Blackpool v Lincoln Official Matchday Thread 03.09.20

Can’t believe the three mistakes for their goals today, still need a proper experienced solid centre back, just full of negatives today 😢
 
Rule No1 sit and fume then calm down before typing.

Rule No 2 get rid of expletives before typing.

Rule No 3 as No 1.

I was enjoying that game until we pressed the destruct button. We gave them 3 goals through pure idiocy and we cannot keep doing this. I have defended them up until now saying they need time to gel, but it would appear the gel is jelly. Yates was unlucky when he hit the post first half and the two goals we scored were decent although the first one was a gift. Why when a man is through on goal he doesn't shoot, but instead plays a powder puff pass for a defender to cut out is beyond me, Madine would have at least taken a shot. Yates would have taken a shot. Words fail me, they really do.

By now they should know how each other play they have had a good pre-season and three previous league games, but I cannot see much improvement, if any.

What I will say, and I hope I live to regret it, I'm glad I haven't bet on us getting promotion.

Rubbish, Crap, Shit there goes rule no 2 to the bin.
 
Surely NC will have the defence in for training tomorrow. I'd have them in at 7am until 5pm going over the most simple basics on how to defend.
 
With all the talk of inexperience Husband giving away a penalty especially at that point in the game is criminal. Safe to say he's not the solution to the Centre Half problem.
 
Memphisboy said:
Give over. Madine should have been on for last 30 at least and Anderson should have been subbed earlier. Breathing out of his arse in addition to being vastly overrated.
Click to expand...
And Madine, who has for some reason now become the saviour purely on the basis of he isn't playing, would have stopped Husband's head from falling off?
 
MilitaryPool said:
Sarkic should have pulled the trigger.

Husband was great throughout the game but was clearly not fit enough to see out the game. He was absolutely hanging out his aris and that’s why he gave away the penalty.

Ekpiteta is just one big mistake.

Keshi gave the ball away nearly every time he had it.

Yates was just bloody unlucky. With the right service he will score for sure.

Why did we bring Williams on??

Mitchell’s mistake to the penalty was crap but he had a very good game overall.

Turton did ok for me.

CJ was just CJ. Good signing.

Bez is out of his depth.

Robson, solid again. Top player at this level.

I don’t blame Maxwell for any of the 3 goals. He is great and doesn’t deserve such a duff defence in front of him.

Overall we played really well against an in form team. Three individual defensive mistakes cost us this game, yet again. I think we were the better side throughout the majority of the game and I still think Critchley has it right. It’s our defence that are to blame, yet again.
Click to expand...
Great post, every point spot on
 
Our decision making is extremely poor. Too many times we are stalling on the ball or not making the right pass. Defensively we look very suspect too. 2 players often going to one man leaving a Lincoln player free. It's like the players don't know each other or know what to do/where to go. I'm reluctant to be too harsh on the players, as it looks like they'll need a long time to gel but just get the basics right. We were poor today, didn't deserve the win but that doesn't matter. Plymouth didn't deserve to beat us and they defended brilliantly and had proper game management in the last 20. We HAVE to see games out and that comes down to making the right decisions again. Maybe it will just take a season for the players to bed in. There's no toxic environment at the club now and we have a good manager and players so the only excuse can be their experience/age. 12 of our match squad today are new signings. Most from League 2/U23s and some have had barely any game time last season.
 
It’s not working at the back or up front ..... will he come out and be honest and state he is getting it wrong with formation and youthful approach ?! I doubt it.
 
Thought a draw at least would have been fair.
Poor defending again & you cannot keep making stupid mistakes.
I like the idea of playing from the back but that does not mean pissing around just after you have taken the lead!
Husband is experienced and should know better he was likely shattered. Sometimes you should clear your lines. That was the game changer for me.
I also like the principle of developing a young team but their confidence unfortunately will take a battering it stuff like this keeps happening.
 
