Lincoln City (A)

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Farnywhite said:

Second half a lot better but can’t turn up for 45 minutes and win poor start again . Would of lost that last season though going in right direction but can’t see us going up without a good transfer window 

We won at Lincoln last season in a very similar game, late winner.  Loads of away wins 2nd half of last season and a good draw at Wigan, hard to build a case to say we've improved.

[tomski]

18 minutes ago, Horwich said:

Agree. Problem is, our lot don’t have many brain cells 🤣

We are still going in the right direction.

Haha

[RUREADY2ROLL]

33 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I can't fathom that comment with the player I'm watching every week.  As you say, he isn't good is he.

He is the best of a bad bunch and shouldn’t have been taken off for that shit

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Spider said:

We’re 6th, playing average, with a transfer window to come.

we would ALL have settled for that in august.

Loooooong way to go yet lads.

Agreed we'd have settled for being 6th.  If we're honest the opposition haven't been as good as we expected ie Derby so average, Wycombe, Oxford, Charlton, Pompey and MK Dons gone backwards.  And last season we got 73 points, this season we've got half that after half the season, so no improvement despite weaker opposition and having our squad in place from day one instead of just from January.

[Spider]

2 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Agreed we'd have settled for being 6th.  If we're honest the opposition haven't been as good as we expected ie Derby so average, Wycombe, Oxford, Charlton, Pompey and MK Dons gone backwards.  And last season we got 73 points, this season we've got half that after half the season, so no improvement despite weaker opposition and having our squad in place from day one instead of just from January.

Let’s see where we end up.

I’ll bet you we end up with more points than last season though.

[Johnnyrotten]

1 minute ago, RUREADY2ROLL said:

He is the best of a bad bunch and shouldn’t have been taken off for that shit

Its all opinions, but JDB is twice the player Charles is for me.  And Baka is at least on a par, has more skill and strength and is more likely to score from open play, and doesn't fall over as much. Charles seems to hold onto possession for an age and it doesn't come to anything.  If he's our best striker we've really got problems. 

No problem with different opinions, that's just mine.

[Johnnyrotten]

1 minute ago, Spider said:

Let’s see where we end up.

I’ll bet you we end up with more points than last season though.

Last season we finished 10 points off the play offs, so I would have thought that was a given.  Last season we were 16th after 23 games and had Senior, Dixon and Delf starting games, with Brockbank, Gordon and Baptiste on the bench.  We were supposed to be better this season with the squad in place but we've got right wingers starting at left back.

[radcliffe white]

Party bus filled up with booze

cant get no sleep 

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Deanu said:

this season we're struggling to create chances but are a bit more solid. We just can't seem to find the balance between the two atm.

In the last 7 away games, we've gone a goal down in 6.  Yes a clean sheet at Cambridge, but one 0-0 in 7 aways and going behind in all the others.  It doesn't feel like we're very solid away from home, it feels like when the opposition attack (rarely, because we have a lot of possession) they have a good chance of scoring.

[Spider]

16 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Last season we finished 10 points off the play offs, so I would have thought that was a given.  Last season we were 16th after 23 games and had Senior, Dixon and Delf starting games, with Brockbank, Gordon and Baptiste on the bench.  We were supposed to be better this season with the squad in place but we've got right wingers starting at left back.

We’re doing better than last season.

its progress

Have some faith mate

[Johnnyrotten]

42 minutes ago, Biggish Dave said:

A point is unacceptable when it's shit teams at home. Not undefeated teams away and 4th in the league away

Agreed, but if you lose to Oxford at home and Shrewsbury away, you need to make up some points somewhere, not just routine home wins v Exeter and Burton.  The undefeated team away have only won 2, but had 10 men for the last half hour tonight.  2 points dropped surely.

[Johnnyrotten]

1 minute ago, Spider said:

We’re doing better than last season.

its progress

Have some faith mate

Better than pre-Feb, worse than Feb, March, April, August and September.  Its fine, not a problem, but course we haven't improved or even stood still in last 3 months, we've struggled.

