Post-Match Thread and Ratings Lincoln City 4-0 Southend United

[rigsby]

CP has missed the most impressive thing about the Cowleys.....They make sure everyone has a shower after the game

 

[NZamba Legend]

CP has missed the most impressive thing about the Cowleys.....They make sure everyone has a shower after the game

At Fitz there was a window from the PE teachers office into the showers just so they could check. It was acceptable in the 80s...

 

[rigsby]

At Fitz there was a window from the PE teachers office into the showers just so they could check. It was acceptable in the 80s...

Yes I remember a lot the girls complained

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

?????

I’m not sure why you are another who seems to accuse anyone else of wanting the last word whilst trying to yourself, accuse others of insulting or rude responses whilst doing exactly that.

To quote a favourite of mine in relation to nearly all of your posts and one I assume you’ll be familiar with given your username, from 1975 and certain Mr Zimmerman “Idiot wind, Blowing every time you move your teeth. You're an idiot, babe, It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe”

No doubt your pals will see fit to delete my post as insulting whilst allowing yours to remain there.

Fine by me. I’m sick to the back teeth (yes I still have some) of this place and some of the ****e I read.

I’m done with it ?

First of all,I've deliberately refrained from making any "insuting or rude " posts to you, prefering instead to address the arguments you're making about SUFC (not that there have been that many).

Fortunately for you I'm (obviously) a huge Dylan fan as well as a fan of SUFC .(You can see I'm trying to find some common ground here, I hope). It's never a good idea to call someone else an idiot (even indirectlY) on social media, however.It often causes offence.Idiot Wind is far from being the best track on Blood on the Tracks,btw,Give it a closer listen. While we're talking 70's music you might appreciate this Cat Steven's lyric from Father and Son:-

"You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know."

Yu'll probably find a copy in your parent's record collection.If not download it from Spotify.

I look forward to your post-match contribution to the Posh game tonight.If you can't "add some value" I'll reluctantly have to take your advice (to another poster) and put you on ignore.

COYB.

 

[Grapevine]

First of all,I've deliberately refrained from making any "insuting or rude " posts to you, prefering instead to address the arguments you're making about SUFC (not that there have been that many).

Fortunately for you I'm (obviously) a huge Dylan fan as well as a fan of SUFC .(You can see I'm trying to find some common ground here, I hope). It's never a good idea to call someone else an idiot (even indirectlY) on social media, however.It often causes offence.Idiot Wind is far from being the best track on Blood on the Tracks,btw,Give it a closer listen. While we're talking 70's music you might appreciate this Cat Steven's lyric from Father and Son:-

"You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know."

Yu'll probably find a copy in your parent's record collection.If not download it from Spotify.

I look forward to your post-match contribution to the Posh game tonight.If you can't "add some value" I'll reluctantly have to take your advice (to another poster) and put you on ignore.

COYB.

You simply won’t let it lie will you. “Dubious and Pompous” springs to mind when you say you have refrained from insults......that old memory of yours is starting to struggle.

There’s a game tonight old man....ooops....Neil Young reference....enjoy....try and enjoy it....maybe even hope for a win eh?

I won’t be there so no match report from me tonight. Which is a shame because I genuinely think some people look forward to it and it adds to their understanding or offers a view that hasn’t thought of....although to do that anyone needs to be a little open minded rather than belligerent, narcissistic and delusionally infallible...

But like I said, and it wasn’t an insult....you really can just mute me if what I say is so inaccurate or boring to read.

Please please just focus on tonight’s game...this is afterall the Lincoln thread and so think we are all done with Lincoln!

 

[Grapevine]

Btw, the best song on Blood on the Tracks didn’t even make it only onto the album....Upto Me is a masterpiece....”in 14 months I’ve only smiled once and I didn’t do it consciously” really could’ve been about you ? but in its absence Idiot Wind is far and away the stand out track but only after listening to the Bootleg versions where it’s slowed and stripped down can you really get its poignancy and anger....