Last edited:
A few observations

1. We won't keep leads or win matches unless we have a solid defence. We don't have that as there is no experienced leader in there organising things and focussing on defending. I have also posted a few times that you shouldn't put square pegs in round holes and Husband is not a CB.
2. Our midfield is also leaderless and too often today we were second to 50:50 balls and were indecisive in terms of getting the in ball forward. Too much slow square passing. We are missing a midfield general / leader.
3. No disrespect to Maxwell, but you need your captain to be upfield to both organise things and drive the players on, particularly those with no or limited experience at this level.
4. I think we can all see the above, so why can't NC? And some of his substitutions and tactics over recent matches have looked odd and certainly those today did not say to me that he was either going for a win or strengthening the team. In fact it appeared the opposite. Bringing on Madine and Kemp and taking off Ward and Labella would have been the changes for me.
His record in league matches is played 6 won 1, drawn 1, lost 4. I know people say the team needs time to gel, but it looks like we are going backwards, not improving
Let's hope we can use this break to bring in the experience we need
 
Maxwell - good game, made some great stops, couldn’t do anything about the goal.

Turton - solid defensively as always but always looks too hesitant crossing the halfway line and driving forward,his crosses tend not to reach their target - his forward passing though to CJ was good though.

Epiketa - Is not filling me with much confidence, gives the ball away a lot, looks a bit ponderous when on the ball and seems to get caught out of position a lot too - fortunately he’s quick, unfortunately he’s full of mistakes - possibly not ready to be a first choice CB.

Husband - Solid and Sensible but clearly not match fit and it looks like that lack of match fitness resulted in the mistake which cost us the game. He’ll learn and recover.

Mitchell - Tough game up against Anderson but looked good despite his mistake for their first penalty. Young and still learning, very much deserving of a starting spot given his work out on the left flank especially attacking.

Robson - Quiet and tidy put probably could have got stuck in that bit more and tried have a greater say on the tempo of the game.

Ward - Gave the ball away a lot and made a few poor choices today - perhaps could and should have been subbed instead of Yates.

Anderson - Tough game and covered a lot of ground, looked tidy but obviously tired as the game wore on and his influence dropped off.

CJ - Brilliant but we relied on him far too much and he tired quickly as a result. We need to use him less for him to be able to go 100% when we do utilise him - or else he becomes less dangerous.

Lubala - Showed early promise but gave the ball away a lot, found himself out of position a few times and made some odd choices when chances arose. Mitchell deservedly replaced him up top when Garbutt came on.

Yates - Star man - clearly been told to be more selfish and take more shots on - which he did. Still chasing everything and creating chances for teammates too - desperately needs someone to do the same for him and someone to make the right pass / cross. He’ll score 15+ goals this season.

Subs - Garbutt obviously lacking in fitness but did a decent job defensively and allowed Mitchell to thrive as a winger. Sarkic must surely have been asked to press high like Yates but failed to do so - I can only assume his pace/fitness was considered to be more useful than Madines presence. Possibly the wrong call and may have been better brought on for Ward in his more natural role. Williams didn’t have chance to do much, keeps it simple and tidy, unlucky to have his teammates lose their shit around him.

Performance was actually pretty good overall. We look good on the ball, good with the ball and looked a threat most of the time. We controlled the temp of the game fairly well. Defensively we looked nervous. We obviously made 3 terrible mistakes and were punished accordingly. If we cut these mistakes out it’s likely we would be on 8 points (at least) as opposed to 3 right now. We perhaps need a Gary Brabin figure in the dressing room (or on the pitch) to light a fire under some of the youngsters and to make sure these mistakes are eradicated.

I don’t think it’s doom and gloom yet and I still think we’re gonna have a decent season and will be up towards the top come game 46
 
Tangerine 🍊 🍊 🍊 said:
I got called negative and pessimistic when I said I wasn't on the promotion train. Now you all see why.
Click to expand...
Yep, I think it just shows this board is full of bi-polar or manic depressive types.

We are either better than real Madrid or the worst team in the world. No middle ground.

4 games in and some of the comments are ridiculous. Some players havent even had 90 competitive minutes and are written off.

Karl oyston spoke bollocks a lot of the time.but when thing he famously said getting to the PL cannot help but change this club he was correct. We now have the biggest bunch of spoilt fans around wanting immediate success.

