Match Thread: Stevenage v Lincoln City | Page 20 | Vital Football

Match Thread: Stevenage v Lincoln City

MaineRoad_96 said:
A bloke near me at Macclesfield was into him from kick-off, that’s got nothing to do with his performance levels and everything to do with a pre-conceived idea of him.

No-one is saying don’t criticise but do it in the pub before or after the game, don’t do it in the ground where it’s pretty obvious our support can help the team win tight games.
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I think the problem is people know he is the record signing and expect him to be like Messi, Ronaldo, Sterling etc. They forget that we are talking about a player at League 2 level. He is playing at League 2 level for a reason!

Personally I think Akinde has done pretty well. He took time to settle in but let's be honest moving up North with your family for the first time outside London and adapting to The Cowleys fitness requirements were always going to be hard. He is clearly starting to look fitter and I think he is starting to get better and better and in the second half of the season he will really start to shine!
 
I don't know what it is with some Lincoln folk, John Ward was amazingly not exempt in getting stick at times. Some of the abuse hurled at 'big' TC and Jason Lee was horrific at times and totally uncalled for.
 
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Casperimp said:
I think the problem is people know he is the record signing and expect him to be like Messi, Ronaldo, Sterling etc. They forget that we are talking about a player at League 2 level. He is playing at League 2 level for a reason!

Personally I think Akinde has done pretty well. He took time to settle in but let's be honest moving up North with your family for the first time outside London and adapting to The Cowleys fitness requirements were always going to be hard. He is clearly starting to look fitter and I think he is starting to get better and better and in the second half of the season he will really start to shine!
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All of which could be applied to Sam Slocombe, in addition Sam hasn't had a League 2 start this season (but has started twice in League 1) He's had 5 starts behind a motley assortment of back 4's (he's never started with the same back 4 twice). He's moved from Blackpool to Bristol Rovers and then to the Imps in two seasons but I don't see anyone giving him any slack for that either...

Keepers and strikers eh? Amazing how they get judged differently...
 
Sincilbanks said:
All of which could be applied to Sam Slocombe, in addition Sam hasn't had a League 2 start this season (but has started twice in League 1) He's had 5 starts behind a motley assortment of back 4's (he's never started with the same back 4 twice). He's moved from Blackpool to Bristol Rovers and then to the Imps in two seasons but I don't see anyone giving him any slack for that either...

Keepers and strikers eh? Amazing how they get judged differently...
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Good to see you've kept your Union membership up, mate. ;)
 
berksimps said:
I would say that in the area where we were in Block B everyone was very positive about John Akinde, particularly in the first half. Most were willing him to score, and showed their appreciation whenever he did well. Everyone was delighted for him when he scored the penalty.

Second half, he was barely involved and had some poor touches, but still got a standing ovation when he was substituted. I understand why some fans are still slightly disappointed. He is still to repeat his stand out performance at Exeter, and since then we have only seen glimpses of his brilliance.

Last season if Bossie made mistakes or had a poor game fans got stick if it was even mentioned. Cannot help thinking that some people are similarly becoming a bit precious and over protective about JA now.
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Maybe the Exeter performance is the problem. Maybe it was an anomaly. Maybe people expectations of what JA can deliver is unrealsitic, perhaps skewed by his price tag and thus expecting more than he's capable of?

r.e. Bostwick, he was one being questioned last season because people wanted more creativity in midfield and as though he was the man to provide that, which was never the case!

I think it boils down to peoples expectation of a player being matched against what they can actually deliver.
 
NottyImp said:
Good to see you've kept your Union membership up, mate. ;)
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Always...
  • Last keeper to win the Ballon D'or? Lev Yashin
  • Largest transfer fee for a goalkeeper before Allison this year? £32.6m in 2001 for Gianluigi Buffon (who should be up there in the annals of the game along with Messi and Ronaldo, but somehow gets overlooked when "greatest players" are mentioned
  • Peter Schmeichel, never got even a sniff of the Ballon D'or during his peak despite winning the treble for United and the Euro championships with Denmark
 
Sincilbanks said:
Always...
  • Last keeper to win the Ballon D'or? Lev Yashin
  • Largest transfer fee for a goalkeeper before Allison this year? £32.6m in 2001 for Gianluigi Buffon (who should be up there in the annals of the game along with Messi and Ronaldo, but somehow gets overlooked when "greatest players" are mentioned
  • Peter Schmeichel, never got even a sniff of the Ballon D'or during his peak despite winning the treble for United and the Euro championships with Denmark
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Schmeichel in his prime was probably the best 'keeper I've seen in my life-time. Absolutely superb.

"All out, comrades!" ;)
 
MaineRoad_96 said:
A bloke near me at Macclesfield was into him from kick-off, that’s got nothing to do with his performance levels and everything to do with a pre-conceived idea of him.

No-one is saying don’t criticise but do it in the pub before or after the game, don’t do it in the ground where it’s pretty obvious our support can help the team win tight games.
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I Agree, just pointing out extremes of views on JA. For me, the true picture is somewhere in the middle. He ain't a footballing genius and he isn't a sack of $hit either. And I never call anyone out during a game, just like I don't do standing ovation if I don't deem it earned.
 
berksimps said:
I would say that in the area where we were in Block B everyone was very positive about John Akinde, particularly in the first half. Most were willing him to score, and showed their appreciation whenever he did well. Everyone was delighted for him when he scored the penalty.

Second half, he was barely involved and had some poor touches, but still got a standing ovation when he was substituted. I understand why some fans are still slightly disappointed. He is still to repeat his stand out performance at Exeter, and since then we have only seen glimpses of his brilliance.

Last season if Bossie made mistakes or had a poor game fans got stick if it was even mentioned. Cannot help thinking that some people are similarly becoming a bit precious and over protective about JA now.
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Maybe I've been fortunate not to hear the more foul moans shall we say.

Hopefully the worst offenders were notified appropriately by those around that their views are less than welcome...
 
plumbob said:
I Agree, just pointing out extremes of views on JA. For me, the true picture is somewhere in the middle. He ain't a footballing genius and he isn't a sack of $hit either. And I never call anyone out during a game, just like I don't do standing ovation if I don't deem it earned.
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Yeah sorry I didn’t mean you in particular, it was just a general rant about some of our fellow supporters (who always somehow choose to sit/stand near me!).
 
Casperimp said:
I think the problem is people know he is the record signing and expect him to be like Messi, Ronaldo, Sterling etc. They forget that we are talking about a player at League 2 level. He is playing at League 2 level for a reason!

Personally I think Akinde has done pretty well. He took time to settle in but let's be honest moving up North with your family for the first time outside London and adapting to The Cowleys fitness requirements were always going to be hard. He is clearly starting to look fitter and I think he is starting to get better and better and in the second half of the season he will really start to shine!
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Agreed. And exactly as I expected.
Barnet's fitness regime was always likely to be below ours (probably true of most clubs at our level). So combination of fitness, moving, new managers, new team-mates, was always going to take time to adjust to.
And I do think Akinde has got noticeably better these last few weeks.
 
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His goal v FGR suggested to me the guy has a bit of something different than the other strikers and it won goal of the month.
 
Every time Akinde plays he is winning more fans over. He seems to be going from strength to strength with noticeable improvements week in week out.

Personally, I’m still backing him to get 20+ this season from all competitions.
 
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