Just back

Some Carlisle fans on their forum and Twitter rightly acknowledging we are a good footballing side and 2-0 at half time was very harsh on us. We certainly played a lot better footballing wise than on Saturday.

I am delighted with the quality of the football but we need to do it further up the pitch and somebody needs to be playing every week whose main and probably only job is to finish.

Personally I would play Taylor and Orsi together because we know Taylor creates and Orsi has a great goalscoring record at a previous club.

Looking further ahead we need to bite the bullet in January and sign a league 2 quality striker  - even one that has been round the block a bit but who is sought after by other clubs. It will cost a bit but no good having sell out crowds if we won't sign a striker in a seller's market.

I always try to be positive after a game.

However, I though we could have done better last than some fans have commented.

Firstly, a Carlisle fan posted t hat they were missing a number of players.

Yes, we played attractive football at times. Most of it at the back with Carlisle all in front of us.  Even in the second half I would say we wasted 10 minutes overall neatly playing in our own half.  You won't score from your own half (unless you are a teenage David Beckham).

Paul Hurst said that apart from goals the stats were in our favour.  We still created very few decent chances.  Not incisive enough.  

Simmonds (and as a young player) had not enough before to start the game. He was lost first half.  Efete needs a rest as we know as much for his own benefit.  Last night x player should have been at RB.

We need to stop conceding in the last minute before HT.  Twice in 4 days.

2-0 down at HT.    I would have liked to have seen Orsi and Richardson on for all of the second-half.  They did make a positive difference and we scored.  We had to do something different and needed 2 goals at least.

Disappointed that from the 80th min Carlisle more or less controlled the game. They won all the balls in the air.  We offered little.

We have played the same number of games as other clubs now.  Bar leader Leyton Orient, only Salford have conceded fewer goals (Salford by 1).

We have a solid base to build from.

Having braved the highlights, whilst for the first, Efete's was the 1st mistake, ALOT of football happened after, the lad wasn't closed down at all and the goalscorer had his own postcode to take the shot.  I also felt Max could have done better, though that's being super critical.

Quoted from Lost in Lincoln

Having braved the highlights, whilst for the first, Efete's was the 1st mistake, ALOT of football happened after, the lad wasn't closed down at all and the goalscorer had his own postcode to take the shot.  I also felt Max could have done better, though that's being super critical.

For the second...Before Efete even gets the ball Waterfall is pointing / gesturing him to go back to Crocombe....seemingly unaware Dennis was already moving in to close it off, yes it wasn't a well executed pass but some external influence on the decision to go back.

Quoted from moosey_club

For the second...Before Efete even gets the ball Waterfall is pointing / gesturing him to go back to Crocombe....seemingly unaware Dennis was already moving in to close it off, yes it wasn't a well executed pass but some external influence on the decision to go back.

The sideways and backwards passing culture, linked to a deep back line is our default position for recycling and often ends with either Waterfall or Crocombe hoofing it. It begs the question why Efete can’t have more licence to pick a forward pass if there is one? Paint by numbers full backs survive in National league but are are more likely to be pressed in the EFL. Most of our visiting teams seem to have been well organised in their pressing of our full backs and midfield which means that we pass back, go long then have to scrap for possession.
Once we get the ball down to Khan, Taylor and Orsi etc, we look much better but our passing generally has been poor.

The stats say we had a lot of possession most of which was sideways, backwards, sideways, reverse sideways and backwards again. Good for stats but it doesn't help in moving the ball forward.

Funny old game, isn't it. I thought we were poor in 5 of the first 8 games, yet managed to pick up a lot of points due to taking the very few chances we had and opponents lack of finishing. I think we've been better in the last 2 games than most of those, but we've actually been punished and not taken our chances. We probably still have a couple more points than I think we deserve, but that's what Hurst teams do.

It's not fun to watch a mid table side, but it was overly optimistic to expect a team that finished 6th in the NL to be competing at the top of L2. There's a huge difference in quality between the leagues that is underestimated. Our start reinforced the high expectations, but it was as much down to other teams mistakes as us earning it.

Controversially, I don't like Hunt. Didn't last season either. His passing is very good and his set pieces are usually excellent, but I don't see where he plays. He sits deep and tries to move the ball on quickly, but he's not very good defensively. He doesn't shirk challenges, but doesn't read the game defensively, doesn't shield the defense and gets passed around easily. You'd think his passing would be better utilised more forwards, but he doesn't drive to get into positions to use that. I think Morris is far better holding and Clifton/Holohan offer more going forwards because of their energy rather than quality.

I thought Hunt tried to make things happen, but sometimes looked poor because he "forced" it, as the movement ahead was mostly static.
He needs a run in the team, and with someone (like Morris or Green) alongside him to offer protection and do the "engine" work

Two defensive lapses don't happen and the scrutiny is well and truly off.

The first goal changed the game, up until that point it was open as hell.  The second goal just killed it completely.  

Problem for me isn't Taylor or even those around him.  Well, it is a problem to an extent but not the problem.  To my eyes the problem lies in midfield, which ironically was our strength a matter of weeks ago.    We were at our best when we packed the midfield with energy and more or less won games by making sure we were second to the vast majority of balls.  We pressed high with intensity and teams couldn't handle it, ultimately making mistakes or leaving space late on.

That meant our line-ups weren't spectacular, a midfield 3 of Morris, Green and Holohan is never going to produce a Ballon d'Or winner, equally so width from Clifton and Kiernan is workmanlike rather than exciting.  But it worked.  Morris was sitting as a third centre-back, which gave a lot of freedom for Efete and Glennon to bomb on, where I think their best work is done.  Holohan and Green pressed, pressed and then pressed some more with similar attributes coming from the lads out wide.  

Taylor was still isolated but because he had four players pressing a higher line, he wasn't as far away from support and the defenders had other things to occupy them rather than two of them wrestling him to the floor at a time.  

Now we've got a completely different system and midfield line-up.  Richardson/Simmonds operating in that no-mans land doesn't really help the midfield nor get involved enough in and around Taylor.  So we're a man down in the midfield battle straight away.  Hunt isn't the same type of player as Holohan or Green, not saying his lazy, but he's a different type of player.  He wants to get on the ball and create, not press.  The other two have the first instinct to get up and at someone, Hunt's first instinct is to see when he can get the ball and what he can do with it.  

A flat four across the middle and the lack of someone dropping deeper to create a back 3 limits the ability for the fullbacks to get forward.  Notably of late down the left.  For his critics Efete got down the flank a lot on Tuesday, but it did create gaps at the back.

In the absence of a striker who can work with Taylor effectively, I wonder if there's merit in returning to what was working.  Morris is out so maybe Hunt in that sitting role, I think he'll be better further forward but needs must.  Energy back in the middle of the park and back to what we do well.  

It needs progressing and I think Hurst tried to improve the quality of what we had (Hunt, Khan, maybe even the likes of Richardson), but perhaps too many steps too soon.  One step at a time, Khan in on one flank with Clifton on the other?

Quoted from lee65

I thought Hunt tried to make things happen, but sometimes looked poor because he "forced" it, as the movement ahead was mostly static.
He needs a run in the team, and with someone (like Morris or Green) alongside him to offer protection and do the "engine" work

I don't think he 'forced' it as such, I just think some of our players are not at the same level as him.

I can see why he didn't work out at Oldham, because he clearly has a great eye for a pass, but Oldham had players that clearly wasn't good enough to see what he could.

He's a clever player, and I'm very excited about him.