Following yesterday’s 1-0 defeat away at Stevenage in League One, I asked the Vital Lincoln City members what three things they learnt from the match.
Get involved with our post-match threads: Nominate Your Man of The Match, Rate The Players and Rate The Ref!
Here’s what sedgleyimp said:
1. Immediate changes and momentum won’t come overnight. I think this is something that some supporters overlook when appointments come in mid-season. They almost automatically expect a new manager bounce. That is very difficult when your first game is away to a physical side and you go into it with more than half of your first team squad absent. However what you saw with the intent to look forward and the speed of some of the passing movements today what Michael Skubala wants to instil into this team. Consider when we have the likes of Ben House, Tyler Walker, Ricco Hackett and Ted Bishop making those forward breaks and the likes of Paudie O’Connor, Sean Roughan and the much missed Lewis Monstma back and able to play how Skubala wants this team to play how damned good it really could be.
2. Steve Evans, loathe him or hate him, you have to say knows how to get a team to play to its strengths. He’s always been one of those characters that opposition fans despise. Ignoring the shady aspects of his time in the Fens purely for the purpose of this point, today highlighted why he is so despised. Something of a comedy character, but one who when you actually analyse what he is doing at Stevenage you have to hold your hands up and go, he actually knows what he is doing. A classic team overachieving purely because Evans plays to their strengths. They are an almost mirror image of his public persona. A physical team with an ugly streak. But it’s working. They are in the top six because Evans knows how to get results with them. Today was a prime example. We were the better team in the first half because they started out quite narrow. This allowed us space on the flanks and with a small percentage better final ball would have probably gone in ahead at the break. Evans identified this and made two changes which we didn’t deal with. He also clearly told his players to get into our faces. Evans is still a comedy figure with his behaviour, but unfortunately, he is also a football manager who knows what he is doing.
3. The corners need working on at both ends of the pitch. I’ve lost count of the number of goals we’ve conceded from corners this season and I have also not started counting those we have scored. Conceding from set pieces is an Achilles heel of ours and needs attention but also our attacking set pieces need work. Today was poor from both aspects and can so often be the difference between a win and a loss. Both need immediate attention in our training sessions.
Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!
"Loathe him or hate him, you have to say knows how to get a team to play to its strengths." (opinion):https://t.co/YX8XhTkUeW#StevenageFC #WeAreImps
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) November 19, 2023
Easy for Steve Evans at half time, close down the only effective player we have up front ( Sorenson ) and you close Lincoln down, with our overrated midfield duo not feeding the forward line, it was three points in the Bag for Stevenage.
Overrated? What a load of rubbish. They are both quality players but sadly as a team things aren’t quite right at the moment. Hopefully, once certain players return from injury, everything will come together nicely.