@ReturnToSenda said:
Best McCleary moment was in the first half when he left their guy for dead out on the left without touching it. Horgan did the same with two of them at once in the second half, albeit with the ball at his feet. But they're both too good for this level when in full flight - and McCleary was there again today.
Agree 100%. When I coached youth football we coached 2 touch turns, 1 touch turns and then the delightful ‘no touch turn’ described above. It’s a joy to watch.
The best part was he had so little space to work with - he might even have had to step into touch - and just disguised it as part of his natural stride. I get the feeling we'll be seeing plenty more of that...
It’s difficult for anyone to say we were outplayed and the best team won so Lincoln fans have to fall back on old tropes that can somehow explain what happened.
We were excellent today and good for the win end of.
@ReturnToSenda said:
I think it's great that tactical and stylistic elements from the top level filter down to the lower leagues so much these days. It's also a sign of the ambition of coaches - and Appleton could manage at that level one day.
He did manage there for a while with WBA I think but may have been more of a caretaker capacity and was very early days for him. I remember never being hugely impressed with his teams but since Oxford he’s really changed that.
Final comment from me, Lincoln’s striker from the bench caused us a few more problems than their number 9. Nothing to worry about, but reminded me of a smaller, less fine tuned Uche. Certainly could handle himself and had a few battles with Stewart
I’m sure many of us still remember dragging ourselves to Peterborough for the final match of the Sm*th regime. Suddaby mystified me by how badly he organised our defence, and Adams just left me baffled. But even so I still “watched it every week”, cos as a fan, it’s what you do.
Compared to those times, at the moment I’d happily watch us every day...!
The Smith regime, watching him obliterate the O Neill magic.
A lot of Smillie and Adams time.
Even Taylor's woeful football even on promotion!
The 4 Centre mids across the centre of Lambert .
Early part of Ainsworth's time, and the start of last season (though with many caveats excusing that).
You have to enjoy the good times and we will this season!
We have a quality team and as Gaz said, there is more to come. We will have a few dips but the signs are there that we will be competing at the sharp end all through the season.
We were so assured yesterday and the win was well deserved. Mehmeti was so exciting when he came in as sub. COYB!!!!!!
The football we are playing now is about as good as it gets. Anyone who says otherwise is quite frankly an idiot. We have flare players from front to back. And even our industrious players are more than capable of playing passes all over the field, similarly our flare players are more than capable of being industrious.
For the first time in a while I look at this side and think if this clicks today we are going to destroy an opposition. And this is against a backdrop of several injuries to senior player and some interesting youngsters in the wings.
@jessvl1 said:
Final comment from me, Lincoln’s striker from the bench caused us a few more problems than their number 9. Nothing to worry about, but reminded me of a smaller, less fine tuned Uche. Certainly could handle himself and had a few battles with Stewart.
I thought that as well. He was a proper handful! Dan Nlundulu - on loan from Southampton.
@TheAndyGrahamFanClub said:
The football we are playing now is about as good as it gets. Anyone who says otherwise is quite frankly an idiot. We have flare players from front to back. And even our industrious players are more than capable of playing passes all over the field, similarly our flare players are more than capable of being industrious.
For the first time in a while I look at this side and think if this clicks today we are going to destroy an opposition. And this is against a backdrop of several injuries to senior player and some interesting youngsters in the wings.
Life is sweet people.
And Funky Elephant is back.
I think for the first time in a long while we are going to hammer someone 5/6-0 at some point. We haven’t totally clicked yet but when we do someone will be on the receiving end.
@jessvl1 said:
Final comment from me, Lincoln’s striker from the bench caused us a few more problems than their number 9. Nothing to worry about, but reminded me of a smaller, less fine tuned Uche. Certainly could handle himself and had a few battles with Stewart.
I thought that as well. He was a proper handful! Dan Nlundulu - on loan from Southampton.