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

@Grapevine and @Tangled up in Blue can you please take your bromance on to private messages, so that this messageboard is less confrontational for others? While you haven’t broken any rules (apart from straying quite far from the topic) this kind of protracted antagonism does discourage others from posting and is known to put people off altogether from this site. Thanks both

 

[Grapevine]

this kind of protracted antagonism does discourage others from posting and is known to put people off altogether from this site. Thanks both

Yep I’m one of them ?

But point taken ?

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

The last word...............
Where were the leaders Saturday when the heads went down, we had enough Captains and senior pros out there?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

The last word...............
Where were the leaders Saturday when the heads went down, we had enough Captains and senior pros out there?

I found that quite disappointing too. That was the one thing I was confident would be fixed with our signings this summer.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I found that quite disappointing too. That was the one thing I was confident would be fixed with our signings this summer.

NOT THE LAST WORD........

Too many cooks?
Too many orders from the sidelines for natural play on field?

 

[gazza]

I found that quite disappointing too. That was the one thing I was confident would be fixed with our signings this summer.

Agreed, I thought that we had signed leaders that would get everyone up for the fight. Sadly, I even with the new players, we concede and you can almost see the players thinking here we go again!

 

[onceknownasrab]

You can't lead a cavalry charge when all the horses are shackled and most of them are facing the wrong way.

 

[NZamba Legend]

Agreed, I thought that we had signed leaders that would get everyone up for the fight. Sadly, I even with the new players, we concede and you can almost see the players thinking here we go again!

They think "here we go again", and this is Bond's argument too, but Milligan, Shaunessy, Ralph--three key defensive players-- weren't even here last season. This doesn't hold much water with me.

 

[Shrimper44]

Well that was simply dreadful.

No knee jerk reactions or emotive comments from me. I've read through this thread and actually, pretty much everyone is correct about whatever it is they think. After all, it's their opinion, they see it how they do and that's fair enough.

So - whenever a manager changes, it takes some time to bed in. They will need to bring in their players, their staff and to be fair, Bond is still working with some of Brown's squad.

But for me, the whole problem is blindingly clear.

We have upgraded the squad from last season. Oxley and Bishop are as good as we can expect to get at this level, our keepers aren't costing us points.

Elvis has developed and is better than last season. Shaughnessy is an upgrade on Moore, Lennon has been back (obviously not yesterday) but White is more than good enough cover. Ralph is definitely an upgrade on whoever played LB last season, even Coker from a defensive point of view I would say and Blackman is good cover for Ralph.

Those who witnessed the Millwall friendly and Coventry away saw an absolutely rock solid defence that were beaten once in each game, the first time by a freak own goal and the second by a proper well worked move and shot that you have to acknowledge as being good. No problem with that. But we had a solid defence and one that wasn't going to be as soft a touch as last year.

In the midfield, Kightly has gone and we have 2 Premiership lads in as loanees. Hamilton looks like he could be a really positive asset. Hutchinson isn't the finished article yet but is good enough for the odd appearance, Yearwood has gone (he didn't do anything last season) but we are left with Macca, Mantom, Hyam and Dieng. This is the main area of issue for me. But Milligan is a class player, the Aussie captain FFS, and does a sterling job. He replaces 3 of the above 4 players on his own.

Up front, Cox is Cox, hard working and can score. Kelman is developing but young. We know what Humphrys can do and Robinson is more than adequate as 4th choice and will do a job off the bench. Goodship is the most natural finisher at the club and the best they've seen for some considerable time according to insiders.

Coming back into the side we have Kiernan, Demitriou, Kyprianou, Ridgewell, Hopper and Barrett, most of which will be enhancements on the players in those positions.

That is way, way too good a squad for L2 and should be more than capable of challenging for the play offs in L1.

So what on earth is wrong?

It doesn't appear to be a secret that it is not a happy ship at the moment. Anyone with any contact with the club or it's employees will know the inside track. But that on it's own is not necessarily a problem. Nothing puts smiles on faces more than a win and the players will want to win. They do not go out and try and play badly or make mistakes. They are trying to play to the new system.

