In Some Context, This Was a Good Point
Hear me out!
Consider this – let’s say we’ve won six on the trot and a tough, resolute Stevenage come to the Bank – this point would be solid. We know what they’re about – it’s all physical. You saw it at the weekend – Montsma barged off the ball time and again. I watched several of their players as long balls came forward and they were often focused on their marker, not the ball. There were nudges in the back and little shoves when the ref was unsighted. We know what they’re going to do and they’re good at it as well. I have a begrudging respect for Stevenage because I thought after he left, they might crumble, but they’re the same as they always were. They’re the same team that beat us 1-0 in Skubala’s first game, the same team that derailed out promotion push back in March and the same team we needed a penalty to beat earlier in the season. We haven’t created freely against Stevenage in the last three encounters, and yesterday was no different.
The problem is the result is judged in context, and when you look at league position and our current run, it is a continuation of the same frustrations. Not enough going forward, a little naive in possession, etc. Here’s the thing – if this was Boxing Day, on the back of our win against Reading, I think we’d hold our hands up, say ‘that’s a solid point, now let us go and get something from Bolton’. Because it comes on the back of three defeats, and because we’re nearly 400 minutes without a goal, it merely becomes a mirror to reflect a succession of failings, rather than a single instalment to be judged on it’s own merits.
Was it a good point? Some say yes, some say no. I’m happy with splinters in my bum if I’m honest.
Our Play Slows Down Too Much
This is a general observation from Saturday, and I don’t know if it is something that was purely affected by the game and opposition (as it was on Wednesday) or whether there’s a deeper, underlying issue. This week, it seems a lot of our play has been quite slow, with some really obvious examples. Now, I’m not on the training ground, and I don’t pay quite as much attention to the opposition as I should, but when we had a chance to break at speed, it didn’t seem to happen.
There was one moment that sums this up. I think it came from a corner, but it was certainly an attack where we had numbers forward, including the big centre halves. We attacked, it began to break down and fell to one of our midfielders. The first thought was to turn back, and deliver a ball to Wickens, from more or less inside our attacking half. It got a huge negative reaction from around me, and I have to confess, even I was surprised.
I did have this misconception that McGrandles was the main offender, but on Saturday, all three starting midfielders played similar numbers of backward passes. I don’t have an issue with it at all if it is allowing us to attack in another part of the field, but it seemed very laboured at times as if backwards was the go-to rather than a part of a bigger plan.
Perhaps it was the opposition, the way they set up, but at times recently, I’ve found watching the Imps a bit like playing FIFA 14 online when I had a rubbish internet connection. I’d get the ball on FIFA, see a big pass, hit the button and wait a second for it to register before the pass actually happened. Once or twice on Saturday, particularly when going from side to side across the back line, it felt like the player saw the pass, the receiver saw the pass, they decided to pass and then everything lagged for a second, which gave Stevenage time to react. Maybe it’s bias, maybe it’s always been like that, but when we’ve had a bit more pace about us, having not played five games in 15 days, it isn’t so obvious.
We Have To Control Our Discipline
Ethan Erhahon was sent off against Bolton, and I noted he was relatively quiet this weekend. Ben House was missing, so he wasn’t in the referee’s ear. That meant someone else had to step up, and I think Lewis Montsma might have seen red if that clown Ross Joyce had been in the middle.
Scott Tallis didn’t have a good game – he missed lots of shoves and pushes and infuriated home fans with his interpretation of a foul by Makama. In fact, I think he was more anti-Makama than a lot of our fans, especially when he gave a free kick against him after two players fouled him. That doesn’t mean he was a little lenient with Montsma, especially as his first was a yellow. He wasn’t the only player to hold on to an opponent during the game, but he was the only one to do it so blatantly. Then, after being fouled himself a couple of times (nothing given) he began to get in the ref’s ear.
We have to learn. If there’s a foul and you’re on a booking, walk away, let another player have a word. Tendayi did it the right way – I noticed him waiting for a break in play before heading over to the assistant referee and asking a question. If you want to get in the ref’s head, you have to be better than shouting and screaming at him. Stevenage, I noted, actually surrounded him on one occasion, something I don’t like to see, and that’s another example of what not to do.
I really want to see players on yellow cards start sewing their mouths tight shut and getting on with the game. It might not affect the result of the referee’s interpretation of a foul, but it might save us yet another stupid ban.
Conclusion
Things are not great right now; we can’t score, and some fans are turning sour. It is times like this that really test a manager and a fanbase. it’s so easy to be happy when you’re putting five past Barnsley and six past Cambridge, but those times don’t last, just like these won’t. We will score again. We will win more matches. We will improve (we have to). I believe I saw signs of that this weekend because I was looking for them. You may not have seen them because the last three fixtures still sit in your mind. Maybe I looked so hard that I saw something that wasn’t there; I’m not an expert.
This wasn’t as bad as Rotherham or Bolton, but it wasn’t as good as Huddersfield and Reading. It was somewhere in between, the sort of performance you might expect from a bottom of the top half team, or a top of the bottom half team. That’s where I expected us to be this season anyway, but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch.
Up the Imps.
I’m not actually sure how I’ve managed to get to more words doing just five observations than in a normal report…..