Match Thread: Lincoln City v Oxford United | Page 27 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Lincoln City v Oxford United

Playing regularly for league leaders Ipswich. Getting plaudits too.

Might suggest it’s easier to be a centre half playing for table topping Ipswich this season, than Lincoln.

My guess is he doesn’t have a young lad and two five foot nothing midfielders patrolling in front of him, more like he’s sat in a deck chair peering at the other end to see if Norwood is going to score.
 
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Yes I'm baffled by that, did him and the Cowleys not get on? Is Bolger any better than him? Totally wasted by us imho
To answer what I’m sure was a rhetorical question, no, Bolger is not any better... but he is quite significantly worse. A slow, whinging carthorse with terrible distribution and no ability to put a tackle in. He should be embarrassed by what Mackie did to him for the third goal yesterday.
 
The saving grace this year for us is

Bury being removed from the league
Bolton being deducted points
Southend being worse then us.

So there are really only 1/2 relegation spots.

I can see us comfortably mid table this year.

The fishy cods can laugh all they like at our 6:0 yesterday but I am confident we will still be a division higher then them (and the stags) this time next year

mid table mediocrity/consolidation on the horizon....acceptable.
Dustbin parts of old process that need reworking.
Avoid being victims in the FA cup.
Get working on our injured lads and sort out those soft tissue injuries
Clear out in January where possible, payoff etc plus,major cull in Summer.
MA has his hands tied till January.....thanks DC, but slowly we will hopefully turn the corner.
None of the big names in this division are tearing up trees i.e. Sunderland and Pompey.(must check odds on Jackett getting sacked)
Try and turn plastics into hardcore fans of the future.(Oxford fans bigging up our fans on their forum)
Make or break for quite a few of our lads,especially those contracted only until May 2020,they had their chance to impress the new man yesterday and failed but will get another chance.........clean slate.
Still optimistic especially around the manager and he hasn`t yet complained about the absence of an oligarch,the pitch,the travelling,the size of the budget,...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

just wanted all those maps of Huddersfield removed from the manager`s office!
 
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To answer what I’m sure was a rhetorical question, no, Bolger is not any better... but he is quite significantly worse. A slow, whinging carthorse with terrible distribution and no ability to put a tackle in. He should be embarrassed by what Mackie did to him for the third goal yesterday.
Felt sorry for the defence at times, the game got stretched and with so much room and so little pressure on the ball from midfield, they were made to look poor players... which they are not. You can only do so much when they get into the area and you are basically not allowed to touch them or it will be a penalty.

Not sure your description is fair, he is the same player sat in the heart of our defence when we did not concede a goal in four games in August.
 
A massive part lacking from the players yesterday was the right mentality. Pride, focus, togetherness, aggression, desire all non existent. Where did that come from?
Okay, your leader leaves. So roll your sleeves up and take responsibility.
This poor attitude added to a bizarre summer transfer window, including an insistence on signing small ball playing midfielders and ignoring the qualities that got us here led to this result.
I've always been an advocate of Gilks. Should have been signed. O'Hara. Great attitude, ball winner and imposing. Should have been signed.
A Nother centre forward should 100% have been signed. So obvious it stinks.
A young, fast centre back should have been signed. Shackell and Bossie clearly will not last the season and pace is a problem in this area.
Like it or not Eardley is getting targeted by the opposition. He will need resting, for a younger, faster full back (Lewis).
Turning the clock back and thinking the budget is spent, I'd have moved Vickers on; not signed Connolly or Coker and controversially or Payne.
Something for MA to look at in January.

100% agree with every bit of that.

And I have just forced myself to watch Quest highlights.
What seemed most obvious was how the Oxford players were not closed down when in possession. Connolly for at least two of the goals was close by but just watching, no attempt at all to get a hard challenge in.
Sure O'Connor would have been bang on those players.
Andrade also failed to challenge on first goal.
That's all really down to a lack of urgency or so it seems to me.

And just because you have already conceded 2 goals or 3 goals, you don't give up fighting for every ball.
 
Felt sorry for the defence at times, the game got stretched and with so much room and so little pressure on the ball from midfield, they were made to look poor players... which the are not. You can only do so much when they get into the area and you are basically not allowed to touch them or it will be a penalty.

Not sure you description is fair, he is the same player sat in the heart of our defence when we did not concede a goal in four games in August.

midfield 4 yesterday....totally ineffective,therefore back 4 utterly exposed.

Winning turnover possession,second balls,getting close to make a tackle,showing desire and physical strength,marking men not space...............all absent yesterday in our midfield.

To illustrate that in just one point the Oxford right back Cadden made 5/6 very decent runs forward(1st half) and put in decent crosses,sometimes unchallenged.
Take a guess on who didn`t pick him up?
 
midfield 4 yesterday....totally ineffective,therefore back 4 utterly exposed.

Winning turnover possession,second balls,getting close to make a tackle,showing desire and physical strength,marking men not space...............all absent yesterday in our midfield.

To illustrate that in just one point the Oxford right back Cadden made 5/6 very decent runs forward(1st half) and put in decent crosses,sometimes unchallenged.
Take a guess on who didn`t pick him up?

Vickers definitely made no attempts to pick him up...
 
I was very concerned when I saw the half time subs though, we were being ripped to pieces through midfield and it seems the solution was to play 2 up top, making us weaker in midfield, and introduce a show pony who has the steel of a glass doll. Thanks for that input Jamie!
O’ Connor being overlooked , what can you say, totally bizarre and shambolic.
I agree, Jamie has made some strange decisions during his three-game tenure. Making statements like, 'there were three of us in that relationship, and I had my input' is all very well if you then back up those words with visible evidence of it. However, he has not shown that he has any real idea - the three performances have been very poor overall and his substitutions have been puzzling in terms of who and when.

But the main puzzle for me is leaving O'Connor out of the side. There is no way we can know what would have happened yesterday had he played, but I can't believe we would have lost 6-0 at home with O'Connor in there. McCombe has given him just 18 minutes in those three games - as a late substitute against Bristol Rovers after we were a goal down - and it almost looks as if he couldn't wait to leave O'Connor out of the side. He isn't injured, so that is very strange.

Unfortunately, Jamie has shown that he is not up to the job, and by a very long way. The problem he may now have is whether MA believes he is worth keeping at all after witnessing that shambles.
 
How many goals are we blaming Vickers for?

2nd he was partly culpable... not sure he could have done much with the others. The fifth looks bad but it dipped right over him.
 
That was an incredibly hard watch. I was very concerned when I saw the half time subs though, we were being ripped to pieces through midfield and it seems the solution was to play 2 up top, making us weaker in midfield, and introduce a show pony who has the steel of a glass doll. Thanks for that input Jamie

A post made with the benefit of hindsight??
Jamie was critisised last week for making like for like substitutions. You're 2-0 down at home so he has made a change to the system. It hasn't worked but he would have been ripped a new one if he kept it as it was and the full time result was still 2-0. The third goal just after the break was the killer to whatever was being tried second half
 
Interesting data from yesterday. Was a bit of a freak result, but you can't just ignore FIVE goals out of nothing!
Our own xG for the last two Saturdays at home has been awful.
 

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