Match Thread: Lincoln City v Bolton Wanderers

[johnolbe]

When ever Bolton have played us with Evatt in charge they have played 532 formation with 2 wingbacks high up the pitch. We have never coped well against them and have never learnt from previous games. They use only one of their midfield 3 as an anchor and the other 2 get forward so along with attacking wingbacks they often have 6 forward players looking to attack. As a result they get a lot of possession in their opponents half and keep the ball well. On top of that Evatt gets them motivated to the hilt and love him or hate him he is a very good man manager and coach. .
Every time we’ve played them( even with a full fit squad) we play as though we are intimidated by them and sit back and think we can get a result with 30% possession and virtually no shots at goal. We either get pummelled or scrape a dogged lucky draw.
Yesterdays performance and how the game panned out could have been predicted before kickoff and in some ways I nearly wished we had got dicked a good 5-0 thrashing and then the powers that be would have woken up and realised this back foot, boring defensive sh*te deserves to be binned and if it’s the only way for us to survive at this level then we find our level but by trying to play decent acceptable watchable football and by trying to win.
Plenty of excuses for Skubala to use but a change of mindset and approach isn’t radical and doesn’t need hours of coaching, it’s called man management and the ability to inspire and motivate. Going back to Rougham as preference to Duffy as wingback tells me where we are at the moment with the lack of imagination and inspiration.
Not sure many of our supporters will be prepared to continue watching this same dull game management without some little signs MS isn’t just MK in disguise. That said I will be at Blackpool and hoping for a smash and grab 1-0 win with 28% possession and they miss tons of chances, it occasionally happens for all poor teams.

 

[Chimpimp]

When ever Bolton have played us with Evatt in charge they have played 532 formation with 2 wingbacks high up the pitch. We have never coped well against them and have never learnt from previous games. They use only one of their midfield 3 as an anchor and the other 2 get forward so along with attacking wingbacks they often have 6 forward players looking to attack. As a result they get a lot of possession in their opponents half and keep the ball well. On top of that Evatt gets them motivated to the hilt and love him or hate him he is a very good man manager and coach. .
Every time we’ve played them( even with a full fit squad) we play as though we are intimidated by them and sit back and think we can get a result with 30% possession and virtually no shots at goal. We either get pummelled or scrape a dogged lucky draw.
Yesterdays performance and how the game panned out could have been predicted before kickoff and in some ways I nearly wished we had got dicked a good 5-0 thrashing and then the powers that be would have woken up and realised this back foot, boring defensive sh*te deserves to be binned and if it’s the only way for us to survive at this level then we find our level but by trying to play decent acceptable watchable football and by trying to win.
Plenty of excuses for Skubala to use but a change of mindset and approach isn’t radical and doesn’t need hours of coaching, it’s called man management and the ability to inspire and motivate. Going back to Rougham as preference to Duffy as wingback tells me where we are at the moment with the lack of imagination and inspiration.
Not sure many of our supporters will be prepared to continue watching this same dull game management without some little signs MS isn’t just MK in disguise. That said I will be at Blackpool and hoping for a smash and grab 1-0 win with 28% possession and they miss tons of chances, it occasionally happens for all teams.

Serious question.

Why do you think Tom Shaw and Michael Skubala come to the same solution as Mark Kennedy, as to the mostly likely way to get a result against Bolton, with the players we have?

In my view, the overall mindset has changed...but I think if we had tried to play the way you want yesterday ...we would have got the 5-0 dicking, you think would do us some good.

Looking at the match - Bolton just had most of the better players on the pitch yesterday. You said as much in a post yesterday, when criticising "the model".

If you have the better players, then playing an aggressive, open game makes perfect sense.

That's what I think we tried to do at Cambridge and Orient, when there was a chance we would succeeds in a more open game.

I think Skubala does want to do most of the things you are calling for and in time will...

...but you have to have a decent chance of it succeeding.

Especially with Makama (who you thought has been hung out to dry) and Vale (who you think looks like a little boy being bullied) do you really think an attacking slug fest against the likes of Derby and Bolton would go well?

I would genuinely be interested to how you see it.

I think the mindset is different. I don't think Skubala wants this style to be his template....

...but he's not daft enough to set us up to get whipped...just to show he really does aim for something different, as soon as he sensibly can.

 

[johnolbe]

Serious question.

Why do you think Tom Shaw and Michael Skubala come to the same solution as Mark Kennedy, as to the mostly likely way to get a result against Bolton, with the players we have?

In my view, the overall mindset has changed...but I think if we had tried to play the way you want yesterday ...we would have got the 5-0 dicking, you think would do us some good.

