Lincoln City 1-2 Blackpool: What 3 Things Did We Learn? | Vital Football

Lincoln City 1-2 Blackpool: What 3 Things Did We Learn?

Think everyone’s taking a bit of time off to refresh!!

From my viewpoint, we learnt that allowing high press teams to dominate causes mistakes and unsettles us. Against Blackpool our quick short passing game was nullified resorting to a longer ball for Rogers, Johnson etc. to chase and invariably losing possession back to Blackpool.
The importance of Hopper cannot be ignored. We really do need a Hopperesk back up for him. Morton was never the solution.
Finally, with new blood coming in, we need to build the side around a team that has Scully as the main man. He was isolated against Sunderland and was unable to have any bearing on that first half. His introduction against Blackpool was too late for him to make any impact. Need to be able to play through him rather than isolate him.

No doubt that’s a load of rubbish but then what do I know 🤣🤣
 
1) Never, ever go further than your local corner shop on a bank holiday. UK traffic is horrendous at the best of times but our creaking road infrastructure and absurdly expensive public transport network simply cannot cope with anything other than light traffic.

If I ever do Wembley again, it won't be in a car and the cost of rail tickets will probably mean I won't be able to afford it anyway.

2) As I feared, Blackpool were the team we didn't want to face in the play-offs. On our day, I was confident that we could beat Sunderland (we did) and Oxford, but Blackpool were a different proposition. And so it proved...

3) We were out-thought and out-played. No badly so, but Blackpool had a game-plan to neutralise our attacking threat and - by-and-large - executed it well. They sat deep and pressed our midfield and wide-players relentlessly, closing down passing options and refusing to be drawn out.

I don't think we had an answer to that and ended up passing the ball around the back-four before either losing it in central mid-field, or playing ineffectual channel balls. Having said that, we still were one good finish away from extra time so, again, we were not completely out-played by any means.
 
Just because you have lost the last six play off campaigns doesn’t mean you’ll win the seventh. Similarly, if you’ve won five finals you won’t necessarily lose the next one.

We need to learn to adapt more. We’ve looked good this season against teams who have come at us and been able to counter attack. At 1-0 on Sunday, after a Lincoln flurry in the first ten minutes Blackpool stayed patient and let us fall into their trap. Eventually (as Appleton alluded to), too much lateral passing resulted in an error and only their second real chance of the game put them level, lifted their fans, and turned the game on its head. More teams are playing a patient pressing game without the ball, and we will come up against similar tactics more often next season. Needs to be a better Plan B with a greater tempo Oh, and we need to take some of those half chances like Blackpool did.

Every football fan should experience their team at Wembley, but it is overpriced, difficult to get to, and a fairly soulless experience when not half full. Let’s hope come August we are back to full grounds around the country with fans grateful for what they missed; and go back to Wembley one day in better circumstances with 20,000-30,000 fans behind us.
 
I thought we were out-coached on the day. A huge gap between our back four and our forwards on a big pitch, that Bridcutt and McGrandles just couldn't cover.

At half time I expected MA to tell the back line to defend ten yards higher up the field to compress the midfield, but instead we carried on just the same - and made the midfield even harder for Bridcutt and McGrandles to cover by playing Grant wide left.

Blackpool however knew exactly how to set up against us, and got more confident as the game went on when it became clear we were not going to change systems.
 
1. One thing that stood out for me was the disjointed structure of the midfield. For so long this season they’ve been completely together and playing off each other. Against Blackpool they seemed to be doing their own thing instead of working together. How much of that was down to them and how much was due to Blackpool just playing tactically better I don’t know.
2. There seems to have been criticism that too many square and backward balls were played during the game. My answer to that is Montsma. How often do you see him bring the ball out and play an imaginative forward pass to try and get something moving? I hope he is the regular right-sided CB next season as I think he deserves to be. One of the most skilful players in the squad and now has a season’s experience defensively of the English game.
3. Johnson is going to be a huge miss - he frightens defenders to death with his pace, quick feet and direct running at them. MA & JG have to find someone similar, but we also have to find a better way of maximising Hopper & Scully with whoever that is.
4. Finally, thank you to everyone at the club for giving us a truly brilliant season and coming so close to getting into the second tier 👏👏
 
1. To win a final is all about small margins and taking those chances or half chances. After a great start and getting their left back booked it was difficult to understand why we didn't continue to drive at him. Shots/headers on target win games and we had precious few worthy attempts on goal.
2. We are a team that counters well, and attacks together and defends together. The stifling and harrying of our midfield not only lead to their first goal, but also stopped much of our incisive passing and effective forward play.
3. On a hot sunny day, the Blackpool fans grouped together in the "home end" had an advantage. Those of us near the 617 had the benefit of being relatively cool, were able to stand throughout the game and only wear a mask if they wanted to. Being close, but not too close, to the 617 therefore provided a more comfortable and better atmosphere.
4. When travelling to Wembley leave early if you can. Trains are generally unaffordable. Three of us left Heighington by car shortly after 10.00 am and were outside the stadium just after 1.00pm having parked on someone's drive (£11.00) within a ten minute walk. Came A1 all the way to Apex Corner in spite of the SatNav's alternative suggestions.

Still, it has been a great season. If we may the playoffs next season will be happy and will still go to Wembley if the chance is there.
 
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