Alex V's Lincoln ***Match Prediction***

[crewebacca]

Lincoln have not impressed in their last two league outings, losing at Cheltenham and only drawing with Creepy, so after our GIANT KILLING act in the week I'm going for a 2-1 Alex win. C.O.Y.R!

[alexmick]

One thing is certain with this game. We need a home win and a good performance at that. Our league season needs a kick-start.

[AlexLeicester]

That was not one of the worst displays I've seen this season, but it summed up a lot of what's wrong.
Lincoln were poor in the first half and we should have had at least another two goals.
From the whistle, the second half showed that they had used the break to iron out their problems, work out how to defeat us, and swiftly set about a demolition job.
I'm not sure what was said in the Alex dressing room at half time, but overall it was a display of appalling tactics. The Alex players seemed adrift of what was going on; lack of awareness coupled with a pace that replicated the first half - possibly expecting Lincoln to be the same as the first 45 minutes.
It was a miserable afternoon for any Alex fan hoping for a decent game of football.

[MikeSB]

That was not one of the worst displays I've seen this season, but it summed up a lot of what's wrong.
Lincoln were poor in the first half and we should have had at least another two goals.
From the whistle, the second half showed that they had used the break to iron out their problems, work out how to defeat us, and swiftly set about a demolition job.
I'm not sure what was said in the Alex dressing room at half time, but overall it was a display of appalling tactics. The Alex players seemed adrift of what was going on; lack of awareness coupled with a pace that replicated the first half - possibly expecting Lincoln to be the same as the first 45 minutes.
It was a miserable afternoon for any Alex fan hoping for a decent game of football.

I can't comment on the match as wasn't there but the radio commentators said we played far too deep in the second half and allowed them to dominate midfield and that Ainsely and Cooper were playing wing backs and hardly got forward which is their role.

DA also said he cannot understand we are playing 45 mins so different than the other 45 in recent games and so if he doesn't know, who does?

We could be looking at a relegation spot if it continues though? Never mind we can join PV in the National League with all those other juicy local derbies...

Someone said that Lincoln were bigger, better and fitter or something and so my question would be why is that being they were non league last season and no academy as such either..

My other vexed thought is if we do not get a transfer fee soon then we could have spent a cool 4 million pounds on the academy with no significant return since the last big sale. The board must be close to running out of money if not patience? If there really is 40 scouts looking at our academy matches with the freedom to sign who they like for peanuts then I just ask the questions why doesn't someone from the board say something? It did work at one time but seemingly not now and so surely they will know and what the alternatives are? It would be interesting to know how many players LC signed this season but someone said they get gates of 8000 plus where we are now struggling to break 3000? Something will have to change but what and how soon?

[AstonAlex]

I don’t think we should confuse being in the National League with being part time. Lincoln City employed full time players during their time in the NL (and Conference prior to that). Their average crowd this season is, indeed, 8,600 where ours is 3,600: this will certainly have been boosted by it being their first season back in the EFL for a while and it helps that Lincoln is both in the middle of nowhere and a bigger city than Crewe.

As regards money, true they don’t have an Academy, but in the short term they are benefitting from a run to quarter finals of the FA Cup last season which will have netted them £180k in prize money plus TV dosh - and good luck to them for it.

I think they have benefitted from last season’s success on the field too; as we know most newly promoted teams start well after promotion, especially those that don’t come up via the play offs. Their ‘style’ certainly owed a lot to what some call non-League football and I imagine they used last season’s windfall to enhance that. In the second half they were a well organised, in your face outfit and, as the manager said, one or two of our players didn’t seem to fancy it. I think DA was, as ever, using hyperbole when suggesting none of them were up for it, but it is high time, as others have said, that he bore some responsibility and was honest about it. Square pegs in round holes and bizarre substitutions were certainly a feature (again) yesterday.

As some of us said after the Rotherham game, I didn’t see that coming at half time - and I said the same to my mate at 5 on Saturday.

[alexmick]

I could not believe how the same players that had performed so admirably against League One outfit, Rotherham (second half) and then looked comfortable against Lincoln in that first half, could put in such an inept and disinterested performance for the final 45 minutes on Saturday. Yes, Artell must take his fair share of the responsibility, but these professional footballers really let not only the fans down, but themselves besides. It looks to me that they think that they can just go out there on the field and strut around in their fancy boots and display their modern fancy hairstyles and think that is all they have to do. Could it be that they are only interested in the pay packets at the end of each week and a move to a club in the league higher? At one time, these lads would be proud to wear the Alex shirt and play their hearts out for this club. That seems to have sadly gone by the wayside. The academy is certainly not producing the players of the calibre it once did and furthermore, we are losing the very best of them to other clubs higher up the pyramid, long before they are able to serve the team at league level. Perhaps, it is now time to scale down this expensive component of our team development (not get rid completely), as it is becoming a too expensive cross for the club to bear. Not for a number of years now, have we produced the type of player that would recoup the kind of money that is needed for it to be cost effective. No Powell, Westwood or Murphy has been in evidence in recent years.