Looking at the match - Bolton just had most of the better players on the pitch yesterday. You said as much in a post yesterday, when criticising "the model".

If you have the better players, then playing an aggressive, open game makes perfect sense.

That's what I think we tried to do at Cambridge and Orient, when there was a chance we would succeeds in a more open game.

I think Skubala does want to do most of the things you are calling for and in time will...

...but you have to have a decent chance of it succeeding.

Especially with Makama (who you thought has been hung out to dry) and Vale (who you think looks like a little boy being bullied) do you really think an attacking slug fest against the likes of Derby and Bolton would go well?

I would genuinely be interested to how you see it.

I think the mindset is different. I don't think Skubala wants this style to be his template....

...but he's not daft enough to set us up to get whipped...just to show he really does aim for something different, as soon as he sensibly can.

Bristol Rovers beat them at the Reebok and had around 12 attempts at goal, of all our previous attempts to draw 0-0 none have resulted in wins.
Leyton Orient were 3-0 down at Bolton after 10 minutes, they decided to have a go at them and had 16 shots at goal. Got it to 3-2 and Bolton were hanging on in the end. Imagine how proud their fans would be and better than laying down waiting for the obvious. Are you telling me Orient have a better squad than us so they were better equipped and they right to have a go instead of waiting to be beaten by more than 3-0. Orient have a worse injury crisis than us

 

[Chimpimp]

Bristol Rovers beat them at the Reebok and had around 12 attempts at goal, of all our previous attempts to draw 0-0 none have resulted in wins.

Yes but they do have Jevani Brown, Chris Martin and John Marquis available.Which of Vale and Makama do you think they are looking to sign?

I see they also beat Portsmouth with 37% possession yesterday

I think Bristol Rovers are the big under achievers so far this season.

 

[Red Wimp]

I suppose it was a good job we had the extra 2 days rest & prep time.

 

[bristolimp]

Bristol Rovers beat them at the Reebok and had around 12 attempts at goal, of all our previous attempts to draw 0-0 none have resulted in wins.
Leyton Orient were 3-0 down at Bolton after 10 minutes, they decided to have a go at them and had 16 shots at goal. Got it to 3-2 and Bolton were hanging on in the end. Imagine how proud their fans would be and better than laying down waiting for the obvious. Are you telling me Orient have a better squad than us so they were better equipped and they right to have a go instead of waiting to be beaten by more than 3-0. Orient have a worse injury crisis than us

Problem we do not have the players to have a go they are all injured or our on loan. One of few remaining attackers then got himself sent off. We are buggered until we sort it out

 

[bristolimp]

Yes but they do have Jevani Brown, Chris Martin and John Marquis available.Which of Vale and Makama do you think they are looking to sign?

I see they also beat Portsmouth with 37% possession yesterday

I think Bristol Rovers are the big under achievers so far this season.

Yes I agree they are very well backed should be top 6 with their resource

 

[mikeosullivan]

Roll on Wycombe when we can have Draper and Moylan up front.

Then we will see what the Skoobs style is.

 

[Bucksimp]

Problem we do not have the players to have a go they are all injured or our on loan. One of few remaining attackers then got himself sent off. We are buggered until we sort it out

Yeah, and he's only our top scorer.
What are we going to do now?

 

[plumbob]

Yeah, and he's only our top scorer.
What are we going to do now?

Maybe we will sit in and try to grind out a point?
Maybe we will keep 11 on the field (O'connor please keep your gob buttoned shut when around the ref!) and have a better chance of doing so!
Most won't agree, but I'd start Adelakun up top. At least he is an experienced forward. Perhaps he will show what he did when he got his chance a while back. It's an opportunity for him in the shop window. For sure, he can't be less effective than the other available options. His long throw is also our only attacking weapon!!!

 

[bristolimp]

Yeah, and he's only our top scorer.
What are we going to do now?

I think we rely on the goodwill of the shareholders and the ability of the club to dip into the market.

Even if we get Draper back we will need others because he could get injured if over worked.

 

[clanfordimp]

Serious question.

Why do you think Tom Shaw and Michael Skubala come to the same solution as Mark Kennedy, as to the mostly likely way to get a result against Bolton, with the players we have?

In my view, the overall mindset has changed...but I think if we had tried to play the way you want yesterday ...we would have got the 5-0 dicking, you think would do us some good.

Looking at the match - Bolton just had most of the better players on the pitch yesterday. You said as much in a post yesterday, when criticising "the model".

If you have the better players, then playing an aggressive, open game makes perfect sense.

