Just back

Quoted from sam gy

Hey, you know what - we lost one nil away in a close encounter with probably the best team in the league, with one of the biggest budgets and we went down to 10 men too.

That's really not too bad. We're competing and yes there is room for improvement. Last year in the corresponding feature we got absolutely hammered and were never in the game. That's improvement.

Thanks for a sensible assessment of where we really are. We would be unrealistic to expect to be a new Manchester City without the resources or time need to develop.

At the start of the season many fans said they expected that we would be mid table, but build a base for a promotion push next season. I think that is exactly where we are.

Quoted from Cayman_mariner

Agree with all of that Herts - the appointment and trust in Slade took us backwards but yes in the bigger picture the board are accountable for not moving forward since getting back in L2, but also in getting us down into non-League in the first place.  

I'd be interested to hear what the views are on the current team against the team that Hurst assembled for our first season back in the league, and whether you feel we've a better squad now, worse or about the same?

I think this one with a couple of additions has more long term potential than any sqaud we’ve had since coming up.

Compared to Hursts squad? Not sure as when he left that one had a bit more experience as the average age was higher and Bogle had been in form. As Bignot loved to tell everyone there was “not enough technical ability” in that squad I actually think we’ve got some better footballers MJ just needs to develop them as pros and the future will be bright.

To be fair Hurst was given a long time to get the squad right the Cowley's equally so M.J. should be given a decent stint he has earned that.

The squad is small but the players have bonded and that makes bringing in new players easier.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

To be fair Hurst was given a long time to get the squad right the Cowley's equally so M.J. should be given a decent stint he has earned that.

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They won the title in their first season!

Shocking game.  I agree with the sentiment that it didn't seem to have the atmosphere of previous derby games either.  Maybe the 'safe zone' or lack of tickets resulted in that, I don't know.  It just felt a little flat.

I can completely understand Jolley's thinking in going to a 3-5-2.  We went into the game knowing that Lincoln would be physical and look to bully us, we put our big lads in for it.  3 big centre-backs and Cardwell up top to come back for corners and free-kicks.  In hindsight it probably was probably over cautious.  With a back 3, you really need to have one of the three bringing the ball out and stepping into midfield, which in turns allows your more forward minded midfielder to support the attack.  Perhaps the idea was for Ohman (who was absolutely superb!) to do this but he was too busy taking blows to the head but we didn't do it.  I think Whitmore and Davis are both decent, solid types but neither are what I would call footballing centre-backs.  Perhaps we could have afforded to put Hendrie, as more of a footballer, in the 3 with RHJ out wide.  

The midfield badly lacked Clifton and it took Rose a good 30 minutes to get going.  Our system also meant Embleton wasn't able to get forward much but when he did that was when we looked at our best.  

Up top, nah just not good enough for me on the day.  The service was poor but there was a real lack of enthusiasm and zest from both Thomas and Cardwell.  Definitely from the stands it was Cardwell who was getting the lions share of the blame but I thought Thomas was borderline lazy at times.  Could have quite easily made the change to bring Vernam on at the break.  Neither did enough chasing down or trying to hustle their defence.  Was a point in the second half where Hendrie and Ring were chasing the Lincoln defence down which was just bizarre to see, especially when the strikers were jogging back to position.  Thomas seems to have got himself in a bit of a rut where he doesn't look capable of scoring or even making a chance for himself, previously he always looked a threat with this twists and turns.  Cardwell looked totally devoid of any confidence in his own ability, scared of his own shadow at times.

Overall the performance matched the result and the game, disappointing.  I think the wing-back system has some legs to it, especially with the bodies we've got in the building now.  But we need to make sure we've someone in our defence who can step forward to control the play and the energy in midfield is still there, allowing Embleton to get forward.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

Shocking game.  I agree with the sentiment that it didn't seem to have the atmosphere of previous derby games either.  Maybe the 'safe zone' or lack of tickets resulted in that, I don't know.  It just felt a little flat.

I can completely understand Jolley's thinking in going to a 3-5-2.  We went into the game knowing that Lincoln would be physical and look to bully us, we put our big lads in for it.  3 big centre-backs and Cardwell up top to come back for corners and free-kicks.  In hindsight it probably was probably over cautious.  With a back 3, you really need to have one of the three bringing the ball out and stepping into midfield, which in turns allows your more forward minded midfielder to support the attack.  Perhaps the idea was for Ohman (who was absolutely superb!) to do this but he was too busy taking blows to the head but we didn't do it.  I think Whitmore and Davis are both decent, solid types but neither are what I would call footballing centre-backs.  Perhaps we could have afforded to put Hendrie, as more of a footballer, in the 3 with RHJ out wide.  

The midfield badly lacked Clifton and it took Rose a good 30 minutes to get going.  Our system also meant Embleton wasn't able to get forward much but when he did that was when we looked at our best.  

