1 hour ago, gonzo said:

We just cant handle aggressive teams in the winter.

Roll on spring

Seems to me we can't handle going behind 

We have the possession so the opposition go all shit house on us and we struggle to play against it 

We aren't creating chances like last season when our WBs we're flying 

The tactic/outcome seems to be to aim to go all out later on bringing on as many forwards as we can and hope something drops 

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't 

Kachunga and Baka had half chances the last two games to win it, but they didn't fall for us  

If we can stop conceding first and create more chances we'll be reet  

I would hope if John, Sadlier and Baka are considering moves away in jan we have 3 players lined up to come in 

A tough midfield tackler, a new lwb and a better forward next month and we'll be reet 

2 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

3 or 4 half chances?

Yet others comment that two were guilt edged sitters.

A bit of confirmation bias type analysis going on there.

 

I think it depends where abouts you were sat . I was directly behind the goal and the Baka chance was the worst , instead of going with his head he for some reason just tried to chuck his body at it . The Kachunga chance just totally fell to the wrong player , I'd have fancied my mother doing better and she's 80 . 

54 minutes ago, desperado said:

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

Have we ever really been?

8 hours ago, Ratwhite said:

Oxford gone backwards??

They schooled us up here.

They're usually in and around the play offs throughout the season 

Not sure if they've been close this season but are currently 13th, so you could say gone backwards

Did their main commentator agree with the sending off? If he did he could have at least said 

14 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

3 or 4 half chances?

Yet others comment that two were guilt edged sitters.

A bit of confirmation bias type analysis going on there.

 

 

The Baka chance is on here.

The first half, we were as bad & disjointed as we've been all season, but were much better in the 2nd half.

but, the sending off worked against us with Lincoln just putting 10 men behind the ball, timewasting, breaking up the game, working the ref and we didn't really have the guile to break them down........with hindsight we brought on too many "forwards " but not enough to create chances.

Not great, not a disaster.

1 minute ago, bolton va va said:

The first half, we were as bad & disjointed as we've been all season, but were much better in the 2nd half.

but, the sending off worked against us with Lincoln just putting 10 men behind the ball, timewasting, breaking up the game, working the ref and we didn't really have the guile to break them down........with hindsight we brought on too many "forwards " but not enough to create chances.

Not great, not a disaster.

Personally no need to bring Baka & kachunga on so soon after scoring if anything it should’ve been lee coming on at that point it was crying out for him 

Somehow Evatt always find a way for Kachunga to either play or come on as a sub the guy is poor even at this level!

2 hours 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. 

OK one chance where he totally misread the flight of the ball. Doesn't change the fact that it's a piss poor return when we have an extra attacker to unlock the defence with. And that's because we didn't use the extra man but just carried on doing the same old crap they can defend all day. I'm saying that even with these players we could do better tactically and psychologically.

https://www.skysports.com/football/lincoln-city-vs-bolton-wanderers/report/469209

1 shot on target in 90 mins is piss poor

48 minutes ago, Horwich said:

Have we ever really been?

I did see your earlier post criticising those who thought automatic promotion was a realistic target at the start of the season. 

Don’t know whether you are trying to catch me out, as I admittedly was one of those.

But I maintain this wasn’t as crazy as you are suggesting.

If Sheff Wed, Ipswich and Plymouth don’t improve as much as they have and the championship teams are weaker than we thought, (especially Derby who we didn’t have a clue about) then we wouldn’t have been far off.

As an optimist with a realistic perspective, looking at our form from Feb-May, I think it was fair game to make that optimistic prediction.

There’s a big difference between someone who realistically can alter their prediction and understand that progress is being made, small steps may be necessary and support the manager and players. As opposed to slagging off the manager at every game we don’t win and blowing out of their arse that this isn’t good enough because we should be running away with the title. 

15 minutes ago, L/H White said:

1 shot on target in 90 mins is piss poor

We really are piss poor though and have been for a couple of months now.

A big four league games against the better teams coming up.