I saw enough in the first half to say we have plenty of positives and need to work now on the weaknesses.
 
I think Critch is forcing a system on them that they have not yet got the stamina or skills to implement

They are so keen to move forward that it is exposing the defence. We don't have two solid defenders who can cope with anything when the FBs bomb forward, and they are not quick enough to get back, non of them are a Crainey. This is leading to desperate errors, they are knackered, out of position, or scared. There is no one from midfield consistently protecting the defence, all are too keen to get forward.

Confidence in the strikers seems low, I personally think Yates will come good when he gets his, couple of real good strikes today inches wide. CJ is a dream but cannot do it alone for 90 minutes. Second goal was good for the lad, he made a big mistake but then wanted to atone, he'll do me.

The Sarkic decision was a weird one, if he was on as a Number 9, why didn't he pull the trigger or chip, would have then finished a different game.

The game is football, you are judged on points, and at the moment we are lacking. Having all this great talent is fine, but they need a leader on field with them, picking them up, shielding them, fronting the opposition. Don't care if he is 18 or 32, but we desperately need that player.

I do wonder what Critchley's management style is?
 
Dave62 said:
Yep, said the same in the match thread last week. I suggested that NC is trying to play a championship level standard with L2 signings - hope I'm proved wrong.

Don't know if it's nerves, but after watching the 4 league games so far, I would say there's an average of 4 unforced errors per match in our defenders. If it's not nerves it's a lack of concentration. Either way it's simply not good enough.

I also agree that we should have managed the game out for a 2-1 win
Even at 2-2, a confident player would have put us 3-2 up rather than squaring the ball

Hugely disappointing I'm afraid
Click to expand...
I think its a combination of nerves and ability. We need a LG1 Beckenbauer to calm things & control the game.
We have a LG2 standard defence.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Maxwell - good game, made some great stops, couldn’t do anything about the goal.

Turton - solid defensively as always but always looks too hesitant crossing the halfway line and driving forward,his crosses tend not to reach their target - his forward passing though to CJ was good though.

Epiketa - Is not filling me with much confidence, gives the ball away a lot, looks a bit ponderous when on the ball and seems to get caught out of position a lot too - fortunately he’s quick, unfortunately he’s full of mistakes - possibly not ready to be a first choice CB.

Husband - Solid and Sensible but clearly not match fit and it looks like that lack of match fitness resulted in the mistake which cost us the game. He’ll learn and recover.

Mitchell - Tough game up against Anderson but looked good despite his mistake for their first penalty. Young and still learning, very much deserving of a starting spot given his work out on the left flank especially attacking.

Robson - Quiet and tidy put probably could have got stuck in that bit more and tried have a greater say on the tempo of the game.

Ward - Gave the ball away a lot and made a few poor choices today - perhaps could and should have been subbed instead of Yates.

Anderson - Tough game and covered a lot of ground, looked tidy but obviously tired as the game wore on and his influence dropped off.

CJ - Brilliant but we relied on him far too much and he tired quickly as a result. We need to use him less for him to be able to go 100% when we do utilise him - or else he becomes less dangerous.

Lubala - Showed early promise but gave the ball away a lot, found himself out of position a few times and made some odd choices when chances arose. Mitchell deservedly replaced him up top when Garbutt came on.

Yates - Star man - clearly been told to be more selfish and take more shots on - which he did. Still chasing everything and creating chances for teammates too - desperately needs someone to do the same for him and someone to make the right pass / cross. He’ll score 15+ goals this season.

Subs - Garbutt obviously lacking in fitness but did a decent job defensively and allowed Mitchell to thrive as a winger. Sarkic must surely have been asked to press high like Yates but failed to do so - I can only assume his pace/fitness was considered to be more useful than Madines presence. Possibly the wrong call and may have been better brought on for Ward in his more natural role. Williams didn’t have chance to do much, keeps it simple and tidy, unlucky to have his teammates lose their shit around him.

