At what point was it a good idea to have TT as second choice left back, especially without having a youth player available to compete with the 2nd spot.
At what point was it a good idea to have TT as second choice left back, especially without having a youth player available to compete with the 2nd spot.
Can't believe we gave him a new deal in the summer. Defensively we were terrible, we rewarded 2 of them with new deals and unsurprisingly the defence is still awful
Said in the summer that I’d be happy if Hector left, I’ve never really rated him, but was told he was a Championship quality defender and we’d be lucky to have him. After last Saturday, when he apparently played well against a Reading team that hadn’t won away for 18 games, someone called him Premiership class. All bollocks. The bloke wanders around each week as if he doesn’t want to be here and only is because he couldn’t get a gig anywhere else. I’d actually rather someone who’s not as good but at least gives a shit.
And Curbs is right. If we are not playing well tonight then we needed someone to say to everyone, right, strap yourselves in, keep it tight, fight for everything and let’s just escape with a draw. I mean I love Dobbo but is he captain material? I never see him bawling out people or giving a youngster encouragement etc. When the chips are down we don’t have anyone who can drag the team through it.
A really awful performance by all bar AMB. Some I can easily forgive, Asiimwe, Campbell, Leanurn etc as they are still learning and hopefully they will learn quickly from this experience but others like Hector, Thomas and Jones, seasoned pros, need a kick up the arse pronto.
Hector has to be replaced by Ness. Been constantly letting us down this season.
Both Watsons will also hopefully come back into the side on Sat.
Sorry Ness is no better than Hector at the moment. Being younger he can improve but will take time and he needs to be brought in slowly.
Dobbo & Fraser doesn’t work as a pairing. Dobbo gets knackered doing Fraser’s running and becomes ineffective. Watson a better partner, Fraser in the 10 might work but he wouldn’t get much time to pick a pass
Remember when he first joined Fraser seemed to have skill but wasn't able to assert himself physically on the game. Last season after bedding himself in was much more effective and one of our best performers. Imagine this recent injury has taken it out of him a bit and needs more time to get back up to speed again.
Welcome back to Charlton Life posters who has more to say when we are bad, and boy were we poor last night after the first 20 minutes !
Start with the good: AMB kept the score down after the myriad of mistakes in front of him. Camará had energy and covers the ground quicker than most. Cafc goal was good team work starting with the sublime pass from Fraser and May still being the Fox in the box.
That's it for the good other than to say I thought the starting line up was correct considering both Chuks and Edun weren't available for selection.
Hector can go from sublime to looking like a Sunday park amateur. Jones made a bad decision with the 1st goal and both Thomas and Asiimwe were caught out during the match.
The midfield were 2nd best and both Campbell and CBT struggled to beat their defender after the opening period. Leaburn looked slow and leggy last night and it was May who got into the box to score the cafc goal with Miles way behind him.
After 20 minutes, Lincoln woke up and played well with far too much space all over the pitch. Only AMB played well by keeping the score under 5.
Nothing to do with poor coaching when defenders make poor decisions. Hector has been taught to mark the striker in the box since he was in an academy and at 30 he was so sleepy last night and Jones made a poor choice with the first goal when he had to win the ball once he commited.
Both Fraser and Louie Watson can be good on the ball but both only have a battery that lasts 55 minutes. Tend to think that Camará is the Duracell midfielder.
I thought we would win last night and be brought down to earth against Bolton 🤦🏻♂️
We really missed Chuks Aneke last night to bully the Lincoln CB's who had an easy game.
Said in the summer that I’d be happy if Hector left, I’ve never really rated him, but was told he was a Championship quality defender and we’d be lucky to have him. After last Saturday, when he apparently played well against a Reading team that hadn’t won away for 18 games, someone called him Premiership class. All bollocks. The bloke wanders around each week as if he doesn’t want to be here and only is because he couldn’t get a gig anywhere else. I’d actually rather someone who’s not as good but at least gives a shit.
And Curbs is right. If we are not playing well tonight then we needed someone to say to everyone, right, strap yourselves in, keep it tight, fight for everything and let’s just escape with a draw. I mean I love Dobbo but is he captain material? I never see him bawling out people or giving a youngster encouragement etc. When the chips are down we don’t have anyone who can drag the team through it.
