Lincoln City at home Carabao Cup third-round match thread

[Simon79]

11 hours ago, MarcusX said:

Wtf has he not played that straight out to the right?

Because the weight of the pass was poor, he had to wait & wait before it got to him. Have only seen a clip of the goal granted. I’ve said it so many times, pas the bloody ball with some purpose! COYR 

[brad blit]

Morning All,

A few thoughts after sleeping on it......

1) It was a cup game, and pretty much every City was happy or at least expected numerous changes to give youngsters or squad players some minutes. There is also the chance of a cup upset, thats the nature (and some might say beauty) of the competition.

2) The performance was shocking and not many players come out of the game with credit, but it does serve the purpose in showing NP more about players -

• J D S - has his form from end of last year and start of this year faltered because he OOC in 8 months and his mind is 'elsewhere' - I think its fair to say over last few games (and previously) that Pring is more than an adequate replacement and is probably on 10k a week less than him. MOVE ON
• Sykes - another who's early season form (perhaps newly found confidence from big summer move) has gone and hes struggling, think Tanner/Wilson/Weimann will be ahead of him for RWB position and maybe he should start to train/play further forward as he did for Oxford.
• Klose - not the same man we signed after his great first season for us, talks of personal issues and niggly injuries all year havnt helped. Another who probably won't be near starting 11 once Kalas & Naismith return
• Semenyo - nowhere near the standards of last year, another who's probably had his head turned by talk of moving on to bigger clubs. He's the "Crown Jewel" we should look to sell and reinvest in the squad. MOVE ON

3) The Winter/World Cup break has come at the right time, gives NP 6 weeks to potentially try a new formation with returning players, and plan for an important Jan transfer window. Its a weird league this year, are we the 4th worst team in the league? Id safely say no, but the table dosnt lie and we need to make changes quickly before we are dragged into it. NP knows the squad, will now have a better idea of his best 11, and more importantly knows where he needs to make changes - a new manager coming in wont have the game time to see players in action and therefore will go into next window blind. I understand peoples anger at last nights result, but getting rid of NP is not the right thing to do.

       

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by brad blit

[MC RISK77]

9 hours ago, Swede said:

Hey lads, let's take a step back please! Remembering we're all fans. OTIB is about different opinions and debate. It ceases to be a debate when it gets personal. What makes OTIB great is the wide and varying views of everyone. Not everyone will agree with some of the points raised but you'll get a far more considered response if you are respectful.

Absolutely- but some people are taking this terrible run for Pearson really badly

at least @Davefevswho has been very patient with Pearson can debate very reasonably without trying to shout people down. 

I reckon if or when Dave turns on Nigel then everyone else will.

[italian dave]

8 hours ago, Spike said:

That was under Ashton, it was also to fund signings that at the time really made a statement. 
I see Pearson as trying to get through this season, then he can release a large number of players who he wants to replace but cannot sell, Bentley will most likely be gone, that's one big wage replaced by max which means Pearson can sign a free agent and offer a good wage, there will be other players but most of all the wages freed up will allow Pearson to make the signings he needs to move us forward. As you've said, we have to sell to buy, but I don't think Pearsons plans for us is to buy success, it's to develop it and that takes time. 
If we were to sell Semenyo, Scott, Conway etc we'd be in a worse place than we are now, we'd also have no future as we'd have sold our biggest talents with others leaving due to ended contracts. We'll already take a hit with Massengo if he's not sold in January, so I see Pearson aiming to get to January, sell Massengo and maybe bring in a few players on short contracts to fill spots that he couldn't in the summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see Semenyo go if we're offered a good price too. We're not shot of strikers so selling Semenyo when our best duo are Wells and Conway wouldn't be a huge loss as we can't play the way Semenyo is suited to, we just don't have the players in the midfield that would feed him the passes he thrives on and that play to his strengths. 

All in all today was a bad result but so far this season we've already had Max show he can be our starting goalkeeper, we've already seen that Conway can start as a striker, we've also seen Scott go from strength to strength, they're all youth that have been developed. just because Low and Kadji haven't shone in their first games it doesn't mean our youth system isn't the future as it's developing enough successful players that it is worth putting the time and effort into. Pearson is using the youth, he is trying to build a balanced and cohesive team but that doesn't always happen in a season or two, sometimes you have to run down contracts of players who aren't right for the club and then replace them with players who do.

