Following yesterday’s 2-0 defeat away at Blackpool in League One, I asked the Vital Lincoln City members what three things they learnt from the match.
You can discuss what has been said in this article HERE and vote for your Man of The Match versus Blackpool HERE!
Here’s what sedgleyimp said:
1. Lincoln City’s season starts now. August was a pretty good month for us but beyond that, it has been something of a testing first half of the season. Injuries and changes at the helm have caused much disruption to the team. Michael Skubala has been in charge for a short period of time and barring a couple of decent away wins it’s been a struggle. This in many ways shouldn’t be too much of a shock to any supporter. Injuries to key players as we have had would cause issues for Premier League teams let alone a League 1 team with a middle-of-the-table wage bill. So we enter the new year with our season very much at the crossroads and it could go one of three ways. We could trot along getting points here and there, finishing 14th and planning for next season. We’d probably accept that at the moment as we have only managed to pick up 2 points out of the last 18 and lost 4 on the bounce. As Lincoln supporters, we have seen this pattern before and it ended with the loss of our league status. You only have to look at Exeter this season who had a very bright start, then went games without picking up a point and plummeted down the league. Football matches can be lost in the minds of players before they set foot onto a pitch and the more losses you have, the more you think you are going to lose. It’s a cycle that is difficult to get out of. That’s the worst-case scenario we face here and now. It could easily go the other way though. No team is giving us a thrashing this season. The defence might not be as water-tight as it was at the very beginning of this season or at the end of the last but we don’t let that many in. The issue is that we don’t score enough, so to concede is to lose now. That can be fixed and this is why our season starts now. Skubala has constantly said that he hasn’t had a real opportunity to get new ideas and tactics drilled into the team on the training pitch. He has that chance now. Not just the eleven days to the next match but the fact that in the month of January, we only have 3 games. Players can be back from injury. Some might get recalled from their loans. New faces might grace our team. Some who have been filling in as first-team players, but have struggled, will leave. It won’t be a complete overhaul. They don’t work in January but it will allow Skubala to imprint himself upon this team and only then will we be able to judge whether his appointment was a good one or not.
2. Chances made have to be taken. It looks like we were the better team in the opening salvo, but didn’t really trouble their goalkeeper nor threaten to rouse the scorekeeper from his slumbers. In tight games, and we were playing a team who have the best League 1 home record so we knew they’d have their chances. you must make ours count.
3. Our support remains strong despite the on-field issues. Yes, there seems to have been some gallows humour around the away end yesterday and some are griping on various social media sites, but over 600 made the quite hazardous trip across the country in terrible weather conditions and they’ll be there at Wycombe a week on Saturday and at Cheltenham come the end of April irrespective of how we’ve done in the months between now and then. We are still all Imps, and although opinions may vary we’ll stick with it.
Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!
QUIZ: How much can you remember about the match versus Blackpool at Bloomfield Road in October 2020? Have a go below!
Blackpool 2-0 Lincoln City: Three Things We Learnt:https://t.co/DNsgHQ9ROk#UTMP #BlackpoolFC #WeAreImps
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) January 2, 2024