A really awful performance by all bar AMB. Some I can easily forgive, Asiimwe, Campbell, Leanurn etc as they are still learning and hopefully they will learn quickly from this experience but others like Hector, Thomas and Jones, seasoned pros, need a kick up the arse pronto.
Hector has to be replaced by Ness. Been constantly letting us down this season.
Both Watsons will also hopefully come back into the side on Sat.
Sorry Ness is no better than Hector at the moment. Being younger he can improve but will take time and he needs to be brought in slowly.
I agree, but Hector needs to learn he's not a shoe in for the position.
I'd drop him for a game, have a word and see whether he really has the fight in him for a promotion battle, because he's not been showing it so far.
Just watched the goals back. They didn’t look nearly as bad from the stadium!
It’s been covered by everyone else but just wow! All four defenders at fault at some point. The irony is that I thought our shape looked great for the first 20 minutes or so with all their play restricted to outside the box and subsequent long shots - it only takes one or two players to switch off for a split second and it all goes to shit. I could analyse and pick holes in every goal but a special mention for Hector’s role for the second - he can see Thomas has lost his man and, at that point, is next to their attacker. By the time the cross comes in, he’s about six yards away from him! What did he think was going to happen??
Not sure weather to be baffled or not by some of the reactions on here since the game last night. Total over reaction to say the least.
On a good run of good form and a lot of improvements have been made recently.
Defence on the back of a clean sheet against a side, regardless of league position, that caused us a few problems on the Saturday. Now are deemed not good enough for a play off push on the Tuesday.
Our left back is playing as a CB, very hard to adjust to the demands of a different position when its not your natural position. Although he hasn't been perfect he's done more than well enough there considering.
Improvements need to be made in defence for sure but I don't think wholesale changes are needed. Edun coming back from injury well help a lot with the balance and hopefully we will notice some improvement. Ness needs to get a loan and get some games under his belt and an extra experienced centre half signing would give us more options.
Fraser, who was an essential cog in our midfield for most, is now second fiddle to Watson and has defensive frailties - he's just come back from a long injury lay off! Fraser is a class act at this level and has saved us on plenty occasions, he will be vital for us this season and offers something different to the rest.
Tedic has been starting lately on merit, TC has been coming on and causing havoc for a tiring defence, this could well be a well planned tactic?
Really don't know why people take a performance so literally all the time. Players will have games that are better than other performances and more importantly so will the team. It happens.
A humbling last night against a well drilled team. Here's hoping to some lessons learnt this week and an improved performance on Saturday.
There will be plenty more 'bumps in the road' between now and the end of the season.
I wont be dampening down my hopes for the season based on one performance.
Thing is, I've become accustomed to not expecting us to get good results in L1 and am always pleasantly surprised when we win. I keep hoping for better, but I never really get that belief. I think we are building back, but there's so much to do it's going to take longer than this season to transform.
Patience may be a virtue, but it's in short supply after our experiences of recent years.
On a positive note, the play offs will remain a possibility for some considerable time yet. Weren't Blackpool in the bottom three at Xmas the last time they were promoted out of L1 under Critchley? It can be done.
Looking back with a cool head. Last season we were getting poor results and poor performances punctuated by the odd good one. In the past few weeks it has been the other way around. Last night Michael Hector was as bad as he was good on Saturday. Both him an TT were awful for the second goal.
Lincoln played really well, if Sorensen plays like that every week, what's he doing in league one?
Not getting carried away, but I think we will get more good results than bad as Mickey Apples decides which is his best starting XI - of course we need the gods of injuries to be smiling upon us for once...
I’ll have a bit more confidence in the defence when Ness is reinstated into the starting lineup. He reads the game well which is needed because Hector and Thomas’s concentration levels tend to drift off.
Not sure weather to be baffled or not by some of the reactions on here since the game last night. Total over reaction to say the least.
On a good run of good form and a lot of improvements have been made recently.
Defence on the back of a clean sheet against a side, regardless of league position, that caused us a few problems on the Saturday. Now are deemed not good enough for a play off push on the Tuesday.
