Match Thread: Milton Keynes v Lincoln City | Page 22 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Milton Keynes v Lincoln City

Just got back. Frustrating game but I wouldn't go hard in on the players. Yes both the goals were sloppy, yes the second was offside but we'll benefit from something like that this season as well. If we'd have defended it properly it wouldn't have gone in at all. After that though it was excellent and they defended excellently. If we perform like that each week we should be in and about it (first twenty minutes defending aside!)

Nice ground to go to but way too big for a league one team and their support. Bit soulless.

Pleased I got to watch the game as the lino on our side clearly wasn't.
 
cdhIMP said:
Exactly that. We can’t win them all but there wasn’t a plan b
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Strange comment. Plan Bs are for when an approach stops working... tonight we controlled the entire second half, carving out chance after chance. We didnt score but we looked like we could throughout the half... sometimes it goes like that. Losing a game like that and saying it's because we don't have a plan B sounds just like a cliche.

Last year against Tranmere when we also played very good football, we threw on Rhead in the 68th minute. We hardly got another kick.
 
Our plan b tonight would have been 2 upfront.

My only criticism (apart from the first 20 minutes of defending) of the play tonight was we didn’t get enough players or balls into the 6 yard box and they crowded out the box as a hole. Too many over hit crosses that went straight into the keepers arms.

We do need more players
Striker - Rhead presence but younger and more mobile
Central midfielder to rotate with o’connor (Who was excellent but is just one man)
Back up in defence

The MK squad depth is scary

Another day we would have won that.

Still 9/12 not a bad return

We need a positive response Saturday.
 
A little bit of a travesty how we didn’t get anything tonight, MK battled hard however we carved them open time and time again.

Couple of sloppy goals has cost us but if we keep playing like that we will win far more than we lose.
 
bristolimp said:
Our plan b tonight would have been 2 upfront.

My only criticism (apart from the first 20 minutes of defending) of the play tonight was we didn’t get enough players or balls into the 6 yard box and they crowded out the box as a hole. Too many over hit crosses that went straight into the keepers arms.

We do need more players
Striker - Rhead presence but younger and more mobile
Central midfielder to rotate with o’connor (Who was excellent but is just one man)
Back up in defence

The MK squad depth is scary

Another day we would have won that.

Still 9/12 not a bad return

We need a positive response Saturday.
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Not going to more players without investment.
 
Huntsward said:
It's a treat watching league one football. It's so much better
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Absolutely. I've only seen two games, this one and vs Southend but really impressed with the quality. Especially us!
It's great to be watching us 3rd tier with a competitive team, last time we were here 98/99, we basically still had a 4th tier standard team and were out of our depth.
 
We had a plan a and a half when Grant slotted into midfield last night and he looked good. Had plenty of time as MK dropped off.

I think once Payne gets number one a few more will follow quickly.

Great performance except the goals. Don’t think I’ve been this optimistic the day after a loss in ages.
 
This kind of game is why I love football.

We created chances, played some smart football, had 2 lapses in concentration at the back and somehow contrived a 2-1 loss. We could have easily come away 3-2 winners if things had gone slightly differently. That was like facing a backline of Bossies for most of the second half - frustrating isn't it?!

Against Rotherham we created 3 chances to their 16 and came away 2-0 winners. We can mix it and we can take it, and I'm damn sure the Cowleys will learn lessons from it.

The Cowleys are defensive purists and probably prefer games like Rotherham, but last night was one where I was literally on the edge of my seat for most of the game.

If we play like that for the rest of the season, we'll do well in L1 and have a far more enjoyable season than the last time we were up here.

And nights like last night are far better than memories of dreary away days against village teams (no apologies to FGR).
 
markhonesmagicstuds said:
This kind of game is why I love football.

We created chances, played some smart football, had 2 lapses in concentration at the back and somehow contrived a 2-1 loss. We could have easily come away 3-2 winners if things had gone slightly differently. That was like facing a backline of Bossies for most of the second half - frustrating isn't it?!