He did look a handful and when he came on at half time he towered over Scowen at kick off. However either Lincoln didn’t play to his height or he doesn’t ‘know’ how to use his size as JJ was winning headers against him. Bayo has a career in training big players in how to use their size in years to come.
As I’ve said before, once you have a label in football it is very difficult to get rid of it, hence the continuous accusations that we play hoofball, cheat, dive and waste time. It is lazy, cliched nonsense that’s often based on hearsay or seeing us play just once in the season. Can’t see how anyone who understands football can make those claims when we have players like JJ, Freeman, Obita, Scowen, Horgan, McCleary etc. Good luck to Lincoln, a fine team but beaten by a better team on the day.
Happy to throw my hat in the ring as the (chairboys) village idiot. Whilst there are a lot of things to be pleased with at the moment I’m not as convinced as others on here that we are the finished article.
We are certainly tenacious and well-organised and some encouraging signs of imagination and class from the likes of McCleary.
Although we had much the better of the play yesterday if it wasn’t for a world class stop from stockdale we would have only ended up with a point against a not very good Lincoln team.
Not meaning to be particularly critical as I’m delighted with the start but “as good as it gets” is a little hyperbolic I think - particularly as I personally think we will get a lot better than we showed yesterday as the season progresses.
Under the new system we play, for us to be at our best, we need the wing backs to be pumping in accurate crosses to Vokes on a regular basis. We saw how effective that can be when Obita got it to him in the third minute but there haven't been many other examples yet this season. We're also lacking that regular through ball on the turf from the central midfield to Horgan / McCleary, probably because both Scowen and Thompson have to cover so much defensive ground as a midfield two while other teams crowd the midfield.
That's not to say I don't love this formation and the starting 11, which I do. It just asks so much of our players, who are also having to do their high-pressing best. I think the return of Wheeler will help with some of these accurate balls to the front three, though I'm not certain where he'll be accommodated unless the plan is for him to work as a wing back (in which case we'll have McCarthy, Obita, Freeman and Wheeler, which explains why we haven't brought in any fresh cover). I wouldn't mind seeing Wheeler play a Carrick-style sweeper role behind Scowen and Thompson, although that would mean losing one of Horgan and McCleary who both offer so much attacking threat.
@bookertease said:
Happy to throw my hat in the ring as the (chairboys) village idiot. Whilst there are a lot of things to be pleased with at the moment I’m not as convinced as others on here that we are the finished article.
We are certainly tenacious and well-organised and some encouraging signs of imagination and class from the likes of McCleary.
Although we had much the better of the play yesterday if it wasn’t for a world class stop from stockdale we would have only ended up with a point against a not very good Lincoln team.
Not meaning to be particularly critical as I’m delighted with the start but “as good as it gets” is a little hyperbolic I think - particularly as I personally think we will get a lot better than we showed yesterday as the season progresses.
Not gonna shout anyone down but in mitigation we still have players injured, players coming back from injury and players who have yet to get up to speed. From front to back Grimmer is out of position, Freeman is no natural wing back (yet), Curtis played his first 90 minutes, Horgan is still waiting to click (but he will), Vokes is still rusty. So we are winning in 3rd gear in my mind.
Wasn’t at the game so can only go by reports that we played well even though we are not at full strength. Read through the Lincoln forum 99% slagging wycombe off very much like poxford/Sunderland fans deluded.
Overheard two Lincoln fans chatting at the train station after the game. One says to the other "they weren't that great, we could have won that, and we haven't got owners who can spend a million on Sam Vokes."
McCleary is really something else and we are absolutely spoilt having a player that classy in our team
I cannot believe Sunderland let Scowen go. I can only imagine he was so unhappy there he wasn't playing to his best. Never felt so confident while watching the opposition try to build an attack.
Yesterday was a tactical masterclass from Gaz. @ReturnToSenda will doubtless illustrate this with all sorts of interesting stats, but we played the highest of high presses specifically to counter Appleton's patient passing game and cut off the supply of passes from Bridcutt.
