Lincoln underestimated or Pearson not wanting to progress?

[Major Isewater]

I am afraid this one’s on Nige. Lincoln are in the division just below us EIGHT changes to the team blew any chance of progressing to the next round and restoring some feel good factor to a fragile squad. 
So either he was naive in thinking our kids and reserves would beat a Lincoln team going well in their division, cup upset excluded, or he didn’t want us to progress and overload a small squad lacking depth. 
I feel it’s an opportunity missed and damaging to the confidence of the players and supporters. 
 

[kiwicolin]

But only 3 players Bajic, Low ,and Kadji are not regular first team players . The others were , so it was still a very strong side. 

[NewquayRed]

Agree team looked like it should have been competitive, they just wanted it more.

[Numero Uno]

23 minutes ago, kiwicolin said:

But only 3 players Bajic, Low ,and Kadji are not regular first team players . The others were , so it was still a very strong side. 

Bajic - Not Ready

Low - Not Ready

Kadji - Not Ready

Klose - Finished

King - Nearly Finished

Martin - Finished

That's the spine of last night's team right there....................and you expected the other five lads to get them out of the mire.

[Beni71]

41 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

I am afraid this one’s on Nige. Lincoln are in the division just below us EIGHT changes to the team blew any chance of progressing to the next round and restoring some feel good factor to a fragile squad. 
So either he was naive in thinking our kids and reserves would beat a Lincoln team going well in their division, cup upset excluded, or he didn’t want us to progress and overload a small squad lacking depth. 
I feel it’s an opportunity missed and damaging to the confidence of the players and supporters. 
 

Think it was a good opportunity for the likes of Atkinson to get a competitive game under his belt. He looked like a man who had just recovered from flu.

I actually thought Martin did ok 1st half but his passing radar went missing in the 2nd half. He is an easy scape goat though.

We did learn that Bajic clearly isn’t ready and I mentioned elsewhere is not your normal 6 foot 4 keeper we need. If he is DBs replacement then we have a problem 

[Numero Uno]

4 minutes ago, Beni71 said:

Think it was a good opportunity for the likes of Atkinson to get a competitive game under his belt. He looked like a man who had just recovered from flu.

I actually thought Martin did ok 1st half but his passing radar went missing in the 2nd half. He is an easy scape goat though.

We did learn that Bajic clearly isn’t ready and I mentioned elsewhere is not your normal 6 foot 4 keeper we need. If he is DBs replacement then we have a problem 

Bentley is off and looking at last night Bajic hasn't shown in that 90 minutes that he will be seriously challenging Max for a start any time soon. Things can change though.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

32 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Bajic - Not Ready

Low - Not Ready

Kadji - Not Ready

Klose - Finished

King - Nearly Finished

Martin - Finished

That's the spine of last night's team right there....................and you expected the other five lads to get them out of the mire.

Yes a good assessment. The kids will develop they just need more time maybe loan experience. But I agree on the finished three. Is not king moving into coaching at city. So why the need to play him tonight. And if as it would appear Martin, Klose finished. Do they not need moving on in Jan. And replacements found. Again reference FFP and no transfer pot. Worrying I feel and with TK unable to stay fit might he need replacing as well. I do feel we need a active Jan transfer window. The problems of a small squad and injuries .I am starting to get a little squeaky bum time about relegation . But will be there Saturday against Watford

COYR

[City oz]

1 hour ago, kiwicolin said:

But only 3 players Bajic, Low ,and Kadji are not regular first team players . The others were , so it was still a very strong side. 

Unfortunately it looks like they did not play like they were part of a dedicated, well managed and strong side.

[Lew-T]

Lincoln are hardly ‘going well in their division.’

[Sir Geoff]

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

Bajic - Not Ready

Low - Not Ready

Kadji - Not Ready

Klose - Finished

King - Nearly Finished

Martin - Finished

That's the spine of last night's team right there....................and you expected the other five lads to get them out of the mire.

Kadji and King were the midfield pairing when we beat Coventry 4-1 away in the last round. Were they not ready / finished then in your opinion ?

[AshtonGreat]

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

Bajic - Not Ready

Low - Not Ready

Kadji - Not Ready

Klose - Finished

King - Nearly Finished

Martin - Finished

That's the spine of last night's team right there....................and you expected the other five lads to get them out of the mire.

