Match Thread: Lincoln City v Wolves U21s | Page 15 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Lincoln City v Wolves U21s

Had hopes for Mensah, showed some signs in recent cameos but in the 90 minutes tonight very disappointing, summed up in a few minutes near the end - Akinde up for a ball in the centre with Mensah nearly stood on his toes; couple of minutes later, Gordon battling down a crowded right wing with Mensah again virtually getting in the way and not looking to move to create space for a pass or take a defender. The sort of conditioning these lads do in training, tiredness at towards the end of game really shouldn't be an excuse.

Crookes probably had the best game I've seen from him and had to adapt to a change of position, but that isn't saying much in truth.
 
Bound to strengthen in January, worry not.
Of the loanees agree on McCartan being the best, maybe a mention for Gordon scored Saturday and did well in the remainder of the game.
Rowe played for Ipswich at the weekend, wonder if we're still after him?
Someone who can take better corners and free kicks would be handy too.
Super Sam back for corners and free kicks maybe?
 
I had the fortune of being joined by a wonderdul former player tonight, of big KA's era, whom is also a great mate. We earmarked Chapman early doors as the player to pay attention to.

We both started to count the amount of forward passes he made. He made one through ball in the first half. Then a couple of interceptions in the second.
Trevor Brooking said on TMS in the summer, that you can tell who the young players are whom are ready to play in the full time professional game (Football and Premier Leagues) as they are the ones that are prepared to play the ball forward, looking for that magic pass or to start an attack. He went on to say that too many pass it square or back....He said that you need to get them to understand that they have to play it forward - wherever possible to develop their game.

My mate also wasn't impressed by Mensah, and described him as woeful. We were both full of praise for Wolves performance...And that second goal was the best goal I have seen at the Bank for many a year. It was a rocket.

Our B team needs more work....And I was impressed by Crookes and with a bit of game time...Gordon too.

But I do think Ellis needs a loan to Gainsborough or the like to get some experience. A bit like what they did with young Freck, when he first came through the ranks.
 
This would have been a very good midweek attendance for a league game a few years ago, what was it, 2700 or so. A few years ago this CTrade would have been below 1000. Just shows how far we've come.
 
I've only seen one start from Chapman (Vs Bury), and you're right he did play a lot of square balls. I suppose that's normal with young players until they get their confidence
 
Intersting points. Ellis needs National League or lower L2 loan to develop, Unibond (?) is barely Sunday league so I hope Gainsborough is catch-all for 'below top of L2'.

Not convinced by Crookes though he has improved on each appearance. On another thread I effectively binned Gordon by omission, but he's probably worth more time and not just for Saturday's tap-in (which could have followed the same trajectory as Mensah's penalty tonight). Fit, committed and enthusiastic, that makes him a Cowley player, decision making frequently suspect which is also something the management have form in working on.
 
The times I've seen Chapman play I have been impressed with his maturity for a 17 year old. Let's not forget he is playing alongside experienced midfielders and the essence of his initial development is keep it simple. If he was trying 'Hollywood' passes all the time he would be getting a rocket both on the pitch and from the coaching staff. It is sometimes difficult to assess whether a loan would develop him further than learning from our other midfielders in training and when called upon to play. Personally I think he will learn more and quicker training every day with the likes of O'Connor and Freck rather than carrying part time players in the Unibond or similar
 
And as a last thought concerning the group when have we ever failed to win a match yet qualified from a round robin group. If Stags beat Scunthorpe this will happen. Bizarre
 
The problem with Ellis Chapman, irrespective of age, is that his first move when he receives the ball is to turn back towards his own goal. That definitely needs to be coached out of him if he is going to get further than this level.

Unfortunately last night Pett (surprisingly) was doing that as well, which meant zero creativity from our midfield.
 
Long trip from deepest Wales for this.
Was it worth it?
1st half was entertaining to a point. Thought we attacked well, and did have 2 disallowed...not sure what was wrong with 1st disallowed, for Ellis's goal the ref had clearly flowed for HT before he shot.
2nd half we were frankly poor.

Mrs Slocombe certainly hasn't looked good enough in any of the games I've seen him in.
Mensah tried hard enough but to no effect.
Adam Crookes did better than before, but Scott Wharton again looked far short of his excellent form of last season.

Kellan Gordon though did really well I thought and with Harry seemingly struggling a bit at the moment, maybe Gordon could do right wing for a few games to give Harry a rest.
Ellis did ok first half then seemed very hesitant in 2nd half.

Matt Green took his chances really well and Rheady was immense throughout (and my MOTM). He was winning everything, and laying off passes brilliantly. And was fouled repeatedly especially the assault on him mid 2nd half, shockingly missed by ref & assistant, Rheady perfectly right to moan about it.

And yes ref was DREADFUL from start to finish, an appalling performance from Mr Kettle (plus he definitely made a gesture to some fans in the co-op who were rightly giving him their critique of his decision making)
 
And as a last thought concerning the group when have we ever failed to win a match yet qualified from a round robin group. If Stags beat Scunthorpe this will happen. Bizarre
also need to factor-in how much interest scunthorpe have in progressing...
 
I take the positive that hopefully we've seen that some of our reserve players are not up to 1st team standards. I had been wondering why with a number of injuries around we hadn't used Mensah more, but I got my answer last night at least. I think Crookes did as well as could be expected, Gordon shows flashes of inspiration but not consistent enough, least not as right back, Slocombe will make some saves but all round game doesn't look great, Chapman leaving aside his age I'm not seeing on the pitch what everyone else is, but I do take into account he's probably younger even than the Wolves players.
Bit puzzled on Watergate, think we're going over the top with the watering lark, given we seemed to be slipping over regularly, and a zippy surface surely suited Wolves more than the team we put out last night, didn't see many examples of sharp passing from us.
Wolves seemed to have some decent players, great finish for the 2nd goal, although don't think they were as good as they thought they were playing it around at the back. They lost a bit of threat when the tall guy switched to centre back, however he did play Rheady better than many older I'm sure. Wonder if any of them are up for a loan in January