"The changes worked and we pretty much dominated." | Vital Football

"The changes worked and we pretty much dominated."

Wouldn't say we dominated but we did enough in the last 20 mins to put pressure on them and win the game. Even then, with 10 men, Bury had us on the rack a couple of times in the last few minutes.
 
Hmmm I am not sure about that. The match I saw was pretty even and I would be very disappointed if I were a Bury fan.

As Danny said in his interview we are still very much a work in progress. The good news is we keep picking up wins and points so as we get better the rest of the league should worry because this team has a lot of untapped potential in it yet.
 
As I am away, a trusted friend of mine went also went to match as a neutral. He said the following "Lincoln didn't deserve to win that, or indeed get anything from it. Had it not been for a stupid handball. Lincoln couldn't cope with Bury in the first half, but appeared brighter when Akinde came on. The pre match bar staffing was appalling, and what on earth have you done with the catering? If I go again this season, I'll be taking a thermos with me. The food and drink was miles better before. A very very fortunate win for Lincoln."

As I said....I wasn't there and this is not my assessment. It is how a neutral viewed it.
 
I get the feeling that the weekly changes in personnel and formations are affecting the team. I think we really need to settle on a formation and starting eleven and make fewer changes.
Bostwick looked really off his game last night and for the first time, I really felt that we missed Waterfall in the back line. I don’t understand why Wilson doesn’t feature more at Centre Back. Having seen him play at a higher level prior to joining Lincoln, I think he has a lot to offer that he hasn’t yet been given the opportunity to show yet.
We play better when we adopt a formation that allows Eardley and Toffollo to get forward in support. Our tactics in the first half stopped them getting forward and we didn’t seem to have enough options through midfield and into the attacking third.
In the second half we used our wide men to pin the Bury wide men into defensive positions. This allowed Eardley and Toffollo to push forward in support. We looked much more dangerous but overall, I think we were lucky to get three points against a decent Bury team.
 
I get the feeling that the weekly changes in personnel and formations are affecting the team. I think we really need to settle on a formation and starting eleven and make fewer changes.

This is one of those questions that will look different with hindsight. By that I mean although we are all wrapped up in the moment (it's still only August) this experimentation will stand us in good stead later on. We have a small squad that needs to get to know each other and needs to have even amount of game time. It's no use trying to work a new system later in the season in an emergency. As long as we reach our conclusions about patterns, partnerships and so on soon, then I think this will not seem so protracted later on.

I don’t understand why Wilson doesn’t feature more at Centre Back. Having seen him play at a higher level prior to joining Lincoln, I think he has a lot to offer that he hasn’t yet been given the opportunity to show yet.

Agreed

We play better when we adopt a formation that allows Eardley and Toffollo to get forward in support. Our tactics in the first half stopped them getting forward and we didn’t seem to have enough options through midfield and into the attacking third.

I get the impression the team did not manage to execute the coaches' wishes.

overall, I think we were lucky to get three points against a decent Bury team.

No doubt about it, but we did and that is good. As we used to say, that's a game we would have lost before the Cowleys.
 
Bury could feel hard done by but we’re they that good or did I watch a different game. I personally thought we started well, with their keeper making a good save from Shackell.

From 20-25 minutes they took a foot hold in terms on territory and deservedly took the lead, however seeing some comments it was almost like we were up agains the Alamo? I can’t remember Smith making to many saves? Our biggest moment of fortune was where the one straight after half time trickled wise. After that I thought we took control personally.
 
Maybe I was at a different game.

Bury controlled 20-45 phase of the first half- we didn't deal with their width play and therefore had our two wingback/fullbacks exposed. Bury exploited this, put us under pressure and took a lead into half time. First half we weren't on piste but their tactics prevented our plans fro being effective.

Second half, move to 4-4-2, pushed them back and mainly prevented their wide play. They played deeper (whether under our pressure or their manager's direction) and we pushed and pushed.

Stone wall penalty- even worse on EFL highlights, he looks like a goalkeeper stopping a shot!

Our 2nd goal was the best move of the match.

Fully deserved win- battling performance against a competent Bury side who have already proven their ability this season.

Will keep saying "luck" is something you create and generate and is not something which happens accidentally. Our pressure, forcing them into errors, pushing them back, with a vocal crowd behind them, creates "luck".

Goals in "Fergie time" for Man United were not lucky- it was how they played with their game plans.

Were we running on 12 valves on Tuesday- clearly not.

Did we have a good win against good opposition- absolutely.

Went home very happy on Tuesday night.
 
I don’t think the ‘luck’ element was in the attacking sense. We were lucky that the time and space bury got around the box didn’t lead to more shots at smith. Bury’s deficiency in attack, like Northampton, and Swindon, and Grimsby before them.

In possession we are implementing a change to more passing, and a more open, more fluid style. What we could do with keeping from the last two years is the tight, difficult to break down approach - I.e. being ‘closed’ - when not in possession. A tricky combination to pull off.

Notts will be the biggest test of this so far, because they have the strikers that can finish, given that space around the box
 
I don’t think the ‘luck’ element was in the attacking sense. We were lucky that the time and space bury got around the box didn’t lead to more shots at smith. Bury’s deficiency in attack, like Northampton, and Swindon, and Grimsby before them.

In possession we are implementing a change to more passing, and a more open, more fluid style. What we could do with keeping from the last two years is the tight, difficult to break down approach - I.e. being ‘closed’ - when not in possession. A tricky combination to pull off.

Notts will be the biggest test of this so far, because they have the strikers that can finish, given that space around the box

Conversely, they have a back four with the collective turning circle of an oil tanker and we also have the tools to take advantage.