⚽ Match Thread vs. Lincoln City 08.08.23 [EFLC R1]

[OldBanksy]

This ^^^^

One if the reasons supporters have given up on these competitions is the clubs tendency to field experimental line-ups. We could have competed last night with our best starting 11 but we fiddled around with fringe players and positions.

1 shot on target in 90 mins of open play.

So called best starting 11 did worse against a league 2 side

[countygump]

So called best starting 11 did worse against a league 2 side

We lost against Sutton and conceded several sloppy goals that's true, but at weird as it may seem, at least we competed. We had several chances in their goal mouth that we could have done better with. You couldn't remotely say the same against Lincoln who we could just as easily have shipped 5 goals against, were luck not on our side.

[OldBanksy]

All of the pre season signings apart from DM in my opinion are just not good enough. And I also question as to whether he was really a necessity, in view of the other striker options at the club. Our priority without any doubt should have been the defence. Bringing a 19 year old academy player in is not the answer...I just hope we are not on loan to the EFL..

A 19 year old, slightly built academy player does seem rather a strange addition and doesn't seem to fit the bill for what appears to be required.

[OldBanksy]

There were three telling actions.
The way they scored their two goals had nothing to do with height or strength or physicality.
The first was all about nous in losing markers all over the box and our naivety in coping with it.
The second was a naive, loose pass that was pounced upon.
The sending off was a completely unnecessary, self destruct moment.

[Proactive not Reactive]

There were three telling actions.
The way they scored their two goals had nothing to do with height or strength or physicality.
The first was all about nous in losing markers all over the box and our naivety in coping with it.
The second was a naive, loose pass that was pounced upon.
The sending off was a completely unnecessary, self destruct moment.

I totally agree with you the fans said before the start of last season we were too lightweight in the middle of the park but the midfield ran virtually every game.
The first goal which was pivotal last night came from their player being sharper than TAR and then Crowley losing his man at the far post

[crazyfists]

What worries me is that LW doesn't seem to have a solid grasp of what is required to be successful at this level. He's a bit of a maverick when it comes to tactics and approach, and that makes the whole thing feel a bit like a giant experiment. It could go spectacularly well or it could blow up in our faces.

Other clubs have managers who understand exactly what is needed - relative dinosaurs like Parkinson, Clough, and Hughes. They understand that you need to be well drilled, solid at the back, and physical first, and once you've got that solid foundation in place, you can then start to think about playing fancy attacking football.

Fans of other clubs have called out their astonishment at our high line and kamikaze defending just as much as they have our attacking prowess, and every team we play will be looking to exploit our obvious weaknesses. What are we doing to counter that threat?

We'll know a lot more after Saturday, but it already looks like a pivotal game. I'm not confident because I know those issues that have been plain as day for months now will still be there.

We're playing in a higher division now. What worked in the NL won't necessarily work in L2. Possession football means nothing if the opposition has three times as many chances are we do.

Good post. People aren't drama queens and also no one thought we were great in defence last season and didn't need any additional players. We have always been scared looking at the back for years now. When did we last have a commanding centre back apart from Elliott on loan, Richardson? Redmile? It's been a long time. Also posters are right about JOB, the people who think he's poor have no clue that he's the only one who actually tries to make runs, offers himself or puts a strong foot in. To be relying still on him for this is ridiculous.

There's alot to be said as well for the style of play changing from high pressing to slow possesion build up. Without Ruben, the only real outlet up front we have is Nemane and his final ball is unreliable. LW and the team have alot of goodwill in the bank but this doesn't mean anything on the pitch. I have been guilty of underestimating L2 before the start of the season but as others have said we can still play good football in this league and do well. To do this though we do need 2 defenders in and a centre mid who presses and is a leader on the pitch.

This is Notts so the fans are worried as 5 years ago we were tipped to go up and got relegated. Now is the time the team needs to make us feel reassured that they have more grit and hard work in them.

[slack_pie]

Good post. People aren't drama queens and also no one thought we were great in defence last season and didn't need any additional players. We have always been scared looking at the back for years now. When did we last have a commanding centre back apart from Elliott on loan, Richardson? Redmile? It's been a long time. Also posters are right about JOB, the people who think he's poor have no clue that he's the only one who actually tries to make runs, offers himself or puts a strong foot in. To be relying still on him for this is ridiculous.