Earlier this season, people were raving about Klose, and Martin was being lauded last season

[Son of Fred]

1 hour ago, Beni71 said:

We did learn that Bajic clearly isn’t ready and I mentioned elsewhere is not your normal 6 foot 4 keeper we need. If he is DBs replacement then we have a problem 

The new Mike Hooper??

[Major Isewater]

23 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

Lincoln are hardly ‘going well in their division.’

Look at the size of the clubs above them, I am not saying that they’re pushing for promotion but they are, IMHO, doing OK.

[Shuffle]

We had a great chance to build some momentum and finances with a win so to make 8 changes borders on complete disrespect to Lincoln. 

[Numero Uno]

49 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Kadji and King were the midfield pairing when we beat Coventry 4-1 away in the last round. Were they not ready / finished then in your opinion ?

We beat a Coventry City reserve side 4-1 and then a Wycombe reserve side 3-1 away which I believe is when King and Kadji played.

Kadji - 100% not ready in my opinion. Doing it against wet behind the ears lads in the Coventry and Wycombe reserve ranks does not make you ready for Championship football at this moment in time. Disagree?

King - "nearly" finished is what I said and his inconsistency of performance suggests that to me. Doing it against wet behind the ears lads in the Coventry and Wycombe reserve ranks but no longer being able to replicate past career glories does not guarantee good performances as Championship level. He is no longer an eight good game in ten player and he is on the downward curve. Disagree?

Face it, we got battered by a mid-table League 1 side playing off the back of a defeat to Chippenham Town at the weekend. Clearly the team we selected was either not good enough or not motivated enough. I would suggest it's the former not the latter................that's my opinion.

[Numero Uno]

49 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

Earlier this season, people were raving about Klose, and Martin was being lauded last season

No, Klose was being raved about last season as was Martin. The issue is we are getting nothing out of either of them NOW and the games are being played and being lost NOW. It is looking very much to me that Martin is a busted flush at this level, it happens to all players eventually and it's not a crime. It's called age/body catching up with you. Happens to some earlier than others, The consistent pattern we have seen this season is he comes on and makes no impact whatsoever.

[Sir Geoff]

I' m not questioning it. King was poor first half and Kadji looked out of his depth. You were writing them off which was a bit unfair imo.

[Numero Uno]

Just now, Sir Geoff said:

I' m not questioning it. King was poor first half and Kadji looked out of his depth. You were writing them off which was a bit unfair imo.

No, writing Kadji off would be saying "he's crap", "he'll never make it". I said "he's not ready" which sort of hints that "he might be ready later on" and I stand by that. Neither is Bajic and I worry for Low given the reaction of some "supporters". Did you see the first goal last night, the one where Kadji runs towards the player and then veers left to avoid any risk of taking one in the chops? A Championship ready player flies at the player and if he ends up taking a shot in the face then so be it - not even a second thought given. King is on a downward trajectory after a fantastic career - no crime in that, it's just a fact.

Not all youngsters slot straight in like Scott and Conway because most kids are nowhere near as mentally resilient as those two, not even close to it. They're "not ready".

[Red Skin]

Kadji was off the pace of the game, and maybe played within himself.  He attempted some potentially decent through balls and passes up to strikers which were intercepted and this seemed to curtail his ambition.   

We just didn't press with any energy or play with any urgency last night.  We missed Tommy's enthusiasm and the runs of both him and Wells to invite a pass or free up space for others to exploit.  

It isn't about disrespect or not wanting to win.  As others have said this team was largely first teamers.  Players needed rest and NP needs to blood squad players.   It shows what we knew all along, we have a decent team but lack depth in the squad as whole.  

Congratulations to Lincoln.  

Edited November 9, 2022 by Red Skin

[1960maaan]

The thing is, we don't know which players have been affected by illness or which ones were still struggling. That may have had some impact on the line up. Also Kadji , what ever we think , has had some minutes and the next step was obviously a start. Same to some extent with Low, he's impressed, and with the rest of the team it seemed a good time to give him a go. Bajic (and I'm only going by highlights) didn't seem to have much chance wit the goals and has obviously been brought in to feature.
It wasn't a massively surprising starting XI, Pearson may have made too many changes, but those dropping out may have needed to. 
That said, with a long break after Saturday I'm guessing the line up was more Pearsons decision than necessity .

When all said and done, if those players played near their average performance, we could have won. I think, because of mounting pressure from lack of points recently, he rested players hoping for a full fresh team Saturday. 

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Sir Geoff said:

Kadji and King were the midfield pairing when we beat Coventry 4-1 away in the last round. Were they not ready / finished then in your opinion ?