Against Rotherham we created 3 chances to their 16 and came away 2-0 winners. We can mix it and we can take it, and I'm damn sure the Cowleys will learn lessons from it.
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Disappointing to lose, but it happens and MK were having to defend frantically for over half an hour.

The difference between the Rotherham game and this one - apart from the boot being on the other foot - was that I can't remember Rotherham having more than 3 clear chances in the whole 90 minutes. The stats say they had a lot of attempts but nearly all of those were pot-shots from distance that passed harmlessly wide.

Last night we had numerous golden opportunities and a variety of players fluffed them. The bar being rattled in the 93rd minute summed it up nicely.
 
MK Dons fan here. Our second goal, looks like your defender was playing our player onside with his left foot (can't be seen from the screenshots).

Thought you were the better team, however we defended pretty well. You'll win more games than us this season and suspect you'll achieve at least a play off spot.

Nice to see you play decent passing football and must be enjoyable to watch each week.

Good luck for the season.
 
imp73 said:
Strange comment. Plan Bs are for when an approach stops working... tonight we controlled the entire second half, carving out chance after chance. We didnt score but we looked like we could throughout the half... sometimes it goes like that. Losing a game like that and saying it's because we don't have a plan B sounds just like a cliche.

Last year against Tranmere when we also played very good football, we threw on Rhead in the 68th minute. We hardly got another kick.
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Agreed. Rhead was useless that night as he was on many occasions last season.
 
Thaddeus Griffin said:
It is to be taken with a pinch of salt but the xG graph from yesterday's game has us down as having 17 attempts in the second half.

View attachment 34663
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Our total xG across the four games so far has been 7.1 and we've scored 9.
Normally we are clinically efficient and score more than the xG suggests - didn't see last night's game, but seems to have been one of those nights when it wouldn't go in.
 
We are playing terrific football in midfield, down both wings, and just outside the penalty area. But we have zero threat on crosses inside the box apart from when the centre backs come up for set pieces.

That will always result in the odd game like last night, where we lose when dominating.
 
mikeosullivan said:
We are playing terrific football in midfield, down both wings, and just outside the penalty area. But we have zero threat on crosses inside the box apart from when the centre backs come up for set pieces.

That will always result in the odd game like last night, where we lose when dominating.
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We are starting to look much like a lot of teams we've beaten over the years when we were playing the way MK did last night. ;)
 
In 25 years of watching Lincoln, I don't think I've ever seen a team able to dominate with the ball like we have the players to do so this season.
Last night was frustrating, but we'll be fine playing like that.

I thought JA did really well when he came on - he seems much technically better than last season. Yes, there were a couple of occasions where he tried to be too cute and as a striker, could/should easily have turned to shoot, but on the whole, I was impressed.

Decision making and delivery/finishing cost us, but I expect those to improve as this method becomes more ingrained and trained.
 
Shanghai_Imp said:
I thought JA did really well when he came on - he seems much technically better than last season. Yes, there were a couple of occasions where he tried to be too cute and as a striker, could/should easily have turned to shoot, but on the whole, I was impressed.

Decision making and delivery/finishing cost us, but I expect those to improve as this method becomes more ingrained and trained.
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So did I.

The commentary team were far too harsh on him as his contribution was good. He served one up for Andrade on a plate.
 
nlondonimp said:
it is not a contradiction, it was a question asking whether there is more investment on the horizon. as i said, imo we are 2-3 players short, look how well we are doing with 16 first teamers... with a little more investment (to create a slightly bigger squad) we would really compete in this league.

must be very frustrating for the manager to be this close. he has also said similar, didn't he mention cover was needed at left back; cb; midfield; winger; and striker only yesterday?
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We are second. If that's not competing, I dont know what is. I agree it would be great to have a bit more depth, but just look at Bolton and Bury if you want to ssee what happens if you push beyond your means.
 
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