That's what I think we tried to do at Cambridge and Orient, when there was a chance we would succeeds in a more open game.

I think Skubala does want to do most of the things you are calling for and in time will...

...but you have to have a decent chance of it succeeding.

Especially with Makama (who you thought has been hung out to dry) and Vale (who you think looks like a little boy being bullied) do you really think an attacking slug fest against the likes of Derby and Bolton would go well?

I would genuinely be interested to how you see it.

I think the mindset is different. I don't think Skubala wants this style to be his template....

...but he's not daft enough to set us up to get whipped...just to show he really does aim for something different, as soon as he sensibly can.

But we sacked a manager who's conclusion would of been we cant beat Bolton so we'll try and not lose to them and now you say that we have got a manager who thought we cant beat Bolton so lets try and not lose to them. Spot the difference. Do you think at the interview process that the board said to Scubala that we are going to give you the job and its OK for you to just to carry on exactly the same way as the old manager did.

Absolutely no way did they say that.

Scubala would of laid his full vision out in front of them and would of told them exactly what he was going to do and he knew the players he had available to him.

We have heard Scubala say what his preferred formation is, he should of implemented that on day one even with what is available to him now and at least he would of had an excuse (if he needed one) as to why results will take time to come.

To come in and just pick the same team, play the same tactics, have the same outcome from corners and throw ins and play the same non attacking back foot let's not lose football as the previous manager is just asking for the same outcome as him....and it will still drive fans away.

I don't understand why he would do it because January is never the best time to be signing players unless we are planning to take a few inexperienced 20 year olds from the tippy tappy Premier League 2 who are going to come in and potentially turn us into some sort of all out attacking force.

Yes Scubala came into a difficult situation but he applied for the job and he got it so now he has to start taking responsibility for that.

I'm already absolutely sick to death of people making excuses up for a person who would of looked at the situation of the club from the outside then applied for the job knowing what it entails then have people pussyfooting around him making excuses up because the team is still performing exactly as it was when the last manager was in charge

It's his friggin job to come in and change that, his responsality, that's what he took on when he got the job and that's what he gets paid for.

Yes I accept he needed settling in time as far as what he was doing before to what he is now, but he has got a huge couple of months in front of him now which will give us a clear indication of whether he is up to the job or not.

 

[TrickyImps!]

Derby (a) and Bolton (h) was always going to be a tough festive period.

I don’t think many are particularly annoyed with the results - two losses were always going to be the likely outcome.

I’m not sure what some people expected. Skubala doesn’t have a magic wand and can’t just tear up the whole squad and playing style when we have so many games in a short period of time.

Skubala said in his pre-match interview that since he’s arrived he’s only had three sessions that he could call ‘his’. The rest were recovery and preparing for the opposition.

For me, the big game coming up is Wycombe on January 13th. We don’t have a game before that after NYD, and that’s a lot of time on the training pitch to start implementing his ideas.

I’m not angry about the last two games, but I will be if we perform in the same way against Northampton. They’re tricky to play against, as we witnessed earlier in the season, but it’s a game you have to pencil in as one where you should be getting 3 points.

Skubala doesn’t help himself by playing Makama. He needs taking out the firing line completely. I appreciate the alternative is Vale, who hasn’t done anything worth of note, but at least he hassles and harries.

It looks likely that Draper is being recalled. I’m happy with that to an extent, but we could have Haaland up front and it wouldn’t make a difference. Until we start to actually create chances, I’m not sure the debate around who the striker should be is even relevant.

It’s fine. We lost two games that I thought we would. But he does really need an impressive display on Friday, or it could get quite sour I think.

 

[johnolbe]

Yes but they do have Jevani Brown, Chris Martin and John Marquis available.Which of Vale and Makama do you think they are looking to sign?

I see they also beat Portsmouth with 37% possession yesterday

I think Bristol Rovers are the big under achievers so far this season.