Our left back is playing as a CB, very hard to adjust to the demands of a different position when its not your natural position. Although he hasn't been perfect he's done more than well enough there considering.
Improvements need to be made in defence for sure but I don't think wholesale changes are needed. Edun coming back from injury well help a lot with the balance and hopefully we will notice some improvement. Ness needs to get a loan and get some games under his belt and an extra experienced centre half signing would give us more options.
Fraser, who was an essential cog in our midfield for most, is now second fiddle to Watson and has defensive frailties - he's just come back from a long injury lay off! Fraser is a class act at this level and has saved us on plenty occasions, he will be vital for us this season and offers something different to the rest.
Tedic has been starting lately on merit, TC has been coming on and causing havoc for a tiring defence, this could well be a well planned tactic?
Really don't know why people take a performance so literally all the time. Players will have games that are better than other performances and more importantly so will the team. It happens.
A humbling last night against a well drilled team. Here's hoping to some lessons learnt this week and an improved performance on Saturday.
There will be plenty more 'bumps in the road' between now and the end of the season.
I wont be dampening down my hopes for the season based on one performance.
Arguably thinking we're good enough for playoffs after beating 2 poor sides is as much an over reaction as the disappointment from last night. 5 points off playoffs, 7 from relegation, behind Burton, Orient and Lincoln in the table. We are a mid table league one side. Nothing more, nothing less.
Not sure weather to be baffled or not by some of the reactions on here since the game last night. Total over reaction to say the least.
On a good run of good form and a lot of improvements have been made recently.
Defence on the back of a clean sheet against a side, regardless of league position, that caused us a few problems on the Saturday. Now are deemed not good enough for a play off push on the Tuesday.
Our left back is playing as a CB, very hard to adjust to the demands of a different position when its not your natural position. Although he hasn't been perfect he's done more than well enough there considering.
Improvements need to be made in defence for sure but I don't think wholesale changes are needed. Edun coming back from injury well help a lot with the balance and hopefully we will notice some improvement. Ness needs to get a loan and get some games under his belt and an extra experienced centre half signing would give us more options.
Fraser, who was an essential cog in our midfield for most, is now second fiddle to Watson and has defensive frailties - he's just come back from a long injury lay off! Fraser is a class act at this level and has saved us on plenty occasions, he will be vital for us this season and offers something different to the rest.
Tedic has been starting lately on merit, TC has been coming on and causing havoc for a tiring defence, this could well be a well planned tactic?
Really don't know why people take a performance so literally all the time. Players will have games that are better than other performances and more importantly so will the team. It happens.
A humbling last night against a well drilled team. Here's hoping to some lessons learnt this week and an improved performance on Saturday.
There will be plenty more 'bumps in the road' between now and the end of the season.
I wont be dampening down my hopes for the season based on one performance.
Arguably thinking we're good enough for playoffs after beating 2 poor sides is as much an over reaction as the disappointment from last night. 5 points off playoffs, 7 from relegation, behind Burton, Orient and Lincoln in the table. We are a mid table league one side. Nothing more, nothing less.
But with a deeper squad than the vast majority of the league. We have good players, they just played shockingly yesterday
Our 4-2-1-3 formation is very entertaining and attacking, but without the wide attacking players also working hard defensively, it puts too much pressure on the midfield and exposes the defence. Thomas gets a lot of stick, but in fairness to him, he is a right footed centre-back covering at left back. He also has CBT playing in front of him, and although CBT has been great this season, he does not offer much help defensively. This puts huge pressure on Thomas. The situation is similar, but not quite so bad, on the right too.
The formation also puts a huge strain on the midfield pair, so no wonder Dobbo was knackered.
Playing attacking football is good to watch, but we are always going to be exposed at the back playing such an attacking formation unless the wide players track back.
Personally I would rather see us scoring lots of goals (hopefully more than the opposition) and conceding rather than being very defensive, but there are going to be games where this doesn't work, such as this one.
I think being so attack minded against Bolton may be risky.
I’ll have a bit more confidence in the defence when Ness is reinstated into the starting lineup. He reads the game well which is needed because Hector and Thomas’s concentration levels tend to drift off.