I have a theory about "wouldn't want to watch that every week", which is that it's not actually based on how we play but on the extent to which we stop the other team from playing. Fans who expect to see their team playing attractive passing football don't see the game working out like that. They're not actually able to see past that to the quality of football being played by the opposition.
Get well soon Mr @glasshalffull .
Regarding the Sunderland forum, most of their fans derided Scowen for his attacking passing and shooting deficiencies.
But surely anyone who signs Josh, does it for his wonderful ability to break up play, play the simple pass and offer wonderful protection to his defence.
If there is currently a better holding midfielder in this division that Josh, then he has been hiding away.
@bookertease said:
Happy to throw my hat in the ring as the (chairboys) village idiot. Whilst there are a lot of things to be pleased with at the moment I’m not as convinced as others on here that we are the finished article.
We are certainly tenacious and well-organised and some encouraging signs of imagination and class from the likes of McCleary.
Although we had much the better of the play yesterday if it wasn’t for a world class stop from stockdale we would have only ended up with a point against a not very good Lincoln team.
Not meaning to be particularly critical as I’m delighted with the start but “as good as it gets” is a little hyperbolic I think - particularly as I personally think we will get a lot better than we showed yesterday as the season progresses.
Surely you could counter those observations with the number of good chances we created? So in theory we could easily have done that 3/4-1. Whilst they had a lot of "fancy" possession my memory tells me we created more & better chances than they did. Of course my memory is raging and may not necessarily be a true reflection!
I absolutely loved our high press yesterday. Forcing a corner from a goal kick is just ridiculous! If I was a Lincoln fan I'd be too busy fuming at my own team's incompetence to worry about who I didn't want to watch every week.
Playing it out from the back when you don’t have the ability to do so is just stupid. It’s also arrogance. And when it continues to not work shows a lack of leadership on and off the pitch. It’s also hilarious if you are the attacking side.
Under 11s see this on match of the day with Man City doing it and believe they can replicate. They can’t. Neither could Lincoln. And Lincoln’s failure to figure out that wycombe’s high press was fecking their plans would make me furious if I was a Lincoln fan. I certainly wouldn’t want to watch that every week.
On reflection if i read the original post as “as good as it gets (given that once we get to full strength it should get even better)” I have no problem at all with the statement.
We did indeed create some decent chances - but their keeper didn’t make one save - so hopefully we can get better there too.
Not meaning to be facetious or anything - I’m genuinely happy with where we are as a team and excited about watching us play
Reminded me of Paul Tisdale teams. Look good if you give them the space but totally devoid of a plan B if you don’t. They were also pretty toothless up front and although I tend to get nervous with a 1-0 lead, that was a comfortable 1-0 win.
I cannot see Lincoln being in the top 6/7 at the end of the season.
Talking to someone who covers that level, it sounds like Lincoln have become less purposeful with their style since last season. I know possession football is the Appleton way, and that's fine, but you'd have to describe his approach yesterday as dogmatic. There was one instance when their 'keeper kicked it long, so I don't know why they didn't sense the danger and bail out more often - unless they were strictly instructed not to after that. But it just seems so restrictive, and downright stupid at times.
Comments
I am really happy they got their wish, though!
Agree 100%. When I coached youth football we coached 2 touch turns, 1 touch turns and then the delightful ‘no touch turn’ described above. It’s a joy to watch.
The best part was he had so little space to work with - he might even have had to step into touch - and just disguised it as part of his natural stride. I get the feeling we'll be seeing plenty more of that...
It’s difficult for anyone to say we were outplayed and the best team won so Lincoln fans have to fall back on old tropes that can somehow explain what happened.
We were excellent today and good for the win end of.
He did manage there for a while with WBA I think but may have been more of a caretaker capacity and was very early days for him. I remember never being hugely impressed with his teams but since Oxford he’s really changed that.
