The Changing of the Guard

Last season was one that will live long in the memory of anyone and everyone that supports Lincoln City, of that there is no mistake. However, with progress comes change and less than four months after our triumphant return to the Football League, we may be witnessing a changing of the guard.

We have already seen the departure of Alan Power, Adam Marriott and several other players from last season. Come January we’ll see the end of Sean Raggett’s short tenure s a City player. I can’t help but think we might also be seeing a change of personnel in front of our very eyes, and although it will be tough to accept in the instance of certain faces, it may be an inevitable result of our recent success.

I’m talking, in the main, about Matt Rhead. I’m a big Rheady fan, I always have been and whatever happens in his career, I always will be. His battering ram performances, his spectacular goals and his insistence on getting under opponents skins will be the stuff of legends in years to come. His contribution has been fantastic, and he still has a part to play in our success. I’m not convinced that part is as a member of the starting eleven.

It’s no secret that the jump in standard has taken many by surprise, not Danny I’m sure, but pundits and fans alike have been impressed with the quality of the opposition we’ve faced. Stevenage were not high on any Imps fans pre-season predictions, but they had 45 minutes on Saturday where they controlled the game. Very few teams control a game against the new-era Imps, but we chased shadows and were out-worked and out-thought, this coming from a side we had pegged as mid-table at best. A few weeks ago Morecambe, pre-season relegation fodder, came to Sincil Bank and put in an organised and efficient shift, nullifying our threat. Teams have us pegged, our so-called revolutionary methods are standard practice amongst the new breed and we need to roll with the punches and adapt our approach accordingly. Danny will know that, Nicky will know that and deep down a few of us know it too.

He’s incredibly effective at what he does, he has vision that belies his status as a big lump, but his lack of mobility can leave us looking one dimensional when we’re on the attack

It stands to reason many teams have picked up on Rhead as our ‘go to’ guy in attack. Although we mix it up, we do like balls into Rheady and getting the runners off him. He is still effective in that role, but he doesn’t offer the additional threats that I suspect we need. For instance, if Matt Rhead has the ball and space to run into, how often will he do it? If we need our number ten to overlap the main striker, will Rheady be able to do that? He’s incredibly effective at what he does, he has vision that belies his status as a big lump, but his lack of mobility can leave us looking one dimensional when we’re on the attack. As the games wear on, that becomes more apparent.

Ponder this for a second. In the eight matches we’ve played this season, how many times has the big man had a gilt-edged chance to score? He’s bagged a penalty, he’s worked incredibly hard, but has Matt Rhead offered the goal threat he posed in the previous two seasons? I’m afraid the answer, in my mind, is no.

The game turned yesterday when Ollie Palmer came on, and I believe that is because it added to our mobility up front. It shouldn’t have, we were a man down and Matt Green is as busy as any centre forward we’ve seen at the Bank in years. At the moment though he is doing the running of two, and long-term I can see that becoming a problem for us. Teams will soon figure that out, and doubling up on Rheady might leave spaces to be exposed, but in my humble opinion, that will soon become a plan B for us.

Plan A will see us forgo the big man to aim at, in order to have more creative players on from the start. Certainly at home, where we play a faster paced attacking game, I can see us reverting to a 4-2-3-1 on a regular basis, but a more fluid version with balls played into feet. The centre of the three will be a mobile player with all the technique of Rheady, and more, but also with the mobility and trickery to create chances of his own by carrying the ball. By Christmas I suspect our ‘number ten’ will be Billy Knott.

I know Nick Proctor in particular called it in pre-season, and I struggled to see how we’d accommodate our plethora of attacking options without a casualty or two, and I think Rheady will be that casualty. Knott is growing in stature every game, but he is not an orthodox winger. Jordan Maguire-Drew has been taken out of the firing line after a couple of below-par performances, but Danny believes in the player and will re-introduce him soon, as he did with Harry last season. Speaking of Harry Anderson, it is only a matter of time before he cements a place in the starting eleven too. Josh Ginnelly looks infinitely better than he did last season, and that is saying something as I really rated him last time out. Even Nathan Arnold is going to have to scrap for his place, five doesn’t divide into two and with our natural wingers we can’t keep playing Billy out wide. However, Billy is a special talent and on current form Danny will want to keep him in the side. That will eventually, be at the expense of big Matt Rhead.

It’s not even as if Billy can sit alongside Alex in a two-man midfield because of Michael Bostwick. He’s a player I’d wanted to see a bit more from, but his rousing tackle and all-round application yesterday was a glimpse of what he did every week for Posh. He is an automatic starter, and obviously Alex Woodyard is, he’s the best midfielder I’ve ever seen in a Lincoln shirt (you’ve no idea how hard that is to write. Peter Gain was a demi-god in my house for years).

The injury to Sean Long (pictured, top) will accelerate the return of Sam Habergham, but it also allows Neal Eardley to shift into his natural position of right back, possibly upsetting the natural order once again. Sean will be gutted because dropping him wasn’t going to be easy, but now a former Premier League player of League One quality (at least) is getting his chance to claim a first team spot too. I feel for Sean, but he’ll find it tough to get back into the side regularly if Neal Eardey keeps playing to the standard he has been. At the outset of the season Sean seemed a shoe-in for a starting place, but in just 35 (ish) days things have changed quickly. That isn’t a lsur on Sean either, he’s been excellent and he has a massive future here, but I don’t think that means an immediate run in the first-team.

The season kicked off just over a month ago, and already the squad is evolving beyond what most expected. The ‘cover’ full back looks like staking a place in the side, Nathan Arnold has found himself scrapping for his place after being the first name on the team sheet last season, and I’m afraid it is only a matter of time before Rheady is in the same boat. Nathan has the mobility and ability to get his shirt back, but I’m afraid Matt may well find himself part of the bench, the late-impact sub that brings a fresh challenge to tiring defenders.

We have more talent in our squad today than at any other point in my 31 years as an Imps fan, I truly believe that.

We’re being labelled a long ball team, a direct team with one major threat, but you and I know that isn’t what we’re about. We have more talent in our squad today than at any other point in my 31 years as an Imps fan, I truly believe that. We’re so much more than the direct thugs that we’re being labelled as, and that plays right into our hands. I remember the last time we suddenly switched from direct balls to slick passing football, it was the start of the 2006/07 season, the year we threatened to run away with League Two. Okay, we got found out and didn’t have the robust approach in our locker, but this season we have both.

I’m not suggesting there will be a significant shift straight away, but it is coming sooner than you expect. When we knock the ball about we look superb, at present nobody is giving us credit for that aspect of our game. Some of the neat passes into feet and the movement between our midfield and wide players is excellent, and although some focus on the long ball into the big man, few chose to mention our ability to work space down the line effectively. We won’t quite be the John Schofield side of 2006, slick but without substance, but we have the necessary credentials to develop a stronger, harder working version of that style. What will Mansfield do if they come set up to deal with Matt Rhead, and instead they get Billy Knott spraying passes all over the place like he’s playing FIFA on ‘amateur’ difficulty? Then, with twenty minutes left, how will they react when the big man comes on, two fresh runners come on outside him and we revert to the style that won us the National League, the style we used to progress to the FA Cup Quarter Final?

I’ll tell you what they’d do: get beaten.

Teams can go on labelling us all they want, but as the season chugs on, we’re going to evolve into a side that relies on the vision and technique of Billy Knott far more than the brash brute force of Matt Rhead. It isn’t out with the old and in with the new, but it is a changing of the guard and we’ll be all the better for it.

Thanks to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City for the pictures

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