Lincoln City
Reaction to the Accrington defeat
By Nathan Jackson
September 18 2010
Another game and another defeat, isn't life just fun supporting Lincoln? The Imps were well beating by an excellent Accrington Stanley side, making it 11 defeats in the last 19 games, but inside this reaction is one of the most shocking statistical facts you're ever likely to see.
It was a night where the Imps would have gone seventh with a win, sixth if the margin of victory was more than one goal, it was a chance for Sutton to give a sense of optimism to the fans, but that door was firmly slammed shut with the 11th defeat in the last 19 games in all competitions stretching back into last season.
Before I start the reaction, I’m going to question how realistic some of our fans are. I had warned people that Accrington would not be pushovers, they are still unbeaten and have the best defensive record in the Football League, so why some fans and seemingly Sutton just expected victory is very strange. These same fans thing that Stevenage and Burton will be a great chance for quickfire points, the only problem being that Burton did the double over us relatively easily last season, and City have an exceedingly poor record against the previous season’s Conference Champions. Infact, you’d have to go back to January 2008 to find the last time that the Imps beat a team who were the reigning Conference Champions.
Anyway, back to the match and I’m not going to beat around the bush, it was shocking and showed exactly why Lincoln are now in that group of teams who you will often get points against, a group that many though contained Accrington, but doesn’t anymore. Let’s face it, whichever way you look at it the results simply aren’t good enough. Just 2 wins in all competitions this season tells it’s own story. I’ll grant you that the performances in some defeats deserved more, but at the end of the day a defeat is a defeat, regardless of the performance.
No-one played well against Accrington, not one single player. Granted there were those that didn’t play awfully, 
but no-one was above a 4/10 and that is why you will find no scores below, I quite frankly can’t be bothered to go through and restate how poor a lot of the players are yet again, however, I will mention one player for his outstanding contribution to Accrington winning, Josh O’Keefe.
Now, I’m assuming that in the Blackburn academy they taught O’Keefe to pass a ball, keep the ball or something to that extent, then again, judging by how he’s played so far, that might be a bit too much to expect. He’s on a par with Khano Smith, Jamie Hand and Anthony Pulis in terms of the worst players to play for City this century. There’s no passion in his play, no urgency and no ability. It’s not good having two wingers who are excellent if you have a central midfielder who is, to put it nicely, awful. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t single handedly responsible for the defeat, but that fact the 9 games we have played, he has played six times.....all six ending in defeats and the three he didn’t play in were the only ones where we didn’t lose.
To be honest, if I was going to sit here and go through all of the players who didn’t play well, then I’d be here for a while, so where better to actually focus than the manager who bought the vast majority of them here. It amazes me that some claim he is good at bringing players here, that despite a record to prove otherwise. 13 of the 15 players who played against Accrington were bought here by Sutton, this is definitely his squad and therefore he can’t use the excuse of it being Peter Jackson’s squad, much like a lot used for him last season....even when more than half of the starting line up were his.
That’s no nice way of putting this, but Sutton is the worst manager we have had for quite some time and that's not personal opinion, it's statistical FACT. Before people argue and state Peter Jackson, Jackson got us safely into 
midtable in both of his seasons in charge, granted his second season was deemed as a failure due to the hype, but by Sutton’s standards, midtable is a brilliant achievement. Under Jackson we went on two good winning runs, 5 wins in a row in February 2008 and 5 wins in 6 in October of the same year......Sutton’s longest winning run so far is 3 games, one of only two occasions where he’s managed to win back to back games.
Bleat on about how Jackson’s last handful of games at the club as much as you want, he got results that got us into midtable TWICE! Jackson compiled his own squad and managed to get to 13th in the table and he had no problem bringing players to this club that had proven records or turned out to be good players for us, granted he had his fair share of failures as well.
It’s not just the results either, it’s the performances. Our last three games have seen us be exceptionally poor and let’s face it, both the goals we had scored in those games have been relatively undeserved. We have a defence that can’t defend, central midfielders that can’t keep the ball and strikers who don’t score from open play....and there’s only one place where those faults lay.....with the manager.
Now before someone lays into me, I’m not calling for Sutton’s head, none of the above actually surprises me. I’ve been saying for just under a year that he isn’t good enough, and time and time and time again, he does nothing whatsoever to prove me wrong. Had it not been for the two wins then he would more than the pressure would certainly be on.
We’re also now two points worse off than last season, make of that what you will.
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18/09/2010 22:36
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I think he deserves another couple of months to see if he can turn it round. If we are no better by the end of November, I will join the chorus.
That is if he is still here.
The thing is with Sutton, personally I don't think he has ever, (except perhaps when he started,) carried the support of the Lincoln majority, because he can appear a bit aloof and deadpan. The total opposite of Jacko in fact.
He may be a very good manager for all I know, but it is difficult to get excited when he comes across so downbeat. His record is starting to look shabby, compared to what has gone before.
I dont give a rat's asse what the manager's personality is like and I would prefer to have a quiet man that goes about his business, if he is good at what he does, Sutton is not good enough.
Will I be calling for his head at games and booing.....no, not my bag but as this is a forum to discuss how you feel about the club. This is how I feel but I will not add to the poor atmosphere at games as it does not help the players.
All I can say is I have been watching dross for nigh on three years, and it needs to improve damn quick.
I am totally demotivated by the lack of positives coming from the club.
What's the incentive to keep going to games when the manager doesn't appear to respect the club,whose pre and post match interviews lack passion and where the Directors appear to be happy to wait and wait rather than take decisive action?
Jackson got everyone together and saved us from certain relegation with his weird and wonderful plans & objectives, like him or loath him, he had a plan and everyone commited to it.
What's the current strategy? I for one certainly don't see anything positive being mooted.
I would love nothing more than for Sutton to turn things around and get us into challengers again, I dont see it though and that is a depressing thought.
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