Its clear as day the team collectively and a lot of individuals have gone backwards.  But as long as we're not bottom half and the games are half decent, it could be a lot worse, we crack on and see what 2023 brings.

[Zico]

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

Jesus mate.

Its all about the long game. He got us out of the last one ffs.

He will get us out of this one, maybe needs more than a season or two ffs.

We are making progress. 

Not like we are spending millions is it.

Fuck me.

I don't think we've progressed from the second half of last season after the transformational January transfer window 

And given the summer additions 

But 

There's still another window to come this season 

So hoping it will be as emphatic as the last two in terms of mid season improvement 

[Traf]

We got a point at a ground nobody has come away with three from, despite the first half being as bad as we've been all season.

Second half was niggly, they wasted as much time as they could, they made it a stop-start affair and it was another attritional game of very few real chances.

Dion wasn't at his best tonight, but that applies to several others. I thought MJ was really poor.

We'd have lost this game in the past, but we got a point away and there's still so much negativity around a team in the play-off positions after half a season.

Oh, and that "how shit are we when we can't beat 10 men" stuff belongs in the fucking sea. A team lose a man, they sacrifice a striker and effectively rely on setpieces etc for a chance of scoring, they still have the same number of keeprs, defenders & midfielders on the pitch as they did whehn they started, so it's not a given that you'll beat 10 men.

[Wanderlust]

We had >35 minutes to find a winner during which time we created 3 or 4 half chances - not sitters, half chances - and put in a dozen or so crosses that went straight to a defender or were overhit. We wasted at least 10 minutes rising to the bait of Lincoln's niggling and arguing.

Our play is so leaden we'll always be facing packed defences so we need a lot more movement and options to get through other than the predictable run off wing/play a wall pass/look to shoot thing that we've been doing for months and everyone is wise to. Better tactics, better discipline and better quality now please.

[radcliffe white]

2 hours ago, London Wanderer said:

Feel like I'm trying so hard to be positive with Evatt, but this is pretty much where I'm at the moment. I honestly can't see us maintaining the play-offs. 

He's got a couple of tough decisions to take this month. We've improved every second half of the season under Evatt, so I hope I'm proven wrong.. 

we simply need to improve

all good folk saying we’re in the play offs but soon that won’t be the case

yes we could go barnsley and win then it’s 4 from the two aways everyone’s happy but on tonight’s performance against another poor side I can’t see it 

[Ratwhite]

2 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Agreed we'd have settled for being 6th.  If we're honest the opposition haven't been as good as we expected ie Derby so average, Wycombe, Oxford, Charlton, Pompey and MK Dons gone backwards.  And last season we got 73 points, this season we've got half that after half the season, so no improvement despite weaker opposition and having our squad in place from day one instead of just from January.

Oxford gone backwards??

They schooled us up here.

[Lostock Whites]

People can bang on about Lincoln's invincible home record, I couldn't give a shit they are not prime 1970 Brazil they are a shit League one side that are 16th in the table and we should have beaten them.

My problem with our team, is we have seen tonight's game too many times before this season, we all knew what to expect. Concentrate and be prepared for set pieces, long balls, long throw-ins into the box, don't go a goal behind early, prevent them from launching time wasting tactics.

These are all a number of factors that just keep being repeated and nothing is changing. We need to change or we won't get promoted.

Be more ruthless and defensively especially away at these shit grounds. The successful sides get this ugly part of the season done and we massively struggle.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Lostock Whites

[superkev]

A draw at a team unbeaten at home suggests a decent result. It’s a tough league no matter who you play. We can’t keep saying a poor Lincoln side or an average derby or a poor whoever every time we don’t win. Credit has to go to the opposition sometimes that stop us playing, it’s the league we’re in. Always difficult to break a side down that sit in, even with ten men. We have to find a few signings that can help us do that. I said at the start of the season that I was happy with our strikers, but felt we needed a midfielder schemer like Barry Bannan that can dictate play and thread a pass. I’d rather someone like that than a midfield destroyer. We’re a solid outfit, we don’t concede that many, but are struggling to create at the moment. I’d also suggest we are above average for chances created, but we need to take more of the half chances we create. They’re the chances than win games like last night. Charles has missed loads of clear chances recently. His conversion rate should be a lot higher than it is. A couple of those go in and we have more points. A creative midfielder and a striker are a must in this transfer window