Arguably thinking we're good enough for playoffs after beating 2 poor sides is as much an over reaction as the disappointment from last night. 5 points off playoffs, 7 from relegation, behind Burton, Orient and Lincoln in the table. We are a mid table league one side. Nothing more, nothing less.
Why is it that when we lose and people voice their concerns about a recent fixture, it's seen as 'over the top' or 'overreaction' etc. The thread is post match Lincoln, not post last ten games. If people want to vent I don't see the big deal. I am sure when people are sharing their thoughts it's not with too much ill intent. Basically why moan about people moaning. I realise I now find myself moaning about people moaning about peoples moaning.
Anyway onto the game. Quite a lovely drive there, took the country roads and I do love a country road whip around, weather conditions not ideal but still a nice drive. I visited Lincoln City cathedral for the first time which was honestly breathtaking, I stood there in awe. What an amazing sight and wish it was a weekend kick off so I could have made a weekend of it. Drive home woeful, the fog was genuinely quite dangerous at parts, I could only manage to get the car up to 120mph being on the safe side.
As for the game itself, pants. Absolutely pants. Only player (maybe two) I can give credit to is Ash who saved us a more embarrassing scoreline and potentially Jones who didn't appear to do too much wrong, everyone else, woeful.
Our backline was a shambles, they cottoned on early doors that Thomas is completely out of his depth at left back and lacks cover from CBT, they had so much fun down our left and it was never really addressed. Hector looked casual and disinterested, as much as he was decent against a terrible *Reading side and I have credited him, he looked so unbothered last night. Jones was fine, if he had a better partner for the night he may have been able to do more. Young Nathan was not at the races at all, our best play probably came down that right hand side between himself and Tyreece but both had an off night after stellar cameos against Reading imo. Fraser looked completely useless in midfield, no presence or urgency. Beautiful curved pass in the first half for the goal, but other than that a complete passenger. Dobsons worst game this season, he didn't have a hold on the game at all and highlights what I have said before, he is not a vocal leader, he doesn't inspire or motivate players. He leads by example in his playstyle and he is everything you want in a player attitude wise. He just isn't a captain imo. We were completely outfought in the middle of the park. I was concerned that the 4213 was too attacking away from home to a team that rarely loses at home and unfortunately my concerns were justified. The two Ethans in midfield (Hamilton & Erhahon) made us look completely amateur. Alfie May is not a 10, he cannot play that role, it's nonsensical to play arguably the best finisher in the league behind a striker. I said this before the game, it's not knee jerk. Two goals against a ten men Exeter and a goal against maybe the worst side in the league masked it. CBT like Dobson had his worst game of the season. Completely anonymous and nullified by their impressive right hand side. Leaburn the same, just nothing worked for him.
Finally on Appleton yesterday, I think he got it completely wrong. A formation like that to a team that rarely loses at home was a bit naïve, subs also didn't impact the game, we really missed Chuks. I think stacking the midfield would have been a wiser choice
This isn't me being negative or flapping it's just saying it how it is, that was a woeful performance. Credit where credit is due though, Lincoln imo, were the best side we have faced this season and I was impressed by a number of their players, in particular Lasse Sorensen (motm), Adelakun (great player at this level) and the midfield Ethan pairing who ran the show. Very decent home support by the Imps as well, backed their team and made a decent amount of noise for a home crowd.
Now we see where Appleton responds to his first bit of adversity, it can't be painted any other way than a gutless away performance, let's see how he responds at home to one of the best teams in the league. I have a feeling if he toys with 4 attackers again we will find ourselves with egg on our face. Either way, I look forward to it.
Good numbers by us for a Tuesday, 600 away in Lincoln not to be sniffed at, well done everyone who managed it, just a shame about the result ey, on to the next.
Thing is, I've become accustomed to not expecting us to get good results in L1 and am always pleasantly surprised when we win. I keep hoping for better, but I never really get that belief. I think we are building back, but there's so much to do it's going to take longer than this season to transform.
Patience may be a virtue, but it's in short supply after our experiences of recent years.
On a positive note, the play offs will remain a possibility for some considerable time yet. Weren't Blackpool in the bottom three at Xmas the last time they were promoted out of L1 under Critchley? It can be done.
