Last night thoughts
Definitely a point gained, especially in light of us missing O9 and Gape.
Great to see the energy of Danny Cowley and his team. From listening to various interviews with him, he seems articulate and tactical intelligent. One to watch and so much better than your standard ex player aged lower league gaffer.
Brown 5
Pretty standard performance from him, he really does need to come out more. Very disappointingly display with his kicking though, on a number of occasions his kicks went straight through to their GK.
Harriman 6
Did his job without excelling. Needs to pin point his crossing better.
Jacobson 8
I may get crucified for saying this, but I thought that was of the best performances I’ve seen from him. He defended well and the amount of clearances he was able to dig out in tight situations was superb.
McGinley 4
He struggled again last night. It appears he really has a confidence issue. Physical confrontations are not his forte. Not much Gaz can do given the injury crisis.
El-Abd 8
Again a superb performance from our Captain, Leader, Legend. What a fine example he is to anyone, in any capacity. Stood up and said Rhead isn’t going get past me. Without him it would have been a cricket score.
Bean 7.5
I can’t say I’ve ever been too convinced by Marcus but last night he was so important. Breaking up their play and even winning headers against Matt Rhead. On the subject of Rhead, I honestly think he is one of the best players in the league. At times he was impossible to play against, fair play to him and it’s a shame that sort of player is in such short supply now a-days.
Bloomfield 5/ Saunders 5.5
Pretty similar performance, but Saunders showed a few more glimpses of class on the ball.
Although I obviously have no idea how fit he is, I was surprised not to see the inclusion of Thompson. Unsurprisingly people around me were getting frustrated by us losing the second ball about 9/10 times in the midfielder area. However when you have a midfield three of Bean, Saunders and Blooms it’s unsurprising as they aren’t nippy enough to prevent such a dynamic midfield as Lincoln’s winning those battles.
CMS 5
When involved he’s got a really useful way of being annoying and waspy for the opposition. Unfortunately he wasn’t involved enough. I think he’s better off the bench.
Tyson 6
Kept going even after repeatedly getting clobbered by their defenders. Unlucky not to score with a rasping effort. Showed pace and class without really getting fully involved in the game.
Bayo 5
Quietest I’ve seen him. Lincoln did a job on him before he exited. Should have done better with his one attempt on goal. I’m praying that injury isn’t too bad, we need him.
Williams 6
What a spring the lad has. Impressed again but like Tyson, Bayo and CMS was a second best to their Lincoln opposition.
Paris 7
The swing in momentum for me came when Paris finally returned. His energy and pace really gave us some relief. I really hope he starts on Saturday, I really feel we are missing a trick at this level by not playing him. Him to start all day for me over CMS.
Thompson N/A
Did he even have time to touch the ball?
Comments
well done to all the fans that went last night, long way to go on a Tuesday night We need to get something out of Saturday without stating ther obvious but having said that I am not convinced Exeter will win all 3 of their remaining games. On paper their games are all easy wins given they are playing teams with nothing to play for but those are often the games that become the hardest. We need a big crowd on Saturday to get right behind the team. Hopefully o'nien and Gape will both be back as they are big misses.
Think that's very harsh on McGinley who made a couple of errors but competed well on the whole and generally got better as the game went on.
On brown's kicking- yes he fluffed a few straight out, and he's not the best kicker in general, but I actually thought his kicking in the second half wasn't bad- it was clear we had instructions to try and get it over the defence and not straight down the middle, and he did that a fair few times for one of the front three to then challenge going back rather than straight down the big CBS throat with no bayo to challenge - but aiming for the flanks and going longer is obviously more likely to lead to the ball going straight out every now and then.
It was McGinley's best game so far by some considerable distance. Certainly did far better than at Yeovil.
Personally thought his debut was better Dale, but agreed I thought he did well in tough circumstances last night.
Phil and Luke on 3CR last night regularly praised McGinley, particularly in the second half, though also mentioned a couple of nervy moments.
Anyone else think Paris might be key in the next 3 games? Even from the commentary it sounded like were were much better once he came on. Our best run this season was when he was at his best and scoring regularly.
Agree with you on both McGinley and Brown.
I think the role Paris has to play is going to depend on how bad Bayo's injury was.
If he's out (god forbid) for the next 3 games or rest of season, we need to switch up the tactics big time.
With the likes of Tyson, CMS, Kashket, PCH and Saunders, hoofing it is not just going to be a waste of talent but very ineffective.
He definitely changed the game when he came on, although I think it was right to start with CMS in what we knew was going to be a really physical match, the fact it has calmed down a bit by 65/70 minutes definitely suited PCH more
Thoughts on him generally @DJWYC14 ? What line up would you go for on the weekend?
In terms of partnering El Abd, who is obviously a shoe in now after an outstanding run as a leader and in terms of his performances, my preference in order would be Stewart, Sido, McGinley, O'Nien (as an auxillary CB) and finally De Havilland.
Dictated by injury I expect we will be going with McGinley again on Saturday but if Sido is fit I would bring him back in. I wouldn't expect Stewart to play again with only 3 games left as he won't have match fitness.
I would go with this on Saturday... Brown Harriman McGinley (if Sido still injured), El Abd JJ, O'Nien, Gape, Bean, Tyson, Bayo, Mackail Smith
I have made some assumptions there that Bayo, Luke and Gape will recover.
That's pretty much how I see it too, with Scarr slotting in just above McGinley. I'm assuming that's academic though.
