Without LJL

Guys

Genuine question, not looking to stir up the whole is LJL good enough debate.  But I'm more interested to know from those who went last night, if we actually play better and more effective football with LJL?
I saw the Welling game and we certainly played better and smarter attacking play in their half, but I wasn't too convinced, as Welling were supposed to be a poor and relegation haunted team of part-timers.  But if we as some have said were great last night, is this in part (not solely the reason) down to not being able to hit a target man with direct balls?

Are the majority of our players suited to quick passing, on the floor without a big man to "hold it up"?

If you read the just back thread you'll find that question has been answered.

Rough quote from Paul Hurst after the Welling game "without Lenny there we needed to play it on the ground and play smarter"

So, with him on the pitch we have to lump it up do we? None of that is Lenny's fault, just a classic example of having a big guy up top so people insisting we must just dump it up to him.

Interesting that we seem to play around one player (LJL), yet without him, the others players play better together.

if we played like we did last night, but with the shop up top, we would have won IMO, help it up, played it to a midfielder.

BUT, its too easy to just hoof it to him, play it on the floor to him and we will do alot better.

also bring Pittman in for Mackreth when fit, and we have a bloody good team.

Mackreth would be a good impact sub IMO

If the Shop is playing why do we need to resort to hitting it long? I actually think he's quite good with the ball at his feet. I would like to see him up top on his own, play the 5 in midfield, I would swap Disley for Paddy though. Every time I've seen Town this season where they've played the passing game they've looked really good. Please PH get us playing like this all the time.

The thing is songs to keep the opposition guessing. If we line up the same way every week its easier for teams to suss out our weaknesses.

The current trend , certainly in Spain, South America and Italy, is to play without a recognised target man. Unless he is exceptional in the air it is all too easy for defenders to play them out of the game when it comes to aerial battles. LJL can be very effective with the ball at his feet and last night demonstrated that we don't need to play the high ball down the throat of the opposition to get results. I hope PH has learnt from this but more importantly that the players have and keep their nerve in games as opposed to lumping it forward to relieve the pressure. The passing game from defence will always draw the opposition to the ball carrier and thus create spaces to exploit.

These arguments will always rage, especially in the madhouse that is the Conference. Once again Lincoln have an early runner in the top scorers section, Burrow, a player who I honestly have not heard anything really good about from Lincoln fans. Couple of Lincoln fans I know say he does little, and he didn't contribute a great deal to the game at Sincil Bank yet took his one chance very well.

Not very great player in a midtable-at-best team which has 5 defeats in its last 6 games and includes Mendy in its lineup has 5 goals  
Play it on the deck or hoof it, we just don't score enough goals even when the chances are made.

Quoted from RoboCod

These arguments will always rage, especially in the madhouse that is the Conference. Once again Lincoln have an early runner in the top scorers section, Burrow, a player who I honestly have not heard anything really good about from Lincoln fans. Couple of Lincoln fans I know say he does little, and he didn't contribute a great deal to the game at Sincil Bank yet took his one chance very well.

Not very great player in a midtable-at-best team which has 5 defeats in its last 6 games and includes Mendy in its lineup has 5 goals  
Play it on the deck or hoof it, we just don't score
enough goals even when the chances are made.

Only Barnet have scored more than us  

Yes, but our goals were largely scored in two games. We scored two against Lincoln and still lost. Spread those goals from those two huge wins over the other games and we're top.

FWIW I don't even think Lenny is actually that good in the air for a big guy. He's a lot better with it at his feet.

We played decent football last night especially with Neilson's energy and quick feet but at times the lack of muscle upfront was obvious. Hannah was isolated for long periods and he, Neilson and Mackreth were bullied by a big defence. LJL would probably have meant more half chances and snapshots created around the box but to be honest we still managed to look dangerous and forced their centre halves into quite a few panicked clearances.

Quoted from RoboCod

These arguments will always rage, especially in the madhouse that is the Conference. Once again Lincoln have an early runner in the top scorers section, Burrow, a player who I honestly have not heard anything really good about from Lincoln fans. Couple of Lincoln fans I know say he does little, and he didn't contribute a great deal to the game at Sincil Bank yet took his one chance very well.

Not very great player in a midtable-at-best team which has 5 defeats in its last 6 games and includes Mendy in its lineup has 5 goals  
Play it on the deck or hoof it, we just don't score enough goals even when the chances are made.

Neilson has the same amount of goals from midfield though despite missing the first 3 games.

Quoted from Tom13

Neilson has the same amount of goals from midfield though despite missing the first 3 games.

Neilson's having a great season, would be nice to see a Town striker up there with the leading scorers though.

Quoted from RoboCod

Neilson's having a great season, would be nice to see a Town striker up there with the leading scorers though.

Pittman has one less in fairness to him despite missing about 4 games (?), but I do agree with you there. If Pittman had been fit for all the games he'd be up there I think.

Quoted from pontoonlew

FWIW I don't even think Lenny is actually that good in the air for a big guy. He's a lot better with it at his feet.

I think he wins more than his fair share of headers, but he's not always great at directing then in the way that some players can. None of our other strikers can win as many headers though.

I agree he's got a decent enough touch with the ball at his feet. Just need to try and pass the ball through midfield effectively as we apparently were able to do last night.

We need him in the team, but we need the team playing with the ball on the floor. I'm more worried about the team without Pittman in all honesty.

Quoted from pontoonlew

Rough quote from Paul Hurst after the Welling game "without Lenny there we needed to play it on the ground and play smarter"

So, with him on the pitch we have to lump it up do we? None of that is Lenny's fault, just a classic example of having a big guy up top so people insisting we must just dump it up to him.

And that's the manager speaking. I heard that last night and thought "what a dumb thing to say".

I think we do play more attractive football when Shop doesn't play. We were excellent in the first half and didn't miss him at all, but once they shifted tactics and started closing us down quicker and playing hoof ball it wouldn't have been better if we could have countered it. I think Shop is a good part of our squad but for me because he can't finish for toffee we shouldn't build the team round him. I'd like to see him coming off the bench a bit more instead.

Quoted from horsforthmariner

I think we do play more attractive football when Shop doesn't play. We were excellent in the first half and didn't miss him at all, but once they shifted tactics and started closing us down quicker and playing hoof ball it wouldn't have been better if we could have countered it. I think Shop is a good part of our squad but for me because he can't finish for toffee we shouldn't build the team round him. I'd like to see him coming off the bench a bit more instead.

Exactly. How we expect to get out of this league basing our attack around a non-striking striker is beyond me. Yes, he works hard, yes, he's awkward but he rarely scores with his head and his first touch is abysmal. If you include Arnold as the fourth striker, his strike rate is worst of the four and of the others, one hasn't played yet for whatever reason, and the other seems to be a hamstring waiting to happen.

A lot   of fans say that lenny is better with his feet than with his head and can pick a pass, there for would it not be better to pass the ball to the back of the net instead of shooting  

Quoted from horsforthmariner

I think we do play more attractive football when Shop doesn't play. We were excellent in the first half and didn't miss him at all, but once they shifted tactics and started closing us down quicker and playing hoof ball it wouldn't have been better if we could have countered it. I think Shop is a good part of our squad but for me because he can't finish for toffee we shouldn't build the team round him. I'd like to see him coming off the bench a bit more instead.

There it is. Hurrah.