Exactly.

I did question selecting Bajic but those seriously suggesting Pearson didn’t want to go through haven’t looked at the sides he put out at Coventry & Wycombe.

I found last night seriously depressing & on last night’s evidence @Numero Uno is spot on, though I disagree that we were expecting the other 5 to bail them out.

We expected far more from 3 senior pros & clearly didn’t anticipate Low having a shocker & Bajic & Kadji looking so far from the standard too.

[AshtonGreat]

51 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

No, Klose was being raved about last season as was Martin. The issue is we are getting nothing out of either of them NOW and the games are being played and being lost NOW. It is looking very much to me that Martin is a busted flush at this level, it happens to all players eventually and it's not a crime. It's called age/body catching up with you. Happens to some earlier than others, The consistent pattern we have seen this season is he comes on and makes no impact whatsoever.

Clearly someone thought Klose was good enough to offer him a new contract less than five months ago

[ZumerZetSmithy]

when i say the team i was pleased with it, give some time to youngsters.   what disappointed me most was the section 82 boing Low after what was a bad mistake.

shit fans shit team,  0 2 down we could of and should got back in it.

too many players did not turn up, why was the best striker in the world not booed for all his ineffective work. yes Seymenyo was awful last night .

tin hat on 

 

[NewquayRed]

4 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

Bajic - Not Ready

Low - Not Ready

Kadji - Not Ready

Klose - Finished

King - Nearly Finished

Martin - Finished

That's the spine of last night's team right there....................and you expected the other five lads to get them out of the mire.

Clear message to SL in the post match interview that the squad depth isn't there, and this is why 

[pongo88]

2 hours ago, ZumerZetSmithy said:

when i say the team i was pleased with it, give some time to youngsters.   what disappointed me most was the section 82 boing Low after what was a bad mistake.

shit fans shit team,  0 2 down we could of and should got back in it.

too many players did not turn up, why was the best striker in the world not booed for all his ineffective work. yes Seymenyo was awful last night .

tin hat on 

 

You’ve somewhat lost me with this one. I watched the match but I can’t remember who was “the best striker in the world”. Perhaps I fell asleep and missed him 

[Clutton Caveman]

5 hours ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Yes a good assessment. The kids will develop they just need more time maybe loan experience. But I agree on the finished three. Is not king moving into coaching at city. So why the need to play him tonight. And if as it would appear Martin, Klose finished. Do they not need moving on in Jan. And replacements found. Again reference FFP and no transfer pot. Worrying I feel and with TK unable to stay fit might he need replacing as well. I do feel we need a active Jan transfer window. The problems of a small squad and injuries .I am starting to get a little squeaky bum time about relegation . But will be there Saturday against Watford

COYR

Do you really think anyone would want Martin or Klose even if we paid half of their wages

[Rocking Red Cyril]

19 minutes ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Do you really think anyone would want Martin or Klose even if we paid half of their wages

Must be some one.

[Bazooka Joe]

6 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

Bajic - Not Ready

Low - Not Ready

Kadji - Not Ready

Klose - Finished

King - Nearly Finished

Martin - Finished

That's the spine of last night's team right there....................and you expected the other five lads to get them out of the mire.

Agree.

IMO Martin was finished a long time ago.

Surprised we signed him and even more surprised about how long it's taken others to realise he's a waste of a hefty wage.

 

[Numero Uno]

3 hours ago, AshtonGreat said:

Clearly someone thought Klose was good enough to offer him a new contract less than five months ago

Yes, based on an impressive end to last season. There is no way of knowing when a player's legs or mind will suddenly go.

[Bristol Oil Services]

5 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

Look at the size of the clubs above them, I am not saying that they’re pushing for promotion but they are, IMHO, doing OK.

We need to get away from "size" being something deterministic, or more important than it is; it's not irrelevant, it's possibly more important than in years gone by but when you look at Brentford in the Prem, Luton in the Championship and say Bradford still ailing in L2, you come back to people and the choices and the decisions they make (with the cards dealt to them).

The Titanic was bloody massive, but the people running - literally - the ship were lacking. Sheffield Wednesday are big but not big enough to withstand people running their club making poor decisions. 

Sometimes, smaller clubs can outwit bigger disorganised ones by being cuter and leaner and smarter, on and off the field. In over 100 years we have managed this twice. It's not too much to ask that we do so again, not when others of similar stature manage to do so.