Jeovani Brown has scored one goal all season and didn’t get off the bench v Bolton. Martin came on with 5 minutes to go and they still had more attempts and more corners than Bolton. Santos was sent off for Bolton for a professional foul stopping another Bristol attack. Let’s face it Santos had his slippers on smoking a pipe yesterday. It’s not always about the personel though, it’s about mindset and intent to go forward instead of backwards all the time.
To answer your previous question
Firstly the recruitment in the summer was shockingly bad to cover forward areas. I am pretty sure House had his injury last season and we thought a summers rest might cure it and we had no like for like replacement lined up. Walker was crocked and Hacket is not a central striker.
So with no House we continue to play the same bland formation without him and think Vale/ Makama can do his job, they simply can’t.
None of the 3 coaches have tried a different formation than 523 which is really 541 to anyone who has seen us. Despite Leicester‘s heroics most games are won by the team who has most possession and creates most chances and those games are won by having a strong midfield so we should have tried 4231 or 352 with wingbacks as wide midfielders than fullbacks. Makama plus a partner up top would be better than him or Vale on their own.
Bolton played more a 3142 yesterday and dominated by having strength and numbers in the middle third and not 5 at the back with 3 marking no one.
The Cowleys have somehow got tarred with having no tactical nous or a plan A but I cant remember Ipswich and Brighton dominating us when they were 3 divisions higher than us. We played on the front foot and didn’t sit back and played a 4411 with wingers tucking in when required.
Our 3 coaches are all the new breed of smart arse coaches who think they can re invent the wheel and can organise a defensive set up to counter the oppositions strengths but they forget our strengths and don’t have the nous to invent new set pieces or game plans. Where is Nicky Cowley‘s new corner routine coming from, every team now uses his love train routine. It wouldn’t matter yesterday because we didn’t have a single corner while they had 14. Can you imagine that happening under DC, we even forced corners away at Burnley for goodness sake, we didn’t just accept they had better players on bigger wages so we couldn’t possibly challenge them.

 

[nrimp]

When ever Bolton have played us with Evatt in charge they have played 532 formation with 2 wingbacks high up the pitch. We have never coped well against them and have never learnt from previous games. They use only one of their midfield 3 as an anchor and the other 2 get forward so along with attacking wingbacks they often have 6 forward players looking to attack. As a result they get a lot of possession in their opponents half and keep the ball well. On top of that Evatt gets them motivated to the hilt and love him or hate him he is a very good man manager and coach. .
Every time we’ve played them( even with a full fit squad) we play as though we are intimidated by them and sit back and think we can get a result with 30% possession and virtually no shots at goal. We either get pummelled or scrape a dogged lucky draw.
Yesterdays performance and how the game panned out could have been predicted before kickoff and in some ways I nearly wished we had got dicked a good 5-0 thrashing and then the powers that be would have woken up and realised this back foot, boring defensive sh*te deserves to be binned and if it’s the only way for us to survive at this level then we find our level but by trying to play decent acceptable watchable football and by trying to win.
Plenty of excuses for Skubala to use but a change of mindset and approach isn’t radical and doesn’t need hours of coaching, it’s called man management and the ability to inspire and motivate. Going back to Rougham as preference to Duffy as wingback tells me where we are at the moment with the lack of imagination and inspiration.
Not sure many of our supporters will be prepared to continue watching this same dull game management without some little signs MS isn’t just MK in disguise. That said I will be at Blackpool and hoping for a smash and grab 1-0 win with 28% possession and they miss tons of chances, it occasionally happens for all poor teams.

And yet it took them 89 minutes to score

 

[johnolbe]

And yet it took them 89 minutes to score

So do you see that as a success then.

 

[clanfordimp]

And yet it took them 89 minutes to score

But to be fair the idea is not to worry about them scoring but be able to mount attacks and score ourselves that is how you try to win football matches.

They could of scored in the first or the last minute and it would of made not one jot of difference to our tally. We had one tame effort on target and one good effort off target in 90 odd minutes and apart from that hardly made an appearance in their box.

That is not how to win friends and influence people as far as the crowd go.

 

[Ruskingtony]

We definitely need to give Skubala time but this January window is yet again another very important one for us. If we can get it right then Skubala will then have no excuses about not being able to change our playing style.
I have faith in the Boards choice of Skubala but I have to admit if I had been in a coma whilst MK was Manager and had only woken up before yesterday's match I wouldn't have realised he had been sacked.
What worries me is that that 10000 gate could be are last one over 7500 this season if Skubala doesn't start to change things soon.

 

[Dale1981]

“We are totally bereft of anyone who looks likely to score or even test the opposition defence”.
Exactly! We know this already! Most of our attacking line is injured!
What we should be doing is supporting the players through this period, not slating a team with a lone 19 year old striker and zero other options!

 

[Imp2stone]

We definitely need to give Skubala time but this January window is yet again another very important one for us. If we can get it right then Skubala will then have no excuses about not being able to change our playing style.
I have faith in the Boards choice of Skubala but I have to admit if I had been in a coma whilst MK was Manager and had only woken up before yesterday's match I wouldn't have realised he had been sacked.
What worries me is that that 10000 gate could be are last one over 7500 this season if Skubala doesn't start to change things soon.

Things will only change when better players are available to play in the attacking third.