Performance was actually pretty good overall. We look good on the ball, good with the ball and looked a threat most of the time. We controlled the temp of the game fairly well. Defensively we looked nervous. We obviously made 3 terrible mistakes and were punished accordingly. If we cut these mistakes out it’s likely we would be on 8 points (at least) as opposed to 3 right now. We perhaps need a Gary Brabin figure in the dressing room (or on the pitch) to light a fire under some of the youngsters and to make sure these mistakes are eradicated.

I don’t think it’s doom and gloom yet and I still think we’re gonna have a decent season and will be up towards the top come game 46
Click to expand...
would go with 90% of that. think mitchell is much better going forward than defending, we looked a different unit when Yates went off, their defence suddenly had room to move. think madine should have come on for Lubala second half with Yates and madine and CJ to worry about im not sure their defence would have held up at all. hey ho
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Maxwell - good game, made some great stops, couldn’t do anything about the goal.

Turton - solid defensively as always but always looks too hesitant crossing the halfway line and driving forward,his crosses tend not to reach their target - his forward passing though to CJ was good though.

Epiketa - Is not filling me with much confidence, gives the ball away a lot, looks a bit ponderous when on the ball and seems to get caught out of position a lot too - fortunately he’s quick, unfortunately he’s full of mistakes - possibly not ready to be a first choice CB.

Husband - Solid and Sensible but clearly not match fit and it looks like that lack of match fitness resulted in the mistake which cost us the game. He’ll learn and recover.

Mitchell - Tough game up against Anderson but looked good despite his mistake for their first penalty. Young and still learning, very much deserving of a starting spot given his work out on the left flank especially attacking.

Robson - Quiet and tidy put probably could have got stuck in that bit more and tried have a greater say on the tempo of the game.

Ward - Gave the ball away a lot and made a few poor choices today - perhaps could and should have been subbed instead of Yates.

Anderson - Tough game and covered a lot of ground, looked tidy but obviously tired as the game wore on and his influence dropped off.

CJ - Brilliant but we relied on him far too much and he tired quickly as a result. We need to use him less for him to be able to go 100% when we do utilise him - or else he becomes less dangerous.

Lubala - Showed early promise but gave the ball away a lot, found himself out of position a few times and made some odd choices when chances arose. Mitchell deservedly replaced him up top when Garbutt came on.

Yates - Star man - clearly been told to be more selfish and take more shots on - which he did. Still chasing everything and creating chances for teammates too - desperately needs someone to do the same for him and someone to make the right pass / cross. He’ll score 15+ goals this season.

Subs - Garbutt obviously lacking in fitness but did a decent job defensively and allowed Mitchell to thrive as a winger. Sarkic must surely have been asked to press high like Yates but failed to do so - I can only assume his pace/fitness was considered to be more useful than Madines presence. Possibly the wrong call and may have been better brought on for Ward in his more natural role. Williams didn’t have chance to do much, keeps it simple and tidy, unlucky to have his teammates lose their shit around him.

Performance was actually pretty good overall. We look good on the ball, good with the ball and looked a threat most of the time. We controlled the temp of the game fairly well. Defensively we looked nervous. We obviously made 3 terrible mistakes and were punished accordingly. If we cut these mistakes out it’s likely we would be on 8 points (at least) as opposed to 3 right now. We perhaps need a Gary Brabin figure in the dressing room (or on the pitch) to light a fire under some of the youngsters and to make sure these mistakes are eradicated.

I don’t think it’s doom and gloom yet and I still think we’re gonna have a decent season and will be up towards the top come game 46
Click to expand...
Can’t argue wit that !
 
Agreed particularly with the strange Sarkic substitution thought his poor decision when through on goal cost us big time. I'm not pushing panic button yet but Critch has a big month coming up.
 
Think there are enough signs of potential for me and a little more understanding which doesn't happen overnight will make a big difference. Either way brand new team, new manager obviously needs to be given time.

Do we really think Critchley isn't aware of the defensive issues?
 
