Following Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat away at Charlton Athletic in League One, I asked the Vital Lincoln City members what three things they learned from the match.
You can discuss what has been said in this article HERE, as well as many other topics on our 100% Imps forum! We have also published a Lincoln City v Charlton Athletic Quiz, which can be found just below the three things. Every page view helps raise money for Lincoln City Football Club!
Here’s what sedgleyimp said:
1. Getting the balance right is difficult. Tonight’s game for us was largely a dead rubber. Gone was any opportunity of making the top two yet the Play-Off place was cemented. We are not used to having games like this as supporters. There are bigger games on the horizon, but also the question of momentum. There was a point tonight after Charlton had scored two in a minute that I feared that we might be on the receiving end of a bit of a hiding. That could have hit the confidence really hard. As it transpired we actually found a bit of spirit and both settled down at the back and grabbed one decent goal, and might just have got another one. So you look at the starting XI plus the substitutions and you see that the priority is very much two weeks hence. Tonight was a question of getting through a game intact. Was it the right policy? Should we have gone all out for the win tonight be playing what most consider to be our best starting XI or was the decision to rest players correct? Obviously, we just don’t know at the moment, but making those decisions is divisive. We want to win all games as supporters, but those making these decisions have a track record of doing the right thing. We can trust that judgement.
2. It is difficult for players when there is not much to play for. You see this often at the end of the season. We had very little to play for tonight. It was the same after we won the National League in 2017 and League 2 in 2019. The games after the goal was achieved were largely forgettable, and rarely won (if at all). I get it. The players know that there are huge games to play after this Sunday and they want to be right for them. There’s little point in having a stormer when there’s nothing on the line, then don’t do it when it matters.
3. A 2 up front policy can work. Charlton’s first-half tactics didn’t work tonight and in all honesty, if they hadn’t switched formation in the second half I suspect we would have seen the game out with relative ease, possibly even going on to win as they would have left gaps at the back. The key to their change was to put Aneke right up there alongside Stockley. That caused our defenders problems as both our central defenders had to try and deal man for man with a striker rather than sharing the load. A good old-fashioned 4-4-2 is not as dead as many think.
Have a go at our Lincoln City v Charlton Athletic Quiz below:
Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!
Charlton Athletic 3-1 Lincoln City:
Three Things We Learned:https://t.co/uvxnPHA2Ik#CAFC #ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) May 6, 2021
