Lincoln 1-1 Saints - Match Thread

[vectraman]

2 hours ago, O_Lord_Marian said:

Really, what player in the Lincoln squad, not even the starting 11, would/should even be on the bench for Saints?

If that is arrogance so be it, we should be blowing teams like this away. Winning is endearing for me, not appeasing. 

Their big lump who came in up front. 

[O_Lord_Marian]

11 minutes ago, vectraman said:

Their big lump who came in up front. 

The fact you cannot even name him proves my point. Horrible team that should've been put away.

[Tommy Mulgrew]

14 minutes ago, O_Lord_Marian said:

The fact you cannot even name him proves my point. Horrible team that should've been put away.

IMO, Lincoln was not a horrible team.  The players have their limitations, as do ours, but they played to their strengths, did it well and, with slightly better finishing, would have won.  I hope they stay clear of relegation.

We, on the other hand, except for twenty minutes or so, barely threatened their penalty area, let alone the goal, and towards the end played to our weaknesses, resulting in two lost points.  We could easily have lost that game.  Let’s be thankful for small mercies.  And hope for better in future.

[Saint_lambden]

The whole 'taking off a midfielder/forward and putting on another defender' never works, at least not for us. 

It just invites pressure and instills an attitude of 'we're defending what we've got' rather than having a front-foot mentality. 

Right the way back to Adkins taking Billy Sharp off for Dan Harding against Pompey in 2012, it baffles me each time. 

Plus our ability to never stop the cross or attack the ball in with any intensity, it's a toxic combination against sides that are direct. 

[Badger]

1 hour ago, vectraman said:

Their big lump who came in up front. 

More impressive than our lump we put on. 

[Harry_SFC]

25 minutes ago, Saint_lambden said:

The whole 'taking off a midfielder/forward and putting on another defender' never works, at least not for us. 

It just invites pressure and instills an attitude of 'we're defending what we've got' rather than having a front-foot mentality. 

Right the way back to Adkins taking Billy Sharp off for Dan Harding against Pompey in 2012, it baffles me each time. 

Plus our ability to never stop the cross or attack the ball in with any intensity, it's a toxic combination against sides that are direct. 

It's almost as if it just adds another player to get in the way/complicate things in our own box. We had 3 CBs in that area and none of them managed to deal with the ball in.

[Whitey Grandad]

6 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

It's almost as if it just adds another player to get in the way/complicate things in our own box. We had 3 CBs in that area and none of them managed to deal with the ball in.

Yep 

[trousers]

Was out and about at the weekend and only just seen the match highlights... No doubt someone will already have pointed this out, but WTF was Downes doing (or rather not doing) to block the cross that led to their goal? He has all the time in the world to launch a blocking tackle, but didn't even make an attempt, just let their bloke cross the ball unchallenged.

WTF goes through the mind of a professional footballer that leads them to not do the f***ing basics? It's the 87th minute and we're defending a one goal lead FFS. Criminal.

(Does it show that I'm a tad annoyed?! 😁)

Edited 4 hours ago by trousers

[saintant]

18 minutes ago, trousers said:

Was out and about at the weekend and only just seen the match highlights... No doubt someone will already have pointed this out, but WTF was Downes doing (or rather not doing) to block the cross that led to their goal? He has all the time in the world to launch a blocking tackle, but didn't even make an attempt, just let their bloke cross the ball unchallenged.

WTF goes through the mind of a professional footballer that leads them to not do the f***ing basics? It's the 87th minute and we're defending a one goal lead FFS. Criminal.

(Does it show that I'm a tad annoyed?! 😁)

I think that's harsh on Downes who was the one player who ran his guts out for the team. He may have been tiring and I don't think he has 'all the time in the world' to cut the cross out. More at fault for me were Mubama and Bree who, between them, allowed their guy to get down the wing to cross. But, as always, this game is all about opinions.

[SouthWalesSaints]

13 hours ago, Saint_lambden said:

The whole 'taking off a midfielder/forward and putting on another defender' never works, at least not for us. 

It just invites pressure and instills an attitude of 'we're defending what we've got' rather than having a front-foot mentality. 

Right the way back to Adkins taking Billy Sharp off for Dan Harding against Pompey in 2012, it baffles me each time. 

Plus our ability to never stop the cross or attack the ball in with any intensity, it's a toxic combination against sides that are direct. 

Except it does, and has, on many occasions. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, SouthWalesSaints said:

Except it does, and has, on many occasions. 

Except when it doesn't...

[Fitzhugh Fella]

2 hours ago, trousers said:

Was out and about at the weekend and only just seen the match highlights... No doubt someone will already have pointed this out, but WTF was Downes doing (or rather not doing) to block the cross that led to their goal? He has all the time in the world to launch a blocking tackle, but didn't even make an attempt, just let their bloke cross the ball unchallenged.

WTF goes through the mind of a professional footballer that leads them to not do the f***ing basics? It's the 87th minute and we're defending a one goal lead FFS. Criminal.

(Does it show that I'm a tad annoyed?! 😁)

You try being there! I don't think I've ever been at an away match and being as pissed off while not having lost if you get my drift.

[redkeith]

19 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

You try being there! I don't think I've ever been at an away match and being as pissed off while not having lost if you get my drift.

I don't think it helped that nobody went wide right midfield when Masuki came off, it  allowed them to push on up their left, which is where the cross came from. 

It was a very good cross, don't think Wood could have done anything about it, maybe nudge the forward under it, but that is all. 

For me, I would have prefered Fellows coming on to give us an outlet on the right, occupy their leftback and help Bree out. 

Horrible team though, can't remember Wimbledon or even a Howard Wilkinson side take a kick off that comes down with snow on it ! 

 

[SouthWalesSaints]

52 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Except when it doesn't...

Which is agreeing with my point, it does and has worked many times. It only gets noticed when it doesn't. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, SouthWalesSaints said:

Which is agreeing with my point, it does and has worked many times. It only gets noticed when it doesn't. 

For a true evaluation you would have to compare the performances after sticking with a standard defence against introducing an extra centre back.

[SouthWalesSaints]

19 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

For a true evaluation you would have to compare the performances after sticking with a standard defence against introducing an extra centre back.

Depends on lots of things, sometimes people move to a three at the back to gain control of the ball in build up.  Some teams go man 2 man and press into midfield, others sit in a deep block.  To many variables to make create an evaluation. 

 

The comment I'm debating is that it never works, it does, and has on many occasions, for saints and other teams. 

[Cuddles]

1 minute ago, SouthWalesSaints said:

Depends on lots of things, sometimes people move to a three at the back to gain control of the ball in build up.  Some teams go man 2 man and press into midfield, others sit in a deep block.  To many variables to make create an evaluation. 

 

The comment I'm debating is that it never works, it does, and has on many occasions, for saints and other teams. 

I'm struggling to remember when we last deployed three at the back during a game though. I know previously it caused problems as no-one seemed to know who they were marking!