From memory Blackpool run started from early Dec, they were low down but I don't think it was bottom 3.Should have looked it up before typing! why let the facts get in the way!
Why is it that when we lose and people voice their concerns about a recent fixture, it's seen as 'over the top' or 'overreaction' etc. The thread is post match Lincoln, not post last ten games. If people want to vent I don't see the big deal. I am sure when people are sharing their thoughts it's not with too much ill intent. Basically why moan about people moaning. I realise I now find myself moaning about people moaning about peoples moaning.
Oh the irony
I made the comment on the fact that, from most, everything is so painfully literal. I just don't get how people make concrete assumptions after a performance.
All of a sudden, Appleton has got it wrong, Hector is awful and Fraser is useless. Won't even get to Dobson not being a captain!?
Last week people were discussing about mathematically breaking into the top 2, now we are average mid table. See the pattern?
People can vent away, totally agree, that's the whole point of the forum, as is backing the team on a set back.
Last night was a bad day at the office, we move on.
Why is it that when we lose and people voice their concerns about a recent fixture, it's seen as 'over the top' or 'overreaction' etc. The thread is post match Lincoln, not post last ten games. If people want to vent I don't see the big deal. I am sure when people are sharing their thoughts it's not with too much ill intent. Basically why moan about people moaning. I realise I now find myself moaning about people moaning about peoples moaning.
Oh the irony
I made the comment on the fact that, from most, everything is so painfully literal. I just don't get how people make concrete assumptions after a performance.
All of a sudden, Appleton has got it wrong, Hector is awful and Fraser is useless. Won't even get to Dobson not being a captain!?
Last week people were discussing about mathematically breaking into the top 2, now we are average mid table. See the pattern?
People can vent away, totally agree, that's the whole point of the forum, as is backing the team on a set back.
Last night was a bad day at the office, we move on.
It's a vicious cycle isn't it.
I just view it as people get emotional and I doubt it's said with too much malice. If people can't have a moan here then where?
Appleton did get it wrong, it's not to say he's a bad manager as he's done well so far and he's in credit, but he definitely got it wrong, Lincoln certainly played well but it shouldn't have been so easy when you consider Lincoln City's squad. The Dobson captain shouts are valid imo, he doesn't have a captains presence about him and he doesn't command vocally on the pitch. There is no doubt he is a 100%er and he leaves it all on the pitch, he just doesn't appear to have proper leaders skills on the pitch from what I have seen, what he is like off it is anyones guess, but I can see why people say it.
I don't see the pattern as I can't recall anyone saying top2 seriously tbf mate, usually sarcasm no? I think a fair few people think we can stake a claim for play-offs (that's where I sit currently) but most people think 7-12th is our current level it seems.
That's my mindset about it as well though, bad night, write it off and go again. I do however think it's fair to discuss players individual performances and thoughts, I'd find it pretty boring on here if everyone just said nothing about the game.
One thing I have always come to expect is more posts on these threads if we lose compared to winning, people are far more tempted to talk about bad news than good, we all love a moan. So I open this thread expecting to see people ranting from the off.
Braziliance said:Drive home woeful, the fog was genuinely quite dangerous at parts, I could only manage to get the car up to 120mph being on the safe side.
Braziliance said:Drive home woeful, the fog was genuinely quite dangerous at parts, I could only manage to get the car up to 120mph being on the safe side.
These are all shitstory makers for Charlton , we’ve been relegated 6 times in to this pony league and it has never till now taken more than 3 seasons to get out of it , this is the worst of it 4 seasons and counting .
Comments
The squad is still short in a few areas so hopefully we can remain in touch and use January window to improve (wishful thinking probably)
Start with the good: AMB kept the score down after the myriad of mistakes in front of him.
Camará had energy and covers the ground quicker than most.
Cafc goal was good team work starting with the sublime pass from Fraser and May still being the Fox in the box.
That's it for the good other than to say I thought the starting line up was correct considering both Chuks and Edun weren't available for selection.
Hector can go from sublime to looking like a Sunday park amateur. Jones made a bad decision with the 1st goal and both Thomas and Asiimwe were caught out during the match.
The midfield were 2nd best and both Campbell and CBT struggled to beat their defender after the opening period.
