| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game 18:57 - Jan 7 with 3076 views | LankHenners |
Arriving in my seat in very good time, I looked across to see the Imp invasion swarming all over the Cobbold, and they made an almighty noise when their team strode out for the warm up. Our boys jogged out to boos and "who are ya" from the red and white battalion, and the warm ups began.
A small, probably insignificant point, but I noticed ours was very low-tempo, the pass and move section was shorter and less intense, whereas Lincoln were sprinting about, incredibly focused and had a very high tempo. It might not have meant anything at all, but it was a precursor to how the match would be played out.
442 vs 442 with a lightweight middle two of Dozzell and Bru for us, whilst Lincoln had the physical Rhead and Robinson leading the line.
From kick-off we charged at them and forced a couple of corners which came to nothing, trying to deflate the buoyant Imps' spirits. However, the game went into a bit of a trudge fairly quickly. In Rhead Lincoln had a focal point, a big, balding focal point who won the vast majority of the big kicks from 'keeper Farman. They knew what they wanted to do and did it well.
Every pass was put to good use, every player moved cautiously but with purpose, no one held the ball for longer than they needed to nor shifted it away in a panic. Hawkridge, Woodyard and, in particular, Arnold, showed great composure and technique to keep the Imps in relative control. No real chances were created before a bit of non-league defending gifted Lincoln the league.
Robinson won a ball forward unchallenged, passed out wide to Arnold who had tons of space past a sleeping Knudsen, and Robinson timed his run perfectly past the flat footed Berra to poke home past a helpless Gerken. Poor. Bedlam in the Cobbold.
We didn't have to wait long for another bit of non-league defending, this time from the actual non-league side. Lawrence turned his man on the half way line, then ran straight at four defenders consecutively, breezing past them before hitting a low shot at Farman who somehow let it through his legs. Very fortunate to get that far but it was what would be an incredibly rare instance of someone taking the initiative and actually looking like they were trying from Lawrence.
The rest of the first half trickled out with neither 'keeper tested but Lincoln clearly on top. Good passing, mixing it up well between long balls to Rhead and spreading the ball across the park. On the other hand we insisted on playing percentage football, expecting Sears and Pitman to make something of hopeful balls.
A strong run from Emmanuel (behind Lawrence in MOM) led to Dozzell sending a deflected shot whiskers past the post, but that was the only real notable piece of action on our side. Knudsen was lucky to win a freekick after falling over when he took far too long to control a simple ball back to him under pressure outside our box.
2nd half. We started as we meant to go on. A shaky pass from Berra to Knudsen saw the Dane yet again take an age to control the ball before slipping and losing it, Berra having to block a shot out for a corner.
Lincoln were certainly on top as we hopelessly lumped the ball forwards. A couple of confident shots either wide or comfortably saved by Gerken, whilst Rhead had a powerful header from a distance held by our number 1.
Sears, who looks like a player completely empty on the confidence side of things, eventually contributed with a left footed shot just wide after a positive pass from Dozzell.
However, it was not to spark us into anything. A ball forwards, an absolute disaster of a back header from Berra and a superbly emphatic blast of a volley from Robinson into the roof of the net saw 2-1, and the striker booked for the removal of his shirt in celebration, which he took with a grin.
We still didn't look like we wanted to get back in the game - no movement off the ball to help Bru, who made one lovely pass followed by a poor one all afternoon, or Dozzell, who was very quiet but showed flashes of quality when he had the ball in the opposition half. Andre flicked a header into Farman's hands whilst Pitman wasted a good opportunity to equalise by sending the ball into orbit from 16 yards. He showed just as much frustration as the fans by throwing his arms around in disgust.
We changed to 352 but no substitutions and with 5 minutes remaining we finally looked like we wanted something. Pitman had a header nervously pushed away before Lawrence took aim from 30 yards to send in a precise bullet into the bottom corner. Harsh on Lincoln. Very harsh.