There's alot to be said as well for the style of play changing from high pressing to slow possesion build up. Without Ruben, the only real outlet up front we have is Nemane and his final ball is unreliable. LW and the team have alot of goodwill in the bank but this doesn't mean anything on the pitch. I have been guilty of underestimating L2 before the start of the season but as others have said we can still play good football in this league and do well. To do this though we do need 2 defenders in and a centre mid who presses and is a leader on the pitch.

This is Notts so the fans are worried as 5 years ago we were tipped to go up and got relegated. Now is the time the team needs to make us feel reassured that they have more grit and hard work in them.

You are right, we've hardly had any commanding CBs in recent years. Apart from Elliott on loan, the last I can remember was Graeme Lee, who won pretty much every ball that came into the box.

On the subject of changing from high-intensity to slow build-up, my old man said the exact same thing to me earlier. I wasn't at the game, but he was, and he said it was just dull. Constant passing about between the defenders and the keeper with zero end result. Like the worst aspects of Birchnall-ball. Is that a conscious decision or something else?

Those memories of five years ago still haunt me today. I remember how excited I felt when we signed Enzio, Dennis, Vaughan, and Hemmings. I was convinced we were in for an epic season, and then we started so poorly and never recovered. I'm not saying that will happen again - we are in much better shape off the pitch than we were then - but it just goes to show how things can go wrong in ways you never imagined.

[durhampie]

You are right, we've hardly had any commanding CBs in recent years. Apart from Elliott on loan, the last I can remember was Graeme Lee, who won pretty much every ball that came into the box.

On the subject of changing from high-intensity to slow build-up, my old man said the exact same thing to me earlier. I wasn't at the game, but he was, and he said it was just dull. Constant passing about between the defenders and the keeper with zero end result. Like the worst aspects of Birchnall-ball. Is that a conscious decision or something else?

Those memories of five years ago still haunt me today. I remember how excited I felt when we signed Enzio, Dennis, Vaughan, and Hemmings. I was convinced we were in for an epic season, and then we started so poorly and never recovered. I'm not saying that will happen again - we are in much better shape off the pitch than we were then - but it just goes to show how things can go wrong in ways you never imagined.

Our high intensity game went out of the window the moment Bostock arrived. We tweaked our style to suit his safe passing of the ball, without actually doing anything with it.. Those who say, well we got 107 points and won most of our games, but in reality playing against most of those teams you would have been disappointed not to have achieved that goal.. Prior to Bostock, we had Bajrami in midfield along side Palmer, that pairing in my opinion was the best we have had. Very little got past Baj and we generally bossed the midfield. It was unfortunate that Baj got injured, but conveniently so for Bostock.. Thats when we began to lose our rhythm, with all of this passing about and going nowhere...

[matt_magpie]

Our high intensity game went out of the window the moment Bostock arrived. We tweaked our style to suit his safe passing of the ball, without actually doing anything with it.. Those who say, well we got 107 points and won most of our games, but in reality playing against most of those teams you would have been disappointed not to have achieved that goal.. Prior to Bostock, we had Bajrami in midfield along side Palmer, that pairing in my opinion was the best we have had. Very little got past Baj and we generally bossed the midfield. It was unfortunate that Baj got injured, but conveniently so for Bostock.. Thats when we began to lose our rhythm, with all of this passing about and going nowhere...

Didn’t Baj only have about 2 or 3 games in midfield?
It’s all opinions, for me Bostocks absolute class, dragged us through that final and clearly isn’t scared of big games which in my opinion is exactly what we need this season.

[durhampie]

Didn’t Baj only have about 2 or 3 games in midfield?
It’s all opinions, for me Bostocks absolute class, dragged us through that final and clearly isn’t scared of big games which in my opinion is exactly what we need this season.

Unfortunately Baj only played a handful of games before getting injured. But you are right, Bostock is a class player, but he does at times tend to slow the game down too much with his constant passing in safe areas.. I also think he has had an adverse effect on Palmers game..