Match Thread Home V Lincoln City Tuesday 31/8/2021@7.00pm

Spanked,

 

Really not bothered about this Mickey Mouse cup a day out at Wembley was never a possibility
Much rather concentrate on achieving promotion however a near full strength City side were soundly beaten
by a half strength Lincoln side it shows how far we have to go to realise our ambitions of sustaining L1 football never mind the dream of Championship football, on this evidence L2 is closer to the National League than L1
Hopefully we already have an eye on L1 so tonight's result in that perspective shows cause for concern

 

Agreed. League One status is what we aspire to but we were poles apart in key areas of play. These last two games have proved something of a chastening experience after being lulled by our bright start to the season.

 

Unfortunately we aren't out of it yet are we

 

Did i not read Lincoln made 3 changes from the weekend and us 4. so hardly half strength . Also they are the league above us and dicked us 5-0 last year, so we must have improved. Joking apart , we all said we are light on the finishing department and that was the main difference between the sides. Recurring theme at Bradford City.

 

Totally this. Mickey Mouse Cup or not, we still fielded a near full strength team, and and that, a team that needed to prove to the manager they want it, after the weekends defeat. Didn't work out did it?

Lincoln I don't think even got out of second gear. Made it look simple, and made our defence look disorganised and slightly shaky. As much as I like Cooke and Vernam, I am worried they are one trick ponies. Vernam runs at players, throwing in a few stepovers, and Cooke holds the ball up, before shielding it in the turn and playing a one two forward into heavy traffic. As we saw on Saturday, if the oppo figure this out, then they completely block them out of the game.

I actually don't know who came out of the game with much credit. Evans did his minimum. Cook didn't get any service. Centre backs didn't really have to do much. Full backs had a mare. I thought Sutton looked busy when he came on.

Anyway, nonsense cup, but would have liked to see some second string players showing what they can do. Over to the real stuff on Saturday now. Need to defend better. Need to make more chances. Need to be more direct.

 

Lincoln do not have a game at the weekend due to international call ups, and therefore played a fairly strong side. This is the reason why we played a strong side, according to DA

 

My point was they are in the league we are aspiring to
They had an 18 year old rookie keeper we hardly tested
Not only do we have to improve to get out of this khazi league but maintaing L1 status means a lot of hard work and several squad additions at the very least

 

Their finishing was clinical but it worries me the goals came down our right, again. It’s our weak point.

Hornby looked iffy on ball.
Threlkeld - meh
Ridgehalgh - solid game as ever
Luke Oliver mkII - meh
Paudie - meh
Gillead - MOM looked dangerous everytime on ball
Cooke - solid but not spectacular
Watt - off it. Was he injured? Sloppy pass conceded possession cheaply then hooked
Evans - meh
Vernham - carried ball well but end product lacking. Woeful shot into Kop
Cook - anonymous

 

"Hornby looked iffy on ball.
Threlkeld - meh
Ridgehalgh - solid game as ever
Luke Oliver mkII - meh
Paudie - meh"

That's a pretty rubbish looking defence on paper inexperienced goalkeeper who has played most of his football on loan at non league sides Threlkeld was a midfielder last season Luke Oliver II doesn't full anyone with confidence although on the plus side Paudie isn't injured and Ridehalgh has looked solid particularly going forward

 

I don’t care about this competition but it’s worrying that a near full strength team have been spanked at home by a team only a league above where we aspire to be.
And that off the back of a poor display at Orient on Saturday.
#wheelsoffalready

 

It was pap. But let’s keep faith in Adams.

my positive take home thoughts were that Ridehalgh is an upgrade on Wood and that Gillead is a better player than when he left us before.

 

God we were utterly awful tonight. Completely outclassed.

Could understand if we played a fringe side but we played a very strong team and never looked like getting anything from the game.

I don’t recall a shot on target in the second half.

 

Brought back too early, looks half the player he was pre injury?

 

That’s why Adams was annoyed last weekend, even though they didn’t have a match the whole week leading up to the Orient game they were given “light” training. They have got to get used to sat/tues games…he knows it.

 

I noticed who were the previous clubs for a number of their players.

1 Ex Arsenal Academy
1 Ex Spurs Academy
3 Ex Man Un Academy
1 Ex Man City
1 ex Liverpool Academy (I think)

That’s picking up players..just as Peterborough have done for 25 years.
That’s what you get in L1

Speculate on lower wages , develop and sell for big profit.

Some of those young kids were excellent

 

That's applicable to any new division for promoted sides though. The positive is that it's likely we'd have an increased budget and it's likely that it's easier to sign a higher quality of player to help us bridge that gap.

 

Sorry to disappoint you, but we're not "out of that what do you want on your Pizza cup". We're still at the Group stage.

 

Forget who said it but you will never win anything playing kids

 

Alan Hansen ?