Can't shoot, won't shoot - Reaction to Wycombe
By Nathan Jackson
August 24 2008
Four games and four defeats has disillusioned a lot of City fans. After being propagandarised to death by Peter Jackson over the summer, the Imps have certainly been under achieving based on that and the game at Wycombe highlighted most of our weaknesses, not that many of them are different to last season.
August 24 2008
Four games and four defeats has disillusioned a lot of City fans. After being propagandarised to death by Peter Jackson over the summer, the Imps have certainly been under achieving based on that and the game at Wycombe highlighted most of our weaknesses, not that many of them are different to last season.
The one thing that has certainly struck me from the first four games that we seriously lack strength in depth. Take the squad that went to Wycombe Wanderers for example. The only player who was on the bench that is potentially capable of changing a game is David Graham. However, Gary King isn't ready for regular first team football, Shane Clarke just simply isn't good enough and Danny Hone, with all due respect, isn't the type of player who can change a game.
Granted, one of our best players is injured but that's not really an excuse, especially when the other supposed "best" players aren't performing. As long as we have this squad, we will not really go anywhere. Don't get me wrong, if all players are fit then we have a squad capable of challenging for the Playoffs, but beyond that we appear to have virtually nothing at all.
That's where we get onto the issue of Adrian Patulea. Now, I think that this guy would be a decent buy at the 50,000 euros that his current club are after, we've paid more for worse players, haven't we Lee? However, one thing that has really got on my nerve now is that Jackson moaned in the Echo that we couldn't afford the transfer fee (which equates to around £35,000 give or take), this coming on the same day that he takes the players to an expensive hotel.
I'm sorry, but until these players start performing then they shouldn't be treated to a hotel, especially in a location that you can reach within 150 minutes of Lincoln. If we are more willing to treat players who obviously don't want to be here rather than bringing in a new striker, especially given how shot-shy our current attacking line up appear to be, then it really shows how serious we ever were about winning promotion.
We haven't looked dangerous at all in our opening four games. We've dominated for long periods of the three League games but never really looked like scoring maybe one a match. The fact we only managed six shots against Wycombe and not one of those was on target says it all about our strikers at the moment. If we don't bring in at least one new striker then we won't achieve anything this season.
I think that I've now realised that Jackson's propaganda actually worked, it made me forget that this team wasn't actually very good. I, much like many other City fans, was filled with hope that we could actually achieve something this season, but it's not looking promising at the moment and to be honest, I can't really see that changing at all.
THEIMPS.TK UNOFFICIAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR THE GAME AGAINST WYCOMBE WANDERERS | ||
PLAYER | RATING | COMMENTS |
1 - ROB BURCH | 8 - MOTM | No contest really for the MOTM award. One of the only players who looked like he cared against the Chairboys. He was unlucky with the goal and it would have been considerable more had it not been for several decent saves. |
2 - PAUL GREEN | 5 | Was often caught out of position, allowing Wycombe to create several chances down that side of the pitch. |
3 - AARON BROWN | 4 | Aaron, just so you know, we play in red and white for our home kit, and white in our away kit. If you could possibly keep it on the pitch then that would be a big help as well. |
4 - JANOS KOVACS | 4 | Any chance you could not hit your backpasses at 200mph? Janos reminds me a lot of Ben Futcher, wins a lot of headers but isn't that good with his feet. |
5 - LEE BEEVERS | 3 | Lee, I'll say to you what I've said to Aaron, passing to players that aren't on the opposing side isn't generally a good idea when playing football. Well done for passing it straight to Woodman when under no pressure whatsoever. |
8 - LEE FRECKLINGTON | 3 | You know yourself that you could do so much better. You're still not doing a lot to suggest why you should be starting matches when the squad is fully fit. It's obvious your heart is not in it anymore and maybe you should have left for Peterborough afterall because at the moment you're only worth about 1/10 of what you were then. |
9 - KEVIN GALL | 3 | Love the effort level, but you're the new Derek Asamoah. If you reach even just five goals before you go back to Carlisle then I'll be surprised. |
11 - SCOTT KERR | 5 | Scott was about average really before going off injured. Can't really comment too much, although he is obviously one of the few players that actually seems to care. |
12 - DANY N'GUESSAN | 4 | See Aaron Brown and Lee Beevers |
14 - LENELL JOHN-LEWIS | 4 | Didn't really do a lot, nothing else to say really. |
15 - BEN WRIGHT | 3 | I've said it many, many times before but if he doesn't score then you don't notice he's there. Virtually never wins a header and it looks like he'll be lucky to reach 5 goals at this rate. |
17 - DAVID GRAHAM | 5 | Needs a start to show what he can do. Afterall, he can't do worse than the current pairing, he might actually get a shot on target for a start. |
19 - SHANE CLARKE | 5 | Still diving in like a nutter but at least you can see that he wants to be here. |
21 - GARY KING | 5 | I like Gary King, I think that in a few years he will be a really decent first team player, but I just don't think he is ready at the moment. If we can get another striker in then I think a loan spell at a Conference club would do King a big favour. |
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