Can't fault McGinley's heart or desire, and he's actually got a decent turn off pace for a fairly big lad, but he's definitely a work in progress and is the definition of "having a mistake in him".
I’d far rather have WDH at centre back than O’Nien. I think WDH would do a better job there, but equally as important it would allow O’Nien play in midfield.
Fingers crossed it doesn’t come to it! And even more fingers crossed that Bayo is fit.
Personally I thought McGinley was very good at Yeovil DJ. Fine young player in there, perhaps needs a bit more self-confidence to fully let him out.
There we have the game of football and opinions to a tee!
Opening poster giving McGinley a 4 - dreadful. Others giving him "best game" for us
(which i'm presuming is an actual good game, rather than just being better than a 3!
I'd suggest to @Bacon_Sandwich that the lower leagues are full of Rhead style target men though! Maybe he does it better than most, bar our own one obviously.
Rhead’s performance consisted mainly of committing fouls and standing in front of our goalkeeper when he was about to clear the ball. Akinfenwa is a much better player, on a different level altogether.
@glasshalffull If we do get promoted, do you think the Akinfenwa battering ram approach will be as effective in League One as it has been in League Two?
Who knows? Different times I know but remember the old Wimbledon team got to the highest level and stayed there for a while playing a very direct style with full use of the ‘dark arts’.
Yeah maybe I was a bit harsh on McGinley on the score but I stand by my comments.
With the exception of the injury proned Barry Corr, I haven’t seen anyone as effective as Rhead. If you didn’t go last night, his battle with our skipper was excellent and you missed out.
I would say he was fouling the same amount if not slightly less than our team were on him. Fans tend to be bias in these situations. To say he was just a lump as some have eluded to is wrong, he may not be the most gracful but his hold up play and flick ons were first rate and he held possession far more than Bayo, if that’s the comparison you want to make.
Would I swap Rhead with Bayo............ No not a chance.
I feel you do a disservice to Bayo labelling him as only "a battering ram". He has an excellent touch and I am not convinced that first division defenders are significantly bigger and stronger than in the second division. He is still going to win his fair share of headers and knock downs.
The key will be whether we can get two either side of him who have enough pace and skill that can take advantage of Bayo's dominance in the air. Whether or not an aging Tyson will still have that pace next season (assuming he signs) is questionable. I would love to see Randell Williams sign but the chances are remote as he has just signed a new contract at Watford.
I agree Bayo is far more than a battering ram, but I think it’s fair to call our approach with him leading the line a battering ram approach. My view is that it will be effective in League One, although chances are not quite as much as this season because this season has been exceptional.
Akinfenwa’s unusual skill set seems more likely to be equally as effective at higher levels than a more traditional ‘skilful’ player. Defenders at whatever level will struggle to deal with his physical presence. He’s always done well in the cups against top level defences, because they aren’t used to the threat he offers. It’s the reason I think the England team should always have a Carroll or Heskey type available on the bench to give them something different if required.
I thought McGinley was excellent last night, given his lack of experience. I'd give him an 8.
Going up against Matt Rhead and Matt Green in front of a noisy, intimidating crowd was going to be a big challenge for him and he stood up to it really well as part of an outstanding effort from all of our back four and goalkeeper.
It was bloody tough out there and our players went out and did what they needed to do.
Sure there were a couple of poor kicks from Brown, largely because the referee should have sorted out the antics of the Lincoln forwards hovering around in his way, but his actual goalkeeping was largely faultless particularly his punching and claiming of crosses.
Extraordinary ratings @Bacon_Sandwich. Reading that you’d have thought we’d been turned over, instead of winning a vital point in a hostile environment with a weakened team.
Agree with everything here. Certainly a point gained.
Likewise.
I was impressed with McGinley. As @Username pointed out, he certainly has a mistake in him. But he got away with his sole mistake last night, and was very solid in extremely tough circumstances for the rest of the game.
We were pulled through by a few players. It was a poor first half performance although this was against the wind. They should have been a couple of goals up.
Eight for McGinley is patronising at best. Centre backs need to win more than 20% of headed duals.
I don't think Rhead fouled much more or less than Bayo did/ does challenging for the aerial ball, it was the afters and late boots that pissed me off. The one down el-abd's Achilles, a late one on Tyson and then diving around like he was shot a couple times, you never see Bayo do that
@Bacon_Sandwich It was 5 for Brown for keeping a clean sheet against one of the best forwards in the division that struck me more. He's not someone that can be 'pulled thru' by another player. But giving McGinley 4 is at the very least not very generous.
I've been impressed with McGinley every time I've seen him (having admittedly not seen the Morecambe match). He gave away an early penalty at Crewe, but played really well for the rest of the game. Exceptional MOM performance at Cheltenham, followed by two solid games at Yeovil and Lincoln last night. Not sure what the worry is about? He's 10 times better than WDH
@WanderingDays I'm much the same as you. I've not seen him away, but at home though not the finished article, he's seemed decent to me. Defence and Goalkeeping must be the most unforgiving for a young player to get experience...as any mistake can be costly.
Moment of the night for me was when the ball got laid back to Bostwick, who was about 5 yards outside our penalty area. All of our defenders and midfielders were defending deep in the area and he clearly thought he had plenty of time to line up and hit the perfect shot. Not so! Nathan Tyson sprinted 20+ yards from behind him and nicked it off his toe as he was about to shoot.
The look on Bostwick's face was a picture. He clearly had no idea Tyson was coming.