My biggest fear right now is people will have a knee jerk reaction to a piss poor result during a period where we have a lot of players out and undo the shaping Pearson has been doing. Come next season if we started with Max in goal, a right back of the quality that Pearson wants (or Kane if he gets to that place), a new CM of quality I think we'd have a strong starting line up, I also think he'd be able to bring in depth if as many players as we expect are going to be let go. I think January will be telling for us, I'm also thinking once we have some of our players back we'll get back on track, however if we sack Pearson now we'll just be hamstringing ourselves, having to rebuild for a new managers vision and it won't move any quicker and could be far worse. I guess time will tell but should Pearson go tomorrow I can't see any excitement in the near future, we'd just struggle with a squad built around one vision with a new man in charge with a different vision and plan.

A sensible and well reasoned post. I’d just make two observations/challenges to throw into the discussion:

I completely get the whole vision/plan and new manager/new vision thing but NP is already the 4th (I think) longest serving manager in the Championship. I think SL gets it too (and learnt from the days when we got through managers at the rate on one or two a season) and all the ifs and buts and coulds start to wear a bit thinner as that time goes on. We could always try what other clubs do and find a new man with the same vision and plan - that’s definitely we don’t have a good track record for. 

All the above makes sense in the context of the Championship. And that seems to be what you’ve assumed. You say that your biggest fear is a knee jerk reaction to the result. After last night, after our recent run of form, after other teams played their games in hand last night and our real league position became clear, I’d have to say that I have at least one much bigger fear. 

[Spike]

3 hours ago, italian dave said:

A sensible and well reasoned post. I’d just make two observations/challenges to throw into the discussion:

I completely get the whole vision/plan and new manager/new vision thing but NP is already the 4th (I think) longest serving manager in the Championship. I think SL gets it too (and learnt from the days when we got through managers at the rate on one or two a season) and all the ifs and buts and coulds start to wear a bit thinner as that time goes on. We could always try what other clubs do and find a new man with the same vision and plan - that’s definitely we don’t have a good track record for. 

All the above makes sense in the context of the Championship. And that seems to be what you’ve assumed. You say that your biggest fear is a knee jerk reaction to the result. After last night, after our recent run of form, after other teams played their games in hand last night and our real league position became clear, I’d have to say that I have at least one much bigger fear. 

I'm definitely concerned by relegation, but I also don't think we can expect a new manager to come in and change the situation without players coming back from injury/suspension. I honestly can't think of another team who could lose their strongest 3 CBs and still get results consistently. I think until that situation changes we can't really tell if we're in danger or not, regardless of who is manager but they are fair points. 

[Bazooka Joe]

We ought to be grateful we weren't playing Chippenham.

Edited November 9, 2022 by Bazooka Joe

[BITW]

19 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Coventry are a mess. Despite that he has performed miracles. They had to sell Hyam on the cheap for cash flow reasons. Apparently they were days away from administration. Their owners will not invest any money and won't make any money available for transfers. There is uncertainty surrounding the stadium. 

It won't be long until Cov cash in on their better players and Robins won't recieve the funds from that. 

The job here is very similar but for different reasons. His wages would probably be doubled here. We have the stability of infrastructure and ownership. If things improved then he would be given funds. 

I think he'd find it hard to turn down. 

Fair enough didn’t realise things were still that bad for them off the pitch. For what it’s worth I’d have him here in a heartbeat. 

[BCFCGav]

Many, many big teams falling tonight including both North London clubs, Chelsea and possibly Liverpool. Lots of League 1 teams still in. A real opportunity to go deep this year, pissed up against the wall. Well done City.

[AppyDAZE]

Anyone know when the draw is?

"Now let's have a look at what you could have won"

[Northern Red]

We'd have only got Burnley away or something equally unappealing.

Obviously Lincoln will pull out one of the big boys.

[AppyDAZE]

The first time I've been brave enough to look back at the highlights on YT.

Got to admire the strike for the first goal.

Looked decent in the ground, but looking again on camera, a real truly hit gem.

Yes there was no one closing it down, but a cracking goal and one of the best I've seen at AG this season.

[Super]

22 minutes ago, BCFCGav said:

Many, many big teams falling tonight including both North London clubs, Chelsea and possibly Liverpool. Lots of League 1 teams still in. A real opportunity to go deep this year, pissed up against the wall. Well done City.

Lots of penalty shoot outs. Good to watch on SSN