Up top, nah just not good enough for me on the day.  The service was poor but there was a real lack of enthusiasm and zest from both Thomas and Cardwell.  Definitely from the stands it was Cardwell who was getting the lions share of the blame but I thought Thomas was borderline lazy at times.  Could have quite easily made the change to bring Vernam on at the break.  Neither did enough chasing down or trying to hustle their defence.  Was a point in the second half where Hendrie and Ring were chasing the Lincoln defence down which was just bizarre to see, especially when the strikers were jogging back to position.  Thomas seems to have got himself in a bit of a rut where he doesn't look capable of scoring or even making a chance for himself, previously he always looked a threat with this twists and turns.  Cardwell looked totally devoid of any confidence in his own ability, scared of his own shadow at times.

Overall the performance matched the result and the game, disappointing.  I think the wing-back system has some legs to it, especially with the bodies we've got in the building now.  But we need to make sure we've someone in our defence who can step forward to control the play and the energy in midfield is still there, allowing Embleton to get forward.  

I think by the sounds of the new lad Grayson, he should be able to bring the ball out of defence quite comfortably.

The other thing with the 3-5-2 system is the slight variations to how you can shape it. I wasn't there on Saturday but I hear from others that our 3 in midfield was Rose sitting deep behind Hess and Embleton. Maybe that was a one-off with the opposition in mind, but it'd get much more out of Embleton and hopefully see us being more of an attacking threat if it was 2 midfielders then with Embleton ahead of them behind the strikers.

Forgot about Grayson, Tommy.  But that's the other point I wanted to make.  I thought the lack of a natural left footer in the back three (I don't think Whitmore is left footed!) was quite evident.  

Agreed on Embleton, he's too good to have him sitting deep.  Benefit of Clifton and Hess is that they've got the legs to cover as lot ground, negating the need for someone to sit deeper.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Multiple Investors creating a large cash flow buffer, lucky cup draws, cup wins versus teams who are “focusing on the league” TV money on the back of all that and a manager who’s a media whore no wonder they’ve “kicked on”!

Lots of things have clicked to provide them with the budget to win this league. They only have a couple of lads on long term deals so when they go up their financial commitments will inevitably increase but their gates won’t so like the Scunts they’ll need propping up by directors to kick on again.

Time will only tell whether their growth is sustainable or not.

Lincoln's "lucky" cup draws that generated most of the money, were from the 2nd round onwards against teams 2-4 leagues higher. As for the fixtures being against teams "focusing on the league" Lincoln also won the league that season (something non of their opposition did) so there must have also been a focus on that. Not bad for a manager who's just a media whore, and who at the time was managing a club half a million in debt with no training facilities.

Grimsby could do with doing something beyond finishing bottom half and complaining how their neighbours have more than them. Especially seeing as they have been in this league longer than Lincoln, and look to be staying in it for a while more.

As for sustainablity, that's a problem the majority of clubs in league 2 will have if they are climbing divisions. I doubt there will be many fans pining for the security of 15th place which Grimsby Town can offer.

Overall point being GTFC are going nowhere, slowly, and if the best they can do is have one shot on target against their closest league rivals that isn't changing. Whether 11 Lincoln player should be in the pitch or not, it's irrelavnt to how blunt Grimsby are.

Quoted from LJC

Lincoln's "lucky" cup draws that generated most of the money, were from the 2nd round onwards against teams 2-4 leagues higher. As for the fixtures being against teams "focusing on the league" Lincoln also won the league that season (something non of their opposition did) so there must have also been a focus on that. Not bad for a manager who's just a media whore, and who at the time was managing a club half a million in debt with no training facilities.

Grimsby could do with doing something beyond finishing bottom half and complaining how their neighbours have more than them. Especially seeing as they have been in this league longer than Lincoln, and look to be staying in it for a while more.

As for sustainablity, that's a problem the majority of clubs in league 2 will have if they are climbing divisions. I doubt there will be many fans pining for the security of 15th place which Grimsby Town can offer.

Overall point being GTFC are going nowhere, slowly, and if the best they can do is have one shot on target against their closest league rivals that isn't changing. Whether 11 Lincoln player should be in the pitch or not, it's irrelavnt to how blunt Grimsby are.

Pretty damn condescending when you only had two shots on target yourself against a "going nowhere, pining for security of 15th" closest league rival..

It was a tight game in which both teams cancelled each other out for long periods of the game. You got your goal in your twenty minute spell of ascendency, we didn't.. nothing more nothing less..

Quoted from Bigdog

Pretty damn condescending when you only had two shots on target yourself against a "going nowhere, pining for security of 15th" closest league rival..

Don't really mind if you think it's condescending or not. I am saying being able to "kick on" hasn't been 100% luck, and that sustainability for most clubs is a challenge if they're progressing, but surely one most people wouldn't mind.

Reference the 2 shots on target to one, that's fine but kind of ignoring the point. The usual cliches apply with derbies, that form goes out the window, so a win in a derby is a win. The stats aren't too much of a concern, especially if you've won the game. What I am saying is that we did win the game, but overall we also had a lot more shots, and seeing as the league is going well it hardly feels like papering over the cracks by being happy with 2 shots to 1 against a team 15th just this once.