Hm Hm It`s the Management

You see despite 5 out and out attackers we can`t break them down. As a manager if Dany, Dodds Forester and Stallard confront you with Frecks advancing down the middle; you play deep and hit on the counter. You have one central midfielder to beat then Beevers and er Brown. Of course if you decide to go wide you avoid Croft because he is a full back and roast Ryan ‘lightweight` Amoo.


Certainly our choice of finisher is slightly off the wall. Jamie Forrester is more than capable of making up for any pace deficiencies by doing the first yard in his head. Given the ball to feet he can make things happen and his assist record last season was probably the major reason for keeping him in the side. We do not however play to his strengths and continue to expect a support striker to be the main focus. Expecting him to feed off up field punts is like asking Nat Brown to be a playmaker as he has neither the height to compete nor the pace to be first if the ball goes beyond the last defender. Therefore unless we radically change half our personnel he cannot be the man for the job. Lets face facts we have neither the budget nor the strength in depth to give Jamie the service he needs and we have therefore been worked out as a one trick pony despite the addition of two real wingers this year.

Looking at our offensive side we have an embarrassment of riches. We have a natural finisher who is hard to mark out of the game in Dodds. Stallard and Torpey who have height, strength and touch are the perfect partners for him, as is Forester in a three pronged attack. Out wide we have Dany, a player who gets you out of your chair every time he receives the ball. Warlowe too has the same style. It gets better and better – one plays left the other right. We have Ben Wright in the wings too, another Forester type player who at 6′ 1″ can pose some serious problems. Ask Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.

Now defensively the Imps really come unstuck. I do not think there is a single league 2 fan or striker that would consider anything less than two goals against them to be par for the course. And that`s due to the fact that we have a brilliant keeper. Mazza has had a stormer so far this season. Without him we would see the two goal average at least double.

Now a defence is not just about a back four and a goalkeeper. It requires a couple of canny counter attack personnel in front of it. Hand and Kerr are the perfect chiefs (bless you) to get amongst them. Yet Frecks is preferred. His inclusion in the side means we have 3 attacking and one defensive midfielder. Games are won and lost in midfield yet ours is ill equipped to win the ball. As Schoey says we have to earn the right to play. Well winning the ball would be a start. Until we do so the other team will have a lot more possession and chances than us not to mention that two goal start.