Match Thread: Lincoln City v Crewe Alexandra | Page 27 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Lincoln City v Crewe Alexandra

Status
Not open for further replies.
Bridcutt said on matchday live he'll be back in training on Monday.
Not sure what happened to Harry in the warm up and Sanders tweaked his hamstring on Friday.
Things sound pretty grim for poor Jorge but at least McGrandles has stepped up to the role superbly, 4 goals since he returned and all from open play.
 
Were Crewe the perfect opponents for us today? Teams lately especially at home have got right in our faces and stopped us knocking it around, they let us play and paid the price as we were back to our clinical best. The positional tweaks really worked.
A good day.
 
Last edited:
Davidimp said:
Were Crewe the perfect opponents for us today? Teams lately especially at home have got right in our faces and stopped us knocking it around, they let us play and paid the price as we were back to our clinical best. The positional tweaks really worked.
A good day.
Click to expand...
I think the switch that started off this win was Johnson moving up front. Think he’s struggled to get in the game when in midfield.

Edun in midfield also seems a sensible call given the difficulties we’ve had there in last couple of matches.
 
An excellent performance today. Up until we scored, I thought we looked like the team we should have been been this season, rather than the team we have been. Crewe's patient style certainly played into our hands. It was nice to open the scoring for once again. It seems a long time since we did.

Every player was so much better than in the Fleetwood game and most of the other recent performances.

All three goals were terrific. Hopper's vision was phenomenal for the third. When we go forward like that, we're absolutely blistering. There's not a team in the league who can cope with that when we're on song. Trouble is, as we've seen in recent weeks, is delivering that on a consistent basis. We've done that mostly, which has got us into the position we're in, up until our recent slump.

Hopefully today's performance will be the booster shot to the squad that reminds them that we're not here by accident and they're more than capable. More of the same in the coming weeks, please.
 
Huntsward said:
An excellent performance today. Up until we scored, I thought we looked like the team we should have been been this season, rather than the team we have been. Crewe's patient style certainly played into our hands. It was nice to open the scoring for once again. It seems a long time since we did.

Every player was so much better than in the Fleetwood game and most of the other recent performances.

All three goals were terrific. Hopper's vision was phenomenal for the third. When we go forward like that, we're absolutely blistering. There's not a team in the league who can cope with that when we're on song. Trouble is, as we've seen in recent weeks, is delivering that on a consistent basis. We've done that mostly, which has got us into the position we're in, up until our recent slump.

Hopefully today's performance will be the booster shot to the squad that reminds them that we're not here by accident and they're more than capable. More of the same in the coming weeks, please.
Click to expand...

How we set up in defence and midfield are vital to how we play.

Get the solidity at the back sorted and we're in the game. Get the fullbacks on message and we're asking questions. Get the midfield balanced and functioning and we smoothly support the transition between defence and attack. (The midfield especially has to be right or we tend to be out of sorts, which for me was the main problem in recent games prior to this weekend).

With all that, and if you can get that established in a match, you then look at the five (six when Harry is back) forward options that have seemingly just become available and L1 defences are seriously on notice.

Hopper, Johnson, Rogers, Scully and Morton collectively have a full set of golf clubs between them, so far as the attacking skill sets go. A week ago we were wondering where the attacking options were going to come from and now MA must be licking his lips at the choices he has available to him, in order to overcome different challenges set by opposition defences.
 
MA’s interview post-match was interesting, saying they had worked on some of the approach play around the box. I wonder if that was to make more of the Johnson/Rogers chances as he said the stats showed we create more quality chances than almost any team in the league, but we haven’t been converting them. I think today showed that Johnson on the wing is stronger than Johnson in midfield. He tracks back on the wing to support the FB, but is a bit lost tracking back in MF. Rogers was a little more advanced as well and inter-playing more with those around him. If he can build up a good relationship with Edun and Bramall it could be quite threatening. Edun played really well and got stronger as the game wore on after some first half slips. I think the Ipswich game could suit him in that position as well, but Sunderland will press him more and be more of a test.
 
When Edun is on song he is a fantastic player. He has tendency, and probably down to age of almost going casual similar to Tuesday night.

When Edun is aggressive, and energetic I think he’s up there with the best we have within the squad. However, I would like him to go to Portman Road and prove it on a bigger stage.

Plenty more twists and turns, but yesterday we did seem to have that greater injection pace we saw earlier in the year/season. Let’s hope as frustrating as the previous week was, that this week will be polar opposite and rewarding.
 
Just watched the game as I couldn't follow it live.

Crewe started brightly and tried putting us under pressure because they'd done their homework and seen how we start slowly.
We soaked up the pressure, re-applied it to them and once we scored you could see them become slower and more undecided. Almost as though they thought they would score first and when they didn't they looked a bit lost.

A great save on Morton by their keeper and one from Palmer equally as good.

Cracking performance from us all round, we just got better and better as the game progressed.
We have blistering pace and never looked tired. Strange how things change in a few days.

Credit to Crewe who tried to play without resorting to dirty tactics after going behind, making it an easy day for the ref.

Almost worth waiting a day to watch the game then catch up with the comments on here immediately after. It's a buzz but probably not when we lose.:LOL:
 
Was it Edun(?) who could have been in trouble for a high kick in the second half? We've seen players dismissed for that. But he was excellent yesterday overall. When it works he is a lovely passer - he 'caresses' the ball more than any player I can remember.

Interesting how McGrandles attacking game has improved so much in recent weeks. He's more of a goal threat from open play than Grant and has scored two fantastic (and very similar) goals in successive weeks.
 
There’s no doubt in my mind the key to where we finish this season is defensive. We’ll score goals and control games but we need to keep it at nil for longer than we’ve been able to recently. Hopefully yesterday is a glimpse of things to come.
 
A quick thought on Tuesday. I think we have questions to answer over our recent ability to turn up on the Sat / Tues turnaround. Going back to Accrington on Sunday I think we’ve only had the ‘extra day/night’ v Plymouth and yesterday and I think performances without that extra day have been lacklustre.

(I know Plymouth wasn’t a great result but it wasn’t a lacklustre performance).
 
Thought we looked a lot better yesterday. The shape was better. We were back to two ranks of four behind the ball and then breaking at pace, much more like the start of the season. There's sometimes been a hole in the midfield of late with teams able to advance through the middle with no opposition. That wasn't the case yesterday, which I think is because Tayo, McGrandles and Jones are midfielders, whereas I wouldn't say Johnson and Rogers are. Putting them on the wings gave us pace going forward as well, and Morton looked really sharp. How the Crewe keeper kept that half-volley out I don't know, but Morton looks like he'll score a few before the end of the season (as does McGrandles!). We looked a lot more energetic than we have of late as well.

I thought Crewe let us play; a lot of teams recently have pressed us and we've struggled with that. Let's hope Ipswich do as well.

I wonder if we've seen the last of TJ? He's good (though he's made a few mistakes of late), but he's not ours; Poole is, and it makes sense to get him into the system.
 
tinnionsrightfoot said:
I thought Crewe let us play; a lot of teams recently have pressed us and we've struggled with that. Let's hope Ipswich do as well.
Click to expand...
There's the rub - Crewe were naive, set up like a few teams we played in the early part of the season, with the same outcome. Any opposition manager doing his homework will see how we are less effective against sides who press, and set up accordingly.

Interestingly (or not) we didnt press the Crewe defence as we have others recently, but sat deeper with 11 behind the ball and back to less, but highly effective possession. Personnel, as Morton doesn't press and chase like Hopper, or deliberate? Either way, it worked!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.