Our “easy” run has finished……

Need 7 points.

11 hours ago, Ratwhite said:

Oxford gone backwards??

They schooled us up here.

Challenged for play offs all last season and finished 8th (despite us doing the double over them!).  Have been bottom half all season although they seem to be improving. 

1 hour ago, captainmed said:

 

A big four league games against the better teams coming up.

Our “easy” run has finished……

Need 7 points.

I agree we should have more points on the board after the recent run of games, and it may get worse before it gets better but if we do the right deals in the transfer window we may well have a chance to be involved and do well in the playoffs at the end of the season.

The frustrating thing for me is that I think we should be doing better with the players we already have.

1 shot on target Vs Lincoln

2 shots on target Vs Derby

3 shots on target Vs Exeter

3 shots on target Vs Shrewsbury

This is concerning, especially when our strikers have such low conversion rates.

4 hours 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 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

Good balanced comments.

As I always say, its about opinions and we all see things differently.  I thought the standard had decreased this season with those teams I mentioned clearly not the force they were (Pompey and MK Dons especially) and the teams that came down not as good as those that went up, I expected more from Barnsley, Derby and especially Peterboro. 

Not sure Sheff Wed improved have they?  Top 3 or 4 again, anyway its minor detail, I'm just surprised our current points total is enough to have us in the top 6 because it wouldn't have been last season.

On 30/12/2022 at 13:42, MickyD said:

Wife and I staying at doubletree Hilton on the marina along with the Bolton team 

Also, for the beer aficionados, just after the change from A1 to A57 there is a small brewery called Pheasants Brewery or something. They're doing a deal of 24 bottles for...

Well,  I was going too fast to read it all but it looked a though it was a sale 

Was £45 saw it on the way home 

As insane as this sounds, I would actually fancy us in the playoffs

5 hours ago, radcliffe white said:

Personally no need to bring Baka & kachunga on so soon after scoring if anything it should’ve been lee coming on at that point it was crying out for him 

A very salient point. When teams sit in, particularly with 10 players, putting on a plethora of strikera can give a lack of depth to the play, as so many push on in a single line. 

Someone like Lee provides that bit of intelligence and craft that opens teams up.

Just back. Not seen our goal yet 🙈

7 hours ago, radcliffe white said:

Personally no need to bring Baka & kachunga on so soon after scoring if anything it should’ve been lee coming on at that point it was crying out for him 

I am not a Kerchunga hater but bringing him on to play the 10 role with Lee on the bench was baffling. 
We were on top Morley and Dempsey seemed to have midfield under control. 

55 minutes ago, Ani said:

I am not a Kerchunga hater but bringing him on to play the 10 role with Lee on the bench was baffling. 
We were on top Morley and Dempsey seemed to have midfield under control. 

I'm not sure Dempsey had control of anything did he?  Another anonymous game from him, he's a mystery to me in terms of what he offers.  Morley played quite well 2nd half.

Agree entirely on Lee, baffling,

3 hours ago, Wullie said:

As insane as this sounds, I would actually fancy us in the playoffs

Based on what?  If season ended now its Sheff Wed or Ipswich over 2 legs.  

BTW I'm not worried about it personally, its no disgrace to say we aren't expecting to go up this season, just enjoy the games as they come, its more about the journey than the destination for me. 

Anything can happen in the play offs, how often does the team who sneaked in 6th beat the team finishing 3rd, possibly because they were so close to automatic and gutted at missing out? I never counted on us getting an automatic spot but I always thought and still do, that we’d make the top six. If IE can just find the right couple of players in the window we can beat anybody in this league including the top two or three. Come on Ian you can do it.

Edited December 31, 20223 yr by Whitesince63

24 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Based on what?  If season ended now its Sheff Wed or Ipswich over 2 legs.  

BTW I'm not worried about it personally, its no disgrace to say we aren't expecting to go up this season, just enjoy the games as they come, its more about the journey than the destination for me. 

Just a feeling, completely irrational