CF: Matt Rhead
Who else? In my eyes, we go to Accrington and we go long, get it to the big man but in a 5-2-3 we get the two runners around him as much as possible. It could work and even if it didn’t what have we lost, really?
Rhead is a Lincoln City legend. He’s now on 50 goals, but he’s a cult hero and has been here from the very start of the turnaround. He’s got to start tonight and of course, having started at the weekend he’s a qualifying player.
Nice move Danny.
RF: Matt Green
No brainer. If Rhead plays, Green plays. He runs the channels well and worked as part of the 4-3-3 last season. there’s no reason for him not to do the same in the Keith set up, a Francis Green or Simon Yeo role all about getting beyond the flick ons and testing the defence.
If Accrington defend deep, it’s harder for Greeny as he likes grass to run into, but there’s no reason they will with it being a home tie for them.
I’d love to see him grab another goal, as he did in the last round. I like Matt Green and I fear for us in January, especially with his contract running out.
LF: Bernard Mensah
We’ve not seen the best of Mensah, we’ve not actually seen much of him at all recently. Danny seems to have settled on 14 players he likes and rarely deviates from those faces.
He’s a winger, but he can tuck in and play centre forward so this new formation might suit him. He needs a game or two under his belt if he’s going to trouble the first team but, with Bruno Andrade playing in your position, chances are never going to come very often.
The Verdict
Danny won’t play this formation. I’ll state that now. I’m not sure he’ll even treat this as much of an experiment, the game has rewards in terms of financial recompense and progress, so he might sniff another Wembley run and go for the jugular.
The sensible approach would be to field a reserve side and take the hit, but he’ll see 100 or so Imps fans in the stands and want to give them value for money.
However, the 5-2-3 worked for Keith and it suited the long ball. It allows two players to do Rhead’s running for him, but gives us a solidity at the back as well. The problem is when Accrington want to carry the ball into the final third, numbers are light in midfield, but it got us to a couple of play off finals in a row.
Why not give it a whirl? One man’s legacy and all that.
Toffolo has played centre back before with Norwich City.
I don’t often disagree with your reasoning behind selection but, all I would say is that winning becomes a habit and with a win in our last outing after three recent draws I think we should stick pretty close to our strongest side. Playing twice a week is not a chore and if you speak to the players they’ll tell you that playing on a Tuesday is far better than any training session. It being a Tuesday fixture gives plenty of time to recover for the weekend. So leaving players out to save them for Saturday makes no sense to me. By all means include different players if there are injuries or if there’s a need to replace someone who’s out of form or to try a different formation, but, just to give players who may not be with us by the end of January a game, just doesn’t make sense. I grant you that the Checkatrade Trophy is not everyone’s cup of tea but, it does bring in welcome revenue and doesn’t involve many extra matches, dependent upon who we draw in the FA cup we might be pleased to have another competition to follow.