Sears tamely flicked a centre into Farman and the game ended with great cheers from the travelling 5000 and boos from a disgruntled 11000ish.
Gerken had little to do and barring one dodgy punch was competent in the air and holding the odd shot. Kicking was pretty poor, mind, although he didn't have someone useful to aim at like Farman did with Rhead.
Knudsen was bad. Sorry, but going forwards he kicked several balls into touch or away from any of our players, and defensively left a lot of space for Arnold to work in. Did absolutely nothing to show we he's been in ahead of Kenlock.
Berra, the stand in captain, showed no signs of leadership and it was his error that gave away a goal. After starting strongly he was routinely dominated by Rhead thereafter. Webster was a mixed bag, more solid than Berra but gave the ball away cheaply and was guilty of resorting to aimless lumps forwards when there were better options on for a player with his quality on the ball.
Emmanuel did very well. Often overlooked as the team seemed desperate to get the ball to Lawrence on the opposite side but we only got somewhere (other than Lawrence's heroics) when he drove at their defence. One great bit of defending near the end when he calmly brushed substitute Muldoon off the ball as he went one-on-one with Gerken due to us pushing up high to get a winner.
Bru and Dozzell occasionally showed flashes of quality but the real lack of leadership and bite in that midfield hurt us. With a more solid centre-mid in there today, either one of them could have shone. Instead, Bru was often left to try and pick the ball off the CBs, although they usually bypassed him. When he did get it, it was 50/50 whether he'd get it into a good position or give it away. Dozzell showed good passing ability and awareness in getting the ball into the edge of the box but was kept quiet by Lincoln's midfield as well as our own lack of ability to help each other out. Douglas would have been a smart move today, not that the fans inside the ground would have seen that.
Ward was pretty anonymous - barely had the ball and didn't really affect the game in any way. Lawrence was the one-man show, largely the only one trying to take on the Imps and his effort and determination gave us the undeserving draw.
Sears looks world weary and completely out of belief and confidence. Took so many touches to control the ball only to kick it out of play or lose it. The style of football did him no favours but he did nowhere near enough when he had the ball. Pitman shuffled about like an elderly Parkinsons patient and was about as useful as one on the pitch. The odd bit off good play towards the end when he combined with Bru and Lawrence, but his sum contribution was two wild shots over the bar.
Mick. Mick, Mick, Mick. Today's game was never going to be the end of him or a confidence boost to the fans either way but he didn't help himself. What I particularly didn't like today was how he stood with his back to the bench the entire game, not once even sending them out to warm up. To me, that's poor. It smacks of a lack of intention to play the youngsters, who would have at least played with a bit of fire and passion, something completely drained out of the majority of boys on the pitch. Mick said pre-match he wanted to take the cup more seriously as the league is not going so well. Going on his efforts today that was complete b0ll0cks.
We have to give credit to Lincoln though. From their vocal fans to their determined players they were excellent. Let's not forget, top of their league, 21 wins from 23. If that's not momentum I don't know what is. They out played us by getting the basics spot on and every simple thing they did better from us.
That doesn't excuse us, but it wasn't as bad as the simpletons and revisionists on the Radio Suffolk call-in would have you know. The Bristol and QPR performances gave hope that we could turn a corner, but as it's been so often this season, we've put ourselves back on square one. A bad performance, and another very un-Mick McCarthy one. |  |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 19:28 - Jan 7 with 2946 views | brazil1982 |
Good report, and it's heartening to know Emmanuel is performing quite well. |  | | |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 19:34 - Jan 7 with 2911 views | cbower |
Thanks for that. Nice to get a balanced view. The Douglas thing really has become a festering sore. Until recently, almost everyone seemed in agreement that it was his partnership with Skuse that left us bereft of drive and creativity in the middle but he was an adequate replacement for Skuse just not a partner. Now it seems even Mick wants to shield Douglas from the wrath of the fans although he would have been an obvious partner for Bru or Dozell today. Sad times. Tommy's comments on the radio were also quite telling. Combine this with the broken relationship with Chambers and the fans and it's quite worrying. |  |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 19:52 - Jan 7 with 2796 views | LankHenners |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 19:34 - Jan 7 by cbower |
Thanks for that. Nice to get a balanced view. The Douglas thing really has become a festering sore. Until recently, almost everyone seemed in agreement that it was his partnership with Skuse that left us bereft of drive and creativity in the middle but he was an adequate replacement for Skuse just not a partner. Now it seems even Mick wants to shield Douglas from the wrath of the fans although he would have been an obvious partner for Bru or Dozell today. Sad times. Tommy's comments on the radio were also quite telling. Combine this with the broken relationship with Chambers and the fans and it's quite worrying. |
Mick wasn't wrong when he said bringing on Douglas would have been met with an intense negative reaction, but that game today showed exactly why we need Cole Skuse in our team, or at least Douglas.
