THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

THE MELTDOWN – LINCOLN CITY
I’ve just watched the first half and there is nothing to add really, it almost defies description. Lincoln are no great shakes but they are easily restricting us to possession in our own half and there has been a lot.

On one occasion we had a free kick midway in their half and we played it all the way to Tucker in our half, do they not realise that sooner or later they are going to have to break out of this rubbish or we are going down, we cannot just play it across our backline repeatedly, we have to try and create something, God forbid we play like this in March against what many are calling games we should be winning, if this carries on this team is going down with a whimper, honestly it’s pathetic.

Yes the goal was a worldie, but should we not be closing down quicker and better, I guess that’s your luck when you are down nothing goes right.

I can’t take any positives out of that half, our passing is atrocious, ball control worse, and again we are weak in possession. I also have to say Leko is like a modern day version of Daniel Powell, how many times has he played himself into trouble, almost beating himself, and when he loses control he just shrugs his shoulders, and KaiKai is not much better, in fact out of all of them only McEachran is showing any spirit or fight…here they come for the second half….back soon.

No changes…really…..but Eyoma limps off which surely is good for us, but we have to create something…on comes Sorensen. Lincoln have definitely dropped back, more space if only we can exploit it.

Leko engineers some space, pulls it back for Mo who has his header cleared off the line….and then my IFollow feed gives up and somehow I have been transported down to AFC just in time to see Stevenage score and lead 2-1…has to be said for such a tiny stadium there is a lot of empty seats.

74 minutes in and I’m back in the room as Leko fires over from about 25 yards with a free lick…. have I missed anything?

Looks like we are finally giving it a go as I try to watch this between periods of a blacked out screen, IFollow is F****** rubbish.

Almost unwatchable and it comes back just as we get a corner, and Paris Maghoma flicks at the ball with what looks like his heel (HOG MK 3), it gets a deflection and loops in the net, its chaos here at WellDon Towers as Imps fans are streaming from the ground muttering I bloody knew it.

I have to say Lincoln only have themselves to blame, with a smattering of us being more adventurous, they took their foot of the gas, conceded space and invited us forward and somehow we got the equaliser, and for Lincoln its yet another home draw.

We were without doubt better in the second half, we could hardly have been any worse, but we cannot afford to approach the forthcoming games with that style, setup, or gameplan, it’s just asking for trouble.

The point has lifted us up to…. oh, hang on it hasn’t, the point is welcome of course, but let’s not forget teams around us all have games in hand.

Did we deserve it, I don’t know, they tried to preserve the lead, obviously anxious about hanging on to the three points, and although we took some coaxing we did produce much more in the second half.

Whatever the plan was with Robson, it didn’t work, he looks a shadow of the player we saw last season, and for me Devoy is a much better option. I know he’s not the finished article by a long chalk, but he creates openings, and that is something we are desperate for. According to Ashmead Maghoma was the MOTM, personally I thought he was bloody awful in the first half, so the goal has earned him a bit of respect from me, and he did pull his finger out in the second half admittedly.

I can’t add much else, I was hampered by IT problems that would tease me with several minutes action and then go blank, but at least I got to celebrate the goal.

I noted McEachran only managed 58 minutes today, so perhaps there is something in this rumour about a knee injury, and although he got through the 90 minutes plus on Saturday two games in a week is probably a stretch.

On to Vale Park on Saturday then, and hopefully taking the second half performance with them, and its been a long time since we have said that, as today we got better as the game went on, no cliff jumping tonight.

Take it easy, there is still work to be done.

WD

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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight

I didn't have any issues with a blank screen. Do you hook your laptop to a TV? If so sounds like a dodgy hdmi or port. Either way that should be a blessing as apart from the last 20 mins there wasn't much for us to try and watch

IFollow worked fine for me too. I had to watch the whole thing.

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I like clean air and low traffic

It looks like the Internet was dodgy last night in our area, my neighbour was moaning about it as well.

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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight

It was certainly a terrible game of football and the decision not to start Devoy who is arguably our only creative spark in the middle was a poor one. However we did come out better after the second half and managed to grab a point. As I mentioned on the other thread Lincoln somehow have gone all season without losing at home. Much better teams than us have only taken a point up there. In that context I’m happy with the point and would have taken it before the game to be honest.

A decent if fortunate point.

I just watched the jacko interview. The hammer horror lighting doesn’t help it, but he seemed very downbeat. I suspect he has come to realise that any combination of players and formations cannot do the job of playing well for 90 minutes.

You're lucky
I didn't think you had Internet over in the badlands.

Sorry if it's mentioned elsewhere but what has happened to Dean
Did that run for his goal wear him out?

He's a kid and won't play every game, that's what Jacko said when he was signed.

In other news Jacko said last night that Devoy was not a starter because he'd been in Ireland for a family bereavement (and so I imagine missed training and team prep). We really missed him starting tbf, no way Robson should have been sent out after so long on the sidelines.

Apart from the goal, which was a decent finish, I don't think he's looked anywhere near ready. Not surprised to see him out of the squad. We have players who are currently better and more experienced than him.