Match Thread: Lincoln City v Gillingham | Page 17 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Lincoln City v Gillingham

Normally I'll write a few paragraphs on my views of the game.

Usually I'll always find something positive in any game (Cambridge at home first half was very high quality just missing that final touch to score for example).

Positives from today? The Steak pie at half time was hot, sweet and rather nice.

Negatives? We were very poor today. I was at Oxford away and the first 45 mins there had been the bottom of the pot so far this season for me. Today's game has replaced Oxford 1st half away.

Playing 4-4-2 isn't our usual formation but we looked all at sea. Lost. The synergy I usually see particularly with Bramall (and BNC recently) down the wings was hardly present. Scully looked a shadow of his usual busy self. The team seemed almost unbalanced today or out of balance- whether it was formation change or players playing a different role...who knows. But today wasn't pretty and wasn't what we needed.

I'll put it down to a one off really bad day but the next few games are going to be tough particularly if we perform as we have done today
 
Just got back home after going back to my parents for a couple of hours post match.

That was unacceptable today. Honestly can't think of one redeeming feature at all.
 
I don't like the formation we have been playing recently. Not sure if its meant to be a 4-2-4, a 4-2-1-3, a 4-2-3-1or a 4-2-1-2-1. I can understand trying to get experienced players on the pitch but there needs to be a game plan. If you have plenty of possession and you've got Marquis and Hopper on the pitch together then you have to get the ball in to the box as often and as quickly as you can. Moving the ball left to right, right to left, left to right, right to left till somebody runs into an opponent or mishits a pass is pretty woeful.

I still think the best football we have played under MA is a 4-3-3 with a fluid midfield. I like Maguire and he is the sort of character you want but when he is dropping into that No10 position behind two target men we are so compressed, static and predictable.
I can see us continuing to struggle trying to adapt with the formation and players selected today. Hopper and Marquis together could work but it would need a different approach that i cant see a team short of confidence being able to do successfully. Of course we may well struggle with the 4-3-3 again but i hope we give it a shot.
McGrandles is the best defensive midfielder we have but Sanders/Sorensen can do that. I would like Bishop and McGrandles as the heart and fulcrum of the team.
Then either Whittaker or Maguire & either Scully or Cullen & either Hopper or Marquis
 
Looking for positives? Not easy but we did improve after half time but big concern is that when the goal didn’t come heads went down again and yet again we gave away a soft goal. Defeat was inevitable from that point. This isn’t so much a footballing problem, it’s a mental weakness one.
 
We are all silly

it’s not about winning football matches anymore
It’s about the project or method
It’s about playing the same way and expecting different results
It’s about loaning in players developing them and giving them back to their parent clubs

it’s not about winning games of football

it used to be a results business.

the emperor might be naked
 
Lots of comments regarding leadership on the pitch, or lack thereof.

In that department, the team will always represent and replicate the manager. So if he’s not showing any leadership, can we be surprised that the players aren’t either?

Appleton has mentioned a few times that he’s thought about getting angry with them but he’s resisted. Unfortunately, we are now in a situation where the players need a massive kick up the arse.

And if Appleton feels uncomfortable to give them it, I’m sure he can let some of us on here know. I will happily tell the players what I think of their recent performances.

The worst thing for me is that I genuinely have no idea what we were trying to do yesterday. Route one? Wing play? Switch the play to open them up? Not a clue.

Maguire and Scully both had the ball in the first half and you could tell they weren’t overly sure what to do.
 
TrickyImps! said:
Lots of comments regarding leadership on the pitch, or lack thereof.

In that department, the team will always represent and replicate the manager. So if he’s not showing any leadership, can we be surprised that the players aren’t either?

Appleton has mentioned a few times that he’s thought about getting angry with them but he’s resisted. Unfortunately, we are now in a situation where the players need a massive kick up the arse.

And if Appleton feels uncomfortable to give them it, I’m sure he can let some of us on here know. I will happily tell the players what I think of their recent performances.

The worst thing for me is that I genuinely have no idea what we were trying to do yesterday. Route one? Wing play? Switch the play to open them up? Not a clue.

Maguire and Scully both had the ball in the first half and you could tell they weren’t overly sure what to do.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree, the lack of leadership is apparant and has been for a while. As for yesterday's tactics I am equally bemused. The lack.of midfield was obvious (McGrandles is a great player however Maguire and Bishop, to be polite, are not) and as a result there was no real flow to the play.
 
The morning after the afternoon before….

What to say after we’ve just put in a super limp effort against a side that shipped 7 at home only a few weeks ago?

Of course we are in a relegation dogfight and there are so many similar poor performances especially at home. Cambridge, Doncaster and Gillingham all very similar.

It’s only a short while since excellent wins at Sunderland, Plymouth and at home to Oxford.

So which is the real Lincoln City? Totally Jeckyl and Hide performances and impossible to rationalise.

Our mood is naturally low and I am no different.

At the moment it feels a bit like the season when we got relegated to the Conference first time when we simply couldn’t find a result when we needed one in the last 1/3 of the season.

A lot of criticism and some considerable loss of confidence that MA has the answers to pull us out of this tail spin. I think that’s justified on a forum when fans are naturally airing their worries

We have an excellent Chairman and I feel very confident we will reach our potential as a club (whatever that may be) under his leadership.

These points though puzzle me.

We spent an awful lot of money on a new pitch to be laid to suit our passing game. That’s a huge investment and trust placed in the coaching staff that this investment would enhance our performances. Clearly, the return on that investment has been poor. As of this morning we have the WORST points per match return in our league in home matches. In any other business the management board would ask serious questions about the return on investment.

We were touted as chasing a young Scottish full back who had just scored against Rangers in the SPL. Surely out of our price range? But we did fight off stiff competition for his signature from clubs with bigger budgets and paid a substantial fee which was almost certainly a club record. Then…..he hardly gets a game. Was this another bad investment?

We constantly hear about the super budgets of other teams in our league, so we must spend our money wisely.

Whittaker looked incredible when he pulled on the shirt for us. He now looks lost. Why? What has happened in only a few weeks? But he’s not the only one looking disinterested or lacking the minerals for a scrap right now. Why? Is it that the group is not as cohesive and together as we would like and expect? I don’t now and I can’t explain. Logically it may suggest parts of the dressing room are not ‘on message’ and only the manager can sort that out, difficult though if he’s ‘lost’ one or two.

How many times have we conceded goals from a simple cross delivered to the area in the central penalty area around the edge of the 6 yard box? A number of very similar goals.

I don’t have the answers and I’m simply sharing my frustrations.

The most amazing current mystery though is how the support has held up, especially at home where we have been poor (the stats don’t lie) and on a few occasions dire. Add in Bowers and Pitsea and Hartlepool in the cup to the league form and we’ve had a number of wretched efforts at home.

The support has been fantastic in numbers but it’s hard to shout with a huge lump in your throat isn’t it?

Over the years I’ve seen the support plummet when we hit a lean spell but right now it’s consistently excellent and not deserving of the home performances especially.

So, where do we go from here? Well let’s start with a full stadium next Saturday. If we can’t get up for this match against SW then we are in big trouble. We need to see fight and resolve and we may just get a result that kick fires our move away from the relegation trap door. Another poor defeat and we really will be in for an anxious end of season.

Let’s see some fight and togetherness now and scrap for our L1 status, which is entirely within our own hands to achieve.

UTI!
 
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