Don‘t think Chitchley has a clue about footfall at this level. League One is scrappy long ball football , hard tackling football , with sen pros around. Need experience players around these young players otherwise relegation on the cards. Cannot carry on like this
 
Fatboy said:
Can’t argue wit that !
Click to expand...
I can. We misplaced passes for fun in that second half. We didn't exploit their weak defence anything like enough. Our crosses were often too close to the keeper. Our defending was poor, with the exception of Turton and Husband in the first 60 mins. After that they ran us ragged.
Diplomatic language is respected but sometimes a poster who says 'that was F**KING SH*TE' cuts through the considered stuff and concisely calls it right.
 
Ghosts of Electricity said:
Yep, I think it just shows this board is full of bi-polar or manic depressive types.

We are either better than real Madrid or the worst team in the world. No middle ground.

4 games in and some of the comments are ridiculous. Some players havent even had 90 competitive minutes and are written off.

Karl oyston spoke bollocks a lot of the time.but when thing he famously said getting to the PL cannot help but change this club he was correct. We now have the biggest bunch of spoilt fans around wanting immediate success.

I saw enough in the first half to say we have plenty of positives and need to work now on the weaknesses.
Click to expand...
The worst people are those that exaggerate the excitement. No one compared us to Real Madrid, majority said that if we play like we did against Everton and Liverpool we had a huge chance. We haven't so far.
 
Is Maxwell as captain the best option to gaffer games like today when everybody seems to be calling for a strong outfield player?
 
Goforgoal said:
Critchley says he has belief in this squad. I think he’s probably in a majority of one.
Click to expand...
I've said elsewhere, I'm prepared to give him time even though I'm critical on here about how we're playing. There's nothing contradictory in that. I would say to all posters, be critical post-defeat where it's due - we are fans, it's allowed. But I would also say, keep faith with Critchley...for now.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
I've said elsewhere, I'm prepared to give him time even though I'm critical on here about how we're playing. There's nothing contradictory in that. I would say to all posters, be critical post-defeat where it's due - we are fans, it's allowed. But I would also say, keep faith with Critchley...for now.
Click to expand...
I am also prepared to give him time. However his substitutions are bizarre to say the least and whilst slagging the players off every week, ala Grayson, is not the way to go neither is trying to gloss over a multitude of failures. After last weeks complete capitulation changes were obviously needed. All he did was scapegoat Nottingham, the goals were entirely his fault, but no one covered themselves in glory and 2 or 3 could have had no complaints if they had been dropped, but no. Today the world and his grandad could see Anderson was having a complete mare, everyone that is except Critch and his cronies. As I said I am prepared to give him time, but he and the players need to learn very quickly. In management terms he is still an apprentice, but in terms of team selection and subs he is naive in the extreme. I don’t profess to be a expert in either playing or coaching football, but I along with most other viewers today knew what was needed and that wasn’t it.
 
Just watched the last goal again and it's like the Keystone Cops. We had enough men back but gave the guy loads of space and then didn't challenge. Oh for a Gary Briggs
 
Finding it so frustrating at the moment.
Our overall style of play is really good and we play the right way but when you can't defend and at the other end have nobody to create chances for your strikers then your never gonna get to where you wanna be.

- 2 cbs needed desperately
- a creative attacking central midfielder needed.

What I'd do for KDH and Taylor Moore right now. Stick them two in and we would be right up there.
 
Let’s not be massively over critical after a very frustrating last 30 mins today because that just showed exactly where the shortfalls are in the team. Notwithstanding the strange substitutions that evidently changed the balance of the team, us fans have been saying it for months on this board that we desperately need an experienced player or two in this team and certainly one being a CB. It's a no brainer in order to gel this team together and get the best out of the younger players. NC and the players will be shell shocked after that last 30 mins performance but they’ve got to pick themselves up and sort themselves out for the Accy game.
 
It’s almost embarrassing to even suggest such a thing these days with so many professors of football knocking around, and new fangled methods, but I can’t help but think with the players we have a classic 442 with Yates and Madine upfront would do the business.
 
I watched Chelsea try and play out from the back against Liverpool last weak. They couldn't. They gifted Mane a goal and got it to half way about once from 11 attempts. What makes Critchley think our league 1 players are good enough. May be good for young players if your job is to get 1 player out of every 10 to a higher level.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top