[MickyD]

7 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

We had >35 minutes to find a winner during which time we created 3 or 4 half chances - not sitters, half chances - and put in a dozen or so crosses that went straight to a defender or were overhit. 

Half chances?  There was at least one golden opportunity late on where the ball was looped to the back post and Baka decided to push his chest at the ball instead of his head. Absolutely nothing half chance about that. 

[gonzo]

We just cant handle aggressive teams in the winter.

Roll on spring

[radcliffe white]

39 minutes ago, MickyD said:

Half chances?  There was at least one golden opportunity late on where the ball was looped to the back post and Baka decided to push his chest at the ball instead of his head. Absolutely nothing half chance about that. 

We was at far end so couldn’t see it, was it a sitter? 

bbc sport saying only one shot on target

[desperado]

10 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Agreed we'd have settled for being 6th.  If we're honest the opposition haven't been as good as we expected ie Derby so average, Wycombe, Oxford, Charlton, Pompey and MK Dons gone backwards.  And last season we got 73 points, this season we've got half that after half the season, so no improvement despite weaker opposition and having our squad in place from day one instead of just from January.

Your recent set of posts, while quite negative, do, from a stats perspective, hold some concerning validity. 

I do however think we have to look from game to game to get a true perspective - see Trafs post about last nights game and how It played out against 10 men.

Re the above post, the counter argument and my perspective, is that the league is much stronger than it was last season and is part of the reason we are finding it more difficult.

While there’s a few obvious examples like MK dons decline, the other sides you mention including us have arguably remained the same while other sides have improved like Plymouth, Ipswich and Sheff Wed. While last seasons championship sides have pushed the standards higher - that improvement is evident in the top 7.

We’re not automatic contenders anymore but in the mix for a play-off spot in a strong league one

Edited December 31, 2022 by desperado

[Traf]

7 minutes ago, desperado said:

Your recent set of posts, while quite negative, do, from a stats perspective, hold some concerning validity. 

I do however think we have to look from game to game to get a true perspective - see Trafs post about last nights game and how It played out against 10 men.

Re the above post, the counter argument and my perspective, is that the league is much stronger than it was last season and is part of the reason we are finding it more difficult.

While there’s a few obvious examples like MJ dons decline, the other sides you mention including us have arguably remained the same while other sides have improved like Plymouth, Ipswich and Sheff Wed. While last seasons championship sides have pushed the standards higher - that improvement is evident in the top 7.

We’re not automatic contenders anymore but in the mix for a play-off spot in a strong league one

A fair assessment.
In football, if you stand still, you go backwards. Loads of teams have improved and we're still 6th.
I don't care if "we're only just 6th" or "yeah, but we're clinging on" :  the table says that we're 6th at half-time on the season.

Same again puts us in the play-offs which is an improvement upon last season and must be considered job done, whether we go up or not. Too many football fans want unrealistic instant gratification. Let's progress steadily and not boom & bust.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

8 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

We had >35 minutes to find a winner during which time we created 3 or 4 half chances - not sitters, half chances - and put in a dozen or so crosses that went straight to a defender or were overhit. We wasted at least 10 minutes rising to the bait of Lincoln's niggling and arguing.

Our play is so leaden we'll always be facing packed defences so we need a lot more movement and options to get through other than the predictable run off wing/play a wall pass/look to shoot thing that we've been doing for months and everyone is wise to. Better tactics, better discipline and better quality now please.

3 or 4 half chances?

Yet others comment that two were guilt edged sitters.

A bit of confirmation bias type analysis going on there.