Leaburn looked slow and leggy last night and it was May who got into the box to score the cafc goal with Miles way behind him.
After 20 minutes, Lincoln woke up and played well with far too much space all over the pitch.
Only AMB played well by keeping the score under 5.
Nothing to do with poor coaching when defenders make poor decisions. Hector has been taught to mark the striker in the box since he was in an academy and at 30 he was so sleepy last night and Jones made a poor choice with the first goal when he had to win the ball once he commited.
Both Fraser and Louie Watson can be good on the ball but both only have a battery that lasts 55 minutes. Tend to think that Camará is the Duracell midfielder.
I thought we would win last night and be brought down to earth against Bolton 🤦🏻♂️
We really missed Chuks Aneke last night to bully the Lincoln CB's who had an easy game.
I'd drop him for a game, have a word and see whether he really has the fight in him for a promotion battle, because he's not been showing it so far.
It’s been covered by everyone else but just wow! All four defenders at fault at some point. The irony is that I thought our shape looked great for the first 20 minutes or so with all their play restricted to outside the box and subsequent long shots - it only takes one or two players to switch off for a split second and it all goes to shit. I could analyse and pick holes in every goal but a special mention for Hector’s role for the second - he can see Thomas has lost his man and, at that point, is next to their attacker. By the time the cross comes in, he’s about six yards away from him! What did he think was going to happen??
On a good run of good form and a lot of improvements have been made recently.
Defence on the back of a clean sheet against a side, regardless of league position, that caused us a few problems on the Saturday. Now are deemed not good enough for a play off push on the Tuesday.
Our left back is playing as a CB, very hard to adjust to the demands of a different position when its not your natural position. Although he hasn't been perfect he's done more than well enough there considering.
Improvements need to be made in defence for sure but I don't think wholesale changes are needed. Edun coming back from injury well help a lot with the balance and hopefully we will notice some improvement.
Ness needs to get a loan and get some games under his belt and an extra experienced centre half signing would give us more options.
Fraser, who was an essential cog in our midfield for most, is now second fiddle to Watson and has defensive frailties - he's just come back from a long injury lay off! Fraser is a class act at this level and has saved us on plenty occasions, he will be vital for us this season and offers something different to the rest.
Tedic has been starting lately on merit, TC has been coming on and causing havoc for a tiring defence, this could well be a well planned tactic?
Really don't know why people take a performance so literally all the time. Players will have games that are better than other performances and more importantly so will the team. It happens.
A humbling last night against a well drilled team. Here's hoping to some lessons learnt this week and an improved performance on Saturday.
There will be plenty more 'bumps in the road' between now and the end of the season.
I wont be dampening down my hopes for the season based on one performance.
Patience may be a virtue, but it's in short supply after our experiences of recent years.
On a positive note, the play offs will remain a possibility for some considerable time yet. Weren't Blackpool in the bottom three at Xmas the last time they were promoted out of L1 under Critchley? It can be done.
Lincoln played really well, if Sorensen plays like that every week, what's he doing in league one?
Not getting carried away, but I think we will get more good results than bad as Mickey Apples decides which is his best starting XI - of course we need the gods of injuries to be smiling upon us for once...
The formation also puts a huge strain on the midfield pair, so no wonder Dobbo was knackered.
Playing attacking football is good to watch, but we are always going to be exposed at the back playing such an attacking formation unless the wide players track back.
Personally I would rather see us scoring lots of goals (hopefully more than the opposition) and conceding rather than being very defensive, but there are going to be games where this doesn't work, such as this one.
I think being so attack minded against Bolton may be risky.
Anyway onto the game. Quite a lovely drive there, took the country roads and I do love a country road whip around, weather conditions not ideal but still a nice drive. I visited Lincoln City cathedral for the first time which was honestly breathtaking, I stood there in awe. What an amazing sight and wish it was a weekend kick off so I could have made a weekend of it. Drive home woeful, the fog was genuinely quite dangerous at parts, I could only manage to get the car up to 120mph being on the safe side.
As for the game itself, pants. Absolutely pants. Only player (maybe two) I can give credit to is Ash who saved us a more embarrassing scoreline and potentially Jones who didn't appear to do too much wrong, everyone else, woeful.