For 25-30 minutes we were the better side. When we did successfully play it out from the back, we looked good and created problems for Lincoln. We pressed them high and didn't allow them time on the ball. This was an improvement. Bond had kept faith with the side that had won at Stevenage on Tuesday - rightly in my opinion - and we had started well, even hitting the post with our first shot. If it was a boxing match, we were ahead on points. Lincoln didn't really seem to know how to break us down.

And then the silly free kick given away by McLaughlin, totally unnecessary and which the whole team had been warned against giving away. This is Lincoln's gameplan; win free kicks and launch the ball into the box where they dominate with height. It was obvious that this was what they were trying to achieve right from the start when their cheating striker Walker (I'm sure his name was misspelt on the back of his shirt) threw himself to the ground claiming Shaughnessy had tripped him. There was no contact at all - a fact that the fans could see easily and which the ref should have been able to see from his angle. I don't blame the lino actually because he wouldn't have seen the daylight between the players and was conned. But that's a whole other issue with football that deserves it's own forum! But that's all that Lincoln were about.

So it's 1-0 after a soft header at the back post. We didn't have enough height to mark every one of their 6'3" plus players and the one Elvis had got a fairly clear and free header to loop the ball over Bishop.

A few minutes later some poor defensive play from Hutchinson saw their full back waltz the ball into the box and a wicked ricochet back to him saw an instinctive stab towards goal which was a bit of a freaky finish, but it's 2-0, they all count.

And as far as the game goes, that was that really as a contest.

Bond made 2 subs at half time, replacing the ineffective Mantom with Hamilton and Kelman with Humphrys. This is better, a bit of drive in the middle and a presence up front. But within 2 mins we are 3-0 down. I think Shaughnessy tried genuinely to get the ball but didn't, clearly a penalty but that's game over.

And what we saw after that gives the clearest indication of the problem and will probably be obvious to anyone who has played the game at any level.

Quite simply, the players, metaphorically at least, "downed tools".

No-one was making any positive runs. There was no pressing. We played hot potato football. We passed it around in our own half when we were no threat, Players were running away from the ball and not into space, giving Milligan and Hamilton zero options but to play the ball backwards just to keep possession. Milligan spent a significant amount of time gesturing his exasperation with his arms in frustration. The appallingly woeful McLaughlin was replaced with Ndukwu but he just looked like a rabbit in the headlights and simply looked terrified.

Lincoln will not have an easier half of football either this season, or any season. We were, quite simply, shocking.

The 4th was no surprise and in fact the only eyebrow raising point was that Lincoln stuck at 4. Going on to get 5 or even 6 wouldn't have been a shock.

No-one looked as though they wanted to play there. Milligan seemed to be almost trying to get himself sent off late on by continually arguing with the ref having been booked earlier. Cox stopped making runs and we adopted a shoot on sight policy but only after taking an extra touch or two first and it was always blocked and from a distance. No chance of scoring.

There were exceptions. The back four I genuinely think gave their all. Ralph was my MOM and Elvis tried very, very hard and was perhaps guilty of making wrong choices, which could be just down to confidence.

But this is a team of players obviously not playing for the manager. They tried - genuinely I believe they tried and wanted to win from the start - but at 3-0 down and with barely a shot on target, I'm sure many of them thought "What's the point?", a view no doubt shared by many of the travelling fans regarding their commitment to continue travelling.

So onto Tuesday and another tough game v Peterborough. We can get behind the team all we want (and I'm sure we will) but if we concede first, things might well change very, very quickly. A defeat in that game could well signal the end for KB as we cannot afford to bring in any more players and Ron isn't going to sit on his hands waiting for us to win a point. It's clear what is happening and it's really only the top Prem sides who can play this style of football. L1 teams just don't have that ability. KB has gone nuclear too early in the season and his post match interview is a toned down version of last week's. How many times can he repeat the same message?

We have the players. The system we are trying to adopt with those players is clearly wrong. The players will - rightly or wrongly - get the manager sacked in my opinion. It's simply a question of how long Ron waits to pull the trigger.

Excellent summary of the game and exactly how i saw it Saturday. Just hoping we can get a result tonight to get our season started.