it seems he's scored 33 out ofof 39 pens. I stand to be corrected.

I blame Danny and Nicky for not predicting there was going to be a penalty.

Also fancy leaving Pett out 'cos he needed a rest.

Anybody would think they know what they're doing.

Jeez we should be 10 points clear by now.

Sack the Board, come to think of it sack everyone. I preferred it when we were 19th in the Conference.

Can't believe the criticism.
 
UnbelievableJeff said:
Are you the chair of the fan club or something Greame? ;)He didn't have a very good game, and he isn't scoring goals. Bit like a defender or Goalkeeper leaking them.

Something is not right, he doesn't look as bright as earlier on in the season. Perhaps we are not playing to his strengths. Perhaps he is being asked to perform a role he is not used to or not as good at doing.

He is paid to score goals and he isn't. Sorry to be so blunt....but I am worried for the lad. He doesn't seem at the races in patches of the game. Mini Jeff explains it better....in technical speak....
Click to expand...

It doesn't help that Bossie still lumps balls into him, like he's Rheady MKII.

He was the highlight of a poor first half of poor passes, because he did have some measure of control, directing a ball into the box with his head, that two players failed to connect with and buzzed around the box with the only decent service coming from Shackell's deft chips.

We could have done with him on the field for the penalty ?.
 
Was a game we huffed and puffed in....a lot
Crewe are not a bad team but struggle to score- they are a good technical team
3 points is 3 points
Several players looked absolutely knackered at the end (Shackell, Bostwick, Toffolo were all sat on their haunches when the whistle went). Anderson and Andrade seemed off pace today-both looked tired early on
O'Connor getting MOTM shows the kind of game we had
We had a superlative passing move in 2nd half (must have 20 passes) which resulted in a ball through to Green- if he could of strecthed his leg 2 further inches, it would have been goal of the season.
8,600 Imps fans today- great turnout
Freck's pen would have changed the final 10 mins or so of the game if he had buried it...as it was we were backs to the wall.

We aren't going to play well 46 times this season- but after 12 games I have seen much more good games, good results and battling performances than last season. Happy and relieved.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.