What were Smith's comments? I didn't get back to the car to hear them in time. | |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 19:53 - Jan 7 with 2766 views | PrideOfTheEast |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 19:28 - Jan 7 by brazil1982 |
Good report, and it's heartening to know Emmanuel is performing quite well. |
Defensively he was all over the place at times. Mick constantly shouting at him as he was out of position. I think he's got a good chance. He's also very good going forward. | | | |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:02 - Jan 7 with 2329 views | cbower |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 19:52 - Jan 7 by LankHenners |
Mick wasn't wrong when he said bringing on Douglas would have been met with an intense negative reaction, but that game today showed exactly why we need Cole Skuse in our team, or at least Douglas.
What were Smith's comments? I didn't get back to the car to hear them in time. |
He intimated that the atmosphere at PR is affecting the players and that they may be better off playing away if I recall correctly. | |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:26 - Jan 7 with 2166 views | LankHenners |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:02 - Jan 7 by cbower |
He intimated that the atmosphere at PR is affecting the players and that they may be better off playing away if I recall correctly. |
Oh right, he's probably right, not that I have any reason to doubt him. Certainly has the feeling that the atmosphere's reached a point where it won't go back to where it was before. | |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:40 - Jan 7 with 2015 views | jeera |
Do we have what can be called any actual partnerships on the field at all?
It doesn't seem so does it? Central pairing at the back can't be considered so atm, not CM, nor down the wings, and certainly not up front.
Listening to that today it seemed that Lincoln have pairings over the pitch; players who click and understand each other.
Who, if any, do we have? |  |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:50 - Jan 7 with 1911 views | unstableblue |
Great report.
I didn't see match of the day, but was there not a piece where Lincoln came across as very well drilled and trained, someone was raving about it. |  |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:59 - Jan 7 with 1831 views | Durovigutum |
I don't get to Portman Road very often but was there today.
Gerkin is poor. It's almost as if he has no football brain. His positioning is woeful. He gives hospital balls to his defenders and in anchored to his line at times. If MM had played Bart more last season I suspect we might have made those few points and hit 6th place.
We really do not look after the football very well. This is the crux of our problem in my view - that and sitting too deep, but the two are linked. We give the ball away too cheaply because we do not seem to be able to pass it to each other and are far too static. The midfield sit too deep and then don't get up to support the forwards. We are too deep because we don't look after the ball, give it away and then have to defend, so to avoid getting caught we don't go forwards. We appear to get punished by silly defensive errors but it's because we are playing the game in our half all the time. Today Lincoln were playing between half way and the top of our area, we were playing in the same area (but in our own half).. When we made a mistake they are so much closer to our area they can exploit it, but when we made a chance we are still 50 yards from goal.
I hope this makes sense, I am so cross at the basic awfulness of what I saw today...