Final comment from me, Lincoln’s striker from the bench caused us a few more problems than their number 9. Nothing to worry about, but reminded me of a smaller, less fine tuned Uche. Certainly could handle himself and had a few battles with Stewart
The only time I had to drag myself to games was in the latter stages of Tony Adams.
I’m sure many of us still remember dragging ourselves to Peterborough for the final match of the Sm*th regime. Suddaby mystified me by how badly he organised our defence, and Adams just left me baffled. But even so I still “watched it every week”, cos as a fan, it’s what you do.
Compared to those times, at the moment I’d happily watch us every day...!
There's been plenty of poor times over the years.
The Smith regime, watching him obliterate the O Neill magic.
A lot of Smillie and Adams time.
Even Taylor's woeful football even on promotion!
The 4 Centre mids across the centre of Lambert .
Early part of Ainsworth's time, and the start of last season (though with many caveats excusing that).
You have to enjoy the good times and we will this season!
We have a quality team and as Gaz said, there is more to come. We will have a few dips but the signs are there that we will be competing at the sharp end all through the season.
We were so assured yesterday and the win was well deserved. Mehmeti was so exciting when he came in as sub. COYB!!!!!!
The football we are playing now is about as good as it gets. Anyone who says otherwise is quite frankly an idiot. We have flare players from front to back. And even our industrious players are more than capable of playing passes all over the field, similarly our flare players are more than capable of being industrious.
For the first time in a while I look at this side and think if this clicks today we are going to destroy an opposition. And this is against a backdrop of several injuries to senior player and some interesting youngsters in the wings.
Life is sweet people.
And Funky Elephant is back.
I thought that as well. He was a proper handful! Dan Nlundulu - on loan from Southampton.
I think for the first time in a long while we are going to hammer someone 5/6-0 at some point. We haven’t totally clicked yet but when we do someone will be on the receiving end.
He did look a handful and when he came on at half time he towered over Scowen at kick off. However either Lincoln didn’t play to his height or he doesn’t ‘know’ how to use his size as JJ was winning headers against him. Bayo has a career in training big players in how to use their size in years to come.
As I’ve said before, once you have a label in football it is very difficult to get rid of it, hence the continuous accusations that we play hoofball, cheat, dive and waste time. It is lazy, cliched nonsense that’s often based on hearsay or seeing us play just once in the season. Can’t see how anyone who understands football can make those claims when we have players like JJ, Freeman, Obita, Scowen, Horgan, McCleary etc. Good luck to Lincoln, a fine team but beaten by a better team on the day.
Happy to throw my hat in the ring as the (chairboys) village idiot. Whilst there are a lot of things to be pleased with at the moment I’m not as convinced as others on here that we are the finished article.
We are certainly tenacious and well-organised and some encouraging signs of imagination and class from the likes of McCleary.
Although we had much the better of the play yesterday if it wasn’t for a world class stop from stockdale we would have only ended up with a point against a not very good Lincoln team.
Not meaning to be particularly critical as I’m delighted with the start but “as good as it gets” is a little hyperbolic I think - particularly as I personally think we will get a lot better than we showed yesterday as the season progresses.
The football we are playing at the minute is as good as anything since the Gormania days.
Under the new system we play, for us to be at our best, we need the wing backs to be pumping in accurate crosses to Vokes on a regular basis. We saw how effective that can be when Obita got it to him in the third minute but there haven't been many other examples yet this season. We're also lacking that regular through ball on the turf from the central midfield to Horgan / McCleary, probably because both Scowen and Thompson have to cover so much defensive ground as a midfield two while other teams crowd the midfield.
That's not to say I don't love this formation and the starting 11, which I do. It just asks so much of our players, who are also having to do their high-pressing best. I think the return of Wheeler will help with some of these accurate balls to the front three, though I'm not certain where he'll be accommodated unless the plan is for him to work as a wing back (in which case we'll have McCarthy, Obita, Freeman and Wheeler, which explains why we haven't brought in any fresh cover). I wouldn't mind seeing Wheeler play a Carrick-style sweeper role behind Scowen and Thompson, although that would mean losing one of Horgan and McCleary who both offer so much attacking threat.