Our backline was a shambles, they cottoned on early doors that Thomas is completely out of his depth at left back and lacks cover from CBT, they had so much fun down our left and it was never really addressed. Hector looked casual and disinterested, as much as he was decent against a terrible *Reading side and I have credited him, he looked so unbothered last night. Jones was fine, if he had a better partner for the night he may have been able to do more. Young Nathan was not at the races at all, our best play probably came down that right hand side between himself and Tyreece but both had an off night after stellar cameos against Reading imo. Fraser looked completely useless in midfield, no presence or urgency. Beautiful curved pass in the first half for the goal, but other than that a complete passenger. Dobsons worst game this season, he didn't have a hold on the game at all and highlights what I have said before, he is not a vocal leader, he doesn't inspire or motivate players. He leads by example in his playstyle and he is everything you want in a player attitude wise. He just isn't a captain imo. We were completely outfought in the middle of the park. I was concerned that the 4213 was too attacking away from home to a team that rarely loses at home and unfortunately my concerns were justified. The two Ethans in midfield (Hamilton & Erhahon) made us look completely amateur. Alfie May is not a 10, he cannot play that role, it's nonsensical to play arguably the best finisher in the league behind a striker. I said this before the game, it's not knee jerk. Two goals against a ten men Exeter and a goal against maybe the worst side in the league masked it. CBT like Dobson had his worst game of the season. Completely anonymous and nullified by their impressive right hand side. Leaburn the same, just nothing worked for him.
Finally on Appleton yesterday, I think he got it completely wrong. A formation like that to a team that rarely loses at home was a bit naïve, subs also didn't impact the game, we really missed Chuks. I think stacking the midfield would have been a wiser choice
This isn't me being negative or flapping it's just saying it how it is, that was a woeful performance. Credit where credit is due though, Lincoln imo, were the best side we have faced this season and I was impressed by a number of their players, in particular Lasse Sorensen (motm), Adelakun (great player at this level) and the midfield Ethan pairing who ran the show. Very decent home support by the Imps as well, backed their team and made a decent amount of noise for a home crowd.
Now we see where Appleton responds to his first bit of adversity, it can't be painted any other way than a gutless away performance, let's see how he responds at home to one of the best teams in the league. I have a feeling if he toys with 4 attackers again we will find ourselves with egg on our face. Either way, I look forward to it.
Good numbers by us for a Tuesday, 600 away in Lincoln not to be sniffed at, well done everyone who managed it, just a shame about the result ey, on to the next.
I made the comment on the fact that, from most, everything is so painfully literal. I just don't get how people make concrete assumptions after a performance.
All of a sudden, Appleton has got it wrong, Hector is awful and Fraser is useless. Won't even get to Dobson not being a captain!?
Last week people were discussing about mathematically breaking into the top 2, now we are average mid table. See the pattern?
People can vent away, totally agree, that's the whole point of the forum, as is backing the team on a set back.
Last night was a bad day at the office, we move on.
I just view it as people get emotional and I doubt it's said with too much malice. If people can't have a moan here then where?
Appleton did get it wrong, it's not to say he's a bad manager as he's done well so far and he's in credit, but he definitely got it wrong, Lincoln certainly played well but it shouldn't have been so easy when you consider Lincoln City's squad. The Dobson captain shouts are valid imo, he doesn't have a captains presence about him and he doesn't command vocally on the pitch. There is no doubt he is a 100%er and he leaves it all on the pitch, he just doesn't appear to have proper leaders skills on the pitch from what I have seen, what he is like off it is anyones guess, but I can see why people say it.
I don't see the pattern as I can't recall anyone saying top2 seriously tbf mate, usually sarcasm no? I think a fair few people think we can stake a claim for play-offs (that's where I sit currently) but most people think 7-12th is our current level it seems.
That's my mindset about it as well though, bad night, write it off and go again. I do however think it's fair to discuss players individual performances and thoughts, I'd find it pretty boring on here if everyone just said nothing about the game.
One thing I have always come to expect is more posts on these threads if we lose compared to winning, people are far more tempted to talk about bad news than good, we all love a moan. So I open this thread expecting to see people ranting from the off.