There is a real malaise. No matter what you say about the individual players there is no one that has made it to this level and who is not AT LEAST competent. The crux is whether your style or attributes fit into the team and the way of playing - and whether you have confidence. Confidence in yourself, the manager, your team mates, the supporters. That Town team did not have the body language of a team with any confidence.... |  | | |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:04 - Jan 7 with 1784 views | StokieBlue |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:02 - Jan 7 by cbower |
He intimated that the atmosphere at PR is affecting the players and that they may be better off playing away if I recall correctly. |
He also said during the commentary on multiple occasions that Lincoln were outplaying us.
Guess that doesn't suit your narrative though?
SB |  |
| Avatar - IC410 - Tadpoles Nebula |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:26 - Jan 7 with 1673 views | cbower |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:04 - Jan 7 by StokieBlue |
He also said during the commentary on multiple occasions that Lincoln were outplaying us.
Guess that doesn't suit your narrative though?
SB |
What is my narrative then? | |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:30 - Jan 7 with 1631 views | jeera |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:26 - Jan 7 by cbower |
What is my narrative then? |
I was a bit confused by that, but didn't feel it was my place.
Stokie's jumping on anyone lately.
You seem pretty balanced as a rule to me. [Post edited 7 Jan 2017 22:32]
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:31 - Jan 7 with 1618 views | StokieBlue |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:26 - Jan 7 by cbower |
What is my narrative then? |
That the fans shoulder the responsibility.
Whereas he mostly said we were outplayed, got embarrassed and didn't talk for long sections of the commentary.
It's wrong to have current players commentating really. If that wasn't your narrative then I apologise.
The current state at ITFC is not the fans fault.
SB | |
| Avatar - IC410 - Tadpoles Nebula |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:41 - Jan 7 with 1529 views | StokieBlue |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:30 - Jan 7 by jeera |
I was a bit confused by that, but didn't feel it was my place.
Stokie's jumping on anyone lately.
You seem pretty balanced as a rule to me. [Post edited 7 Jan 2017 22:32]
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I wouldn't say I'm jumping on anyone, I just don't think it's the fans fault and I think the fans should be allowed to say whatever they like without fear or being told off.
If there atmosphere at Portman road is toxic I would say the blame lays with the management, club and players. Not the fans.
SB | |
| Avatar - IC410 - Tadpoles Nebula |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:44 - Jan 7 with 1512 views | cbower |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:31 - Jan 7 by StokieBlue |
That the fans shoulder the responsibility.
Whereas he mostly said we were outplayed, got embarrassed and didn't talk for long sections of the commentary.
It's wrong to have current players commentating really. If that wasn't your narrative then I apologise.
The current state at ITFC is not the fans fault.
SB |
Apology accepted. I agree, Tommy should not have put himself in what could always become an awkward position and having to say we were being outplayed must have been very uncomfortable.
However, what I was trying to highlight was that the atmosphere is certainly something that is transmitting to the players.
The situation the team is in is down to the players, the management and the board.
From a personal perspective, during a game I will try my best to support the players although I will shout some criticism without being abusive when I lose it. Booing is not my style but each to their own. | |
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| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 22:52 - Jan 7 with 1447 views | LankHenners |
| Pathetic at times, but not completely dreadful - thoughts on today's game on 21:40 - Jan 7 by jeera |
Do we have what can be called any actual partnerships on the field at all?
It doesn't seem so does it? Central pairing at the back can't be considered so atm, not CM, nor down the wings, and certainly not up front.
Listening to that today it seemed that Lincoln have pairings over the pitch; players who click and understand each other.
Who, if any, do we have? |
Good point. There's a general lack of cohesion it seems at the minute, brought about by a serious lack of confidence. It was two individual moments of brilliance that scraped us the draw today - Lincoln had a big focal point in Rhead with Robinson playing off him, and their wide players knew where they had to be offensively and defensively.
It looked so simple yet they completely did one over us but for Lawrence's magic. We used to have Murphy and McGoldrick/Sears, Mings and Tabb, and the defence as a unit looked far less shaky than they do know, although our overall defensive record isn't bad.
In one respect, we almost looked like we were Subbuteo players being flicked about by a novice who didn't really know what they were doing, but occasionally managed to get something right. | |
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