Following the 2-0 defeat away at Ipswich Town in League One on Tuesday night, I asked the Vital Lincoln City members what three things they learned from the match.
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Here’s what sedgleyimp said:
1. When any team has the spine of the team missing they will struggle. For a variety of reasons on Tuesday we were without our Number 1 keeper in Josh Griffiths, our best central defender in Joe Walsh, our midfield enforcer in Liam Bridcutt, and our main striker in Tom Hopper. All of these players are key to how we perform. When you have all four of them out at the same time the middle part of the pitch can be lost very quickly. I fully understand why Walsh and Hopper were both rested for this match as I suspect that eyes were on the Wimbledon game coming up and there was certainly no point in either coming on late. We are at the stage of the season now though where we need to get the points wherever we can to give us the breathing room and that will mean our best players playing in every game from now onwards.
2. The 3 at the back can still work, but how it is deployed and with which personnel needs to be considered in each and every game. We shouldn’t just bin the 3 with wing-backs. I genuinely think it is the way forward for our team and will reap benefits for the remainder of the season and beyond. What was evident on Tuesday though is that you have to consider the strengths of the opposition as well and not leave players isolated against good players. Stick with it, though with some considerations on a match-for-match basis.
3. The goalkeeper position for next season won’t need to be filled by a loan signing. I really like Sam Long as a goalkeeper and think he can be our Number 1 for many seasons ahead. Tuesday night also showed to me that we have a very capable second keeper in Jordan Wright. He wasn’t tested that much and of course, we conceded two goals, neither of which he was culpable for, but I was pleased to see how he likes to use his full penalty area and occasionally beyond and showed decent handling throughout. For a full debut in front of 25,000 opposition supporters, he did well. With those two on the books, we do not need to be looking for a new goalkeeper in the summer.
Have a go at our Lincoln City versus Ipswich Town Quizzes, published last season (they were all correct at the time they were published).
Ipswich Town 2-0 Lincoln City:
Three Things We Learned:https://t.co/0M4LPJbNSh#ITFC #ImpsAsOne
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) March 10, 2022
Pick a strong team, leaving the 2 Swansea loan players out, they’re not doing it for me, and use our own players, they will be wanting it more having been on the bench for long enough now, we do have far stronger player than those 2 and Fiorini, and unfortunately TJ as well.Where are we going MA.
come on boys