Goals are slow

S

sheffield_imp

Vital Newbie
I have to admit I have not been able to get to any of the friendlies so this is not a criticism of any sort. But if the posters who have attended the games could say whether they are concerned by our lack of goals or is it just the quality of the opposition we have been up against.
 
I haven't been to any games either, but there are probably some good reasons: three Championship sides (four if you count the strange game at Hull); blooding new players; fielding a high number of trialists; and I presume the playing style is in transition, given the small amount of game time Rhead has been given.
 
Didn't create much,Waterfall was very unlucky not to score but generally we a little bit of creativity, flair and sharpness today against a very decent Blackburn side.
 
Scotimp said:
I haven't been to any games either, but there are probably some good reasons: three Championship sides (four if you count the strange game at Hull); blooding new players; fielding a high number of trialists; and I presume the playing style is in transition, given the small amount of game time Rhead has been given.
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Very similar at times ball in to both Akinde and Rhead was aimed to be flicked on but rarely found the runner. Akinde held it up more and had a couple of chances.
Lot of work to be done on that but it could have the quality of opposition dunno?
 
We have to remember the sides we have been playing are Championship sides- today's game was less open and tougher than the game against Wednesday last week.

We continued with a 4-4-2 formation which, against this level of opposition was sometimes closer to 8-0-2 than 4-4-2. Big gaps in front of our midfield when they dropped to our 18 yard line and second ball picked up by Rovers.

The games against Scunny and Boston will be a better test of how our team is starting to gel together. We have quality in depth but they need to work together and remain uncertain if 4-4-2 is our best formation.
 
I'm not unduly concerned over the lack of goals as pre-season is about fitness and team gelling. I think that we will benefit from playing a higher quality of opposition rather than putting 22 past some Austrian goatherders
 
DC said we will learn from playing quality teams, however I am not sure we can learn that much from getting stuffed on a regular basis. Yes I know it was only 1-0 yesterday and against SW but Blackburn should have scored 4 or 5. The Wednesday game did had a much more even feel and good performance.
 
I would have thought playing quality teams makes the weaknesses far more obvious, and allows you to address them.
 
If you play better teams, the games against teams at a lower level should feel like a walk in the park. Let’s see how the Boston game goes.
 
A little disappointed by Akinde's contribution yesterday but tbf he didn't get much service and it's impossible to judge on 1 pre season friendly. Showed touches of the potential he has but to me didn't look up to the usual Cowley fitness levels just yet. No doubt big strides will be made in the next two weeks and I have a feeling his goals will push us to promotion this season so at this stage the lack of goals doesn't concern me.
 
Luke Imp said:
Seems to have been a weird pre-season because we usually start with 'easier' games then the Boston type of ones.
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It is very interesting to look at how other clubs have structured their pre-season programmes.

For what it's worth, I am not sure Lincoln got theirs right. I can see the logic behind playing Championship sides, but that logic becomes compromised when you then field seven trialists in the game. Secondly, it makes it very hard to assess those trialists fairly - they are not going to be playing against Championship sides every week, far from it. Thirdly, most clubs will build up to the bigger matches, not start off with them.

Bury have done the same thing, and conceded 13 in 3 games. Yeovil started with three games against League opposition followed by three against non-league sides. At the opposite extreme, Cambridge have chosen to play ten games, nine of which are against lower-level non-league teams. Crawley have just three official games, two of which are being played at East Grinstead, and the other being against a Belgian team I have never heard of. Crewe play seven non-league teams followed by one League One team. Morecambe have only four games, the first three against minor non-league teams and the last one against Fleetwood. Newport and Northampton have no games at all against Football League opposition.

Each to his own, but I can't help thinking some teams are not preparing properly.
 
All a bit skewed by the fact the game at Ashby avenue got called off due to their pitch being rock hard, scored four their last season wasn't it?
Think the final two friendlies will give a truer picture of our goalscoring prowess.
 
Davidimp said:
All a bit skewed by the fact the game at Ashby avenue got called off due to their pitch being rock hard, scored four their last season wasn't it?
Think the final two friendlies will give a truer picture of our goalscoring prowess.
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we need some practise at how to create chances and put the ball in the back of the net. It was an issue at times last season.
 
Scotimp said:
For what it's worth, I am not sure Lincoln got theirs right. I can see the logic behind playing Championship sides, but that logic becomes compromised when you then field seven trialists in the game. Secondly, it makes it very hard to assess those trialists fairly - they are not going to be playing against Championship sides every week, far from it. Thirdly, most clubs will build up to the bigger matches, not start off with them.
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You're right, but given you can't really play friendlies against League Two opposition, and National League teams won't really give you an idea of standards, the only way to test trialists properly is against higher league clubs. That perhaps means we should have been looking at League One opponents for the friendlies, but who would turn down games against Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday?

DC may also be of the mind that we won't be in L2 for much longer and trialists looking for deals need to show they can hack it against a significantly higher standard.
 
Didn't appear to be a great deal of difference between Akinde and Rheady's contribution but we were soundly beaten in midfield so service to them was limited. Defence had a good workout though and yes, we rode our luck but against a team two divisions higher, I thought we looked OK. Not sure if Blackburn were playing trialists too?
 
Bearing in mind we haven't yet had our full midfield playing together I'm not over concerned. More concerned we haven't yet had our full midfield playing together (though I'm sure that will change this week). One other factor is the goodwill DC is building with higher level clubs which will possibly enable higher level loanees to come from them?
 
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