Not gonna shout anyone down but in mitigation we still have players injured, players coming back from injury and players who have yet to get up to speed. From front to back Grimmer is out of position, Freeman is no natural wing back (yet), Curtis played his first 90 minutes, Horgan is still waiting to click (but he will), Vokes is still rusty. So we are winning in 3rd gear in my mind.
Wasn’t at the game so can only go by reports that we played well even though we are not at full strength. Read through the Lincoln forum 99% slagging wycombe off very much like poxford/Sunderland fans deluded.
Overheard two Lincoln fans chatting at the train station after the game. One says to the other "they weren't that great, we could have won that, and we haven't got owners who can spend a million on Sam Vokes."
Wasn't online yesterday but just to say:
Hope you're on the mend soon @glasshalffull
McCleary is really something else and we are absolutely spoilt having a player that classy in our team
I cannot believe Sunderland let Scowen go. I can only imagine he was so unhappy there he wasn't playing to his best. Never felt so confident while watching the opposition try to build an attack.
Yesterday was a tactical masterclass from Gaz. @ReturnToSenda will doubtless illustrate this with all sorts of interesting stats, but we played the highest of high presses specifically to counter Appleton's patient passing game and cut off the supply of passes from Bridcutt.
I have a theory about "wouldn't want to watch that every week", which is that it's not actually based on how we play but on the extent to which we stop the other team from playing. Fans who expect to see their team playing attractive passing football don't see the game working out like that. They're not actually able to see past that to the quality of football being played by the opposition.
Get well soon Mr @glasshalffull .
Regarding the Sunderland forum, most of their fans derided Scowen for his attacking passing and shooting deficiencies.
But surely anyone who signs Josh, does it for his wonderful ability to break up play, play the simple pass and offer wonderful protection to his defence.
If there is currently a better holding midfielder in this division that Josh, then he has been hiding away.
Surely you could counter those observations with the number of good chances we created? So in theory we could easily have done that 3/4-1. Whilst they had a lot of "fancy" possession my memory tells me we created more & better chances than they did. Of course my memory is raging and may not necessarily be a true reflection!
I absolutely loved our high press yesterday. Forcing a corner from a goal kick is just ridiculous! If I was a Lincoln fan I'd be too busy fuming at my own team's incompetence to worry about who I didn't want to watch every week.
Playing it out from the back when you don’t have the ability to do so is just stupid. It’s also arrogance. And when it continues to not work shows a lack of leadership on and off the pitch. It’s also hilarious if you are the attacking side.
Under 11s see this on match of the day with Man City doing it and believe they can replicate. They can’t. Neither could Lincoln. And Lincoln’s failure to figure out that wycombe’s high press was fecking their plans would make me furious if I was a Lincoln fan. I certainly wouldn’t want to watch that every week.
Apologies to @TheAndyGrahamFanClub and @EwanHoosaami.
On reflection if i read the original post as “as good as it gets (given that once we get to full strength it should get even better)” I have no problem at all with the statement.
We did indeed create some decent chances - but their keeper didn’t make one save - so hopefully we can get better there too.
Not meaning to be facetious or anything - I’m genuinely happy with where we are as a team and excited about watching us play
Reminded me of Paul Tisdale teams. Look good if you give them the space but totally devoid of a plan B if you don’t. They were also pretty toothless up front and although I tend to get nervous with a 1-0 lead, that was a comfortable 1-0 win.
I cannot see Lincoln being in the top 6/7 at the end of the season.
Talking to someone who covers that level, it sounds like Lincoln have become less purposeful with their style since last season. I know possession football is the Appleton way, and that's fine, but you'd have to describe his approach yesterday as dogmatic. There was one instance when their 'keeper kicked it long, so I don't know why they didn't sense the danger and bail out more often - unless they were strictly instructed not to after that. But it just seems so restrictive, and downright stupid at times.