Midfield

[Kernow]

Do not blame the players, the way we play at the moment , concede’s midfield to the other team. Either charge three centre backs of change our formation. We do not control the game and allow the frontmen to win games,

[bux46]

I dont claim to be a master tactician but it was obvious to me less than 10 mins into the second half that we needed to change our formation , to me we should have gone to a 4 4 2 or even a 4 5 1 and nullified their changes,they were putting pressure on young Gibbons who I thought had a good game but the lad needed a bit of help, I am not saying we should have gone defensive but take 10 or 15 mins having a good look at what they were trying to acheive and look at where we could and should have hurt them. with the pace we have in our team we would still have had enough on the counter to beat them.
I like our new Boss but was a bit disapointed that we didnt adapt ,it wasnt in my oppinion down to the players on the pitch but what they were being asked what to do , be honest how many of you that were there though at half time given what we had acheived in the first half thought that we would win by possibly another 2 or 3 goals, give full credit to them they changed we didnt.

[Parkinsons Perm]

I dont claim to be a master tactician but it was obvious to me less than 10 mins into the second half that we needed to change our formation , to me we should have gone to a 4 4 2 or even a 4 5 1 and nullified their changes,they were putting pressure on young Gibbons who I thought had a good game but the lad needed a bit of help, I am not saying we should have gone defensive but take 10 or 15 mins having a good look at what they were trying to acheive and look at where we could and should have hurt them. with the pace we have in our team we would still have had enough on the counter to beat them.
I like our new Boss but was a bit disapointed that we didnt adapt ,it wasnt in my oppinion down to the players on the pitch but what they were being asked what to do , be honest how many of you that were there though at half time given what we had acheived in the first half thought that we would win by possibly another 2 or 3 goals, give full credit to them they changed we didnt.

My thoughts exactly and I've put that on another thread, you've put it better though lol

[tmwilson]

I think Flitcroft philosophy is to attack , which if comes off is very entertaining to the eye . My worry is that on a few occasions he don't seem to know how to deal with teams when they change their tactics .

Personally I prefer a back four . Put Mcdonald on the right wing and Hamilton on the left , Bishop and Khan in the middle .
Mcdonald isn't pulling up any trees in central midfield . Hamiltons best position is left wing .
He also needs to take Walker off when he is playing bad . I really don't understand why he keeps taking Khan off .
I think if we had beaten Colchester then these away points would be good points . Too many draws again . Macclesfield was there for the taking . I thought they were a poor side .
Maybe we are just expecting too much . Lincon seem to be flying but tge rest of tge teams seem to be dropping unexpected points .

[oldweststander]

Apparently, Macc changed their formation with three subs at half time, we didn't counter the changes.

A little worried, no very worried, about our full back cover. White out so in comes an 18 yr old, untried young man, not knocking him, talk sbout throwing someone in at the deep end?

Personally, I think we need someone on loan and give our young players experience via the subs bench. IMO.

[Parkinsons Perm]

Apparently, Macc changed their formation with three subs at half time, we didn't counter the changes.

A little worried, no very worried, about our full back cover. White out so in comes an 18 yr old, untried young man, not knocking him, talk sbout throwing someone in at the deep end?

Personally, I think we need someone on loan and give our young players experience via the subs bench. IMO.

But Gibbens did well and wasn't the problem, no left back and them targeting that space with arms folded manager not addressing it was the problem.

[bellwhiff]

I think it was the right game to have a look at Gibbens. He wouldn’t have played him if it was Lincoln.

[Kenwood]

I think it was the right game to have a look at Gibbens. He wouldn’t have played him if it was Lincoln.

He did struggle in the air yesterday, both the Mac’s strikers were very tall and good in the air. It didn’t take them long to realise that.

Gibbons looks good on the deck and has a decent left foot, he hit some very good cross field passes to CJ in particular. But I just felt he looked a bit lightweight and not quite ready for league 2 football yet.

Ryan Sweeney was excellent again along with Bishop

[Amber Andy]

Apparently, Macc changed their formation with three subs at half time, we didn't counter the changes.

A little worried, no very worried, about our full back cover. White out so in comes an 18 yr old, untried young man, not knocking him, talk sbout throwing someone in at the deep end?

Personally, I think we need someone on loan and give our young players experience via the subs bench. IMO.

He played well by all accounts.

We can't mollycoddle the youngsters for ever.

I'm pleased the lad played.

Feel sorry for the other young lad ( forward ), he should have stayed on the bench (at least until we know what DR has decided)

Regarding full backs we have got Anderson.

[Kenwood]

Apparently, Macc changed their formation with three subs at half time, we didn't counter the changes.

A little worried, no very worried, about our full back cover. White out so in comes an 18 yr old, untried young man, not knocking him, talk sbout throwing someone in at the deep end?

Personally, I think we need someone on loan and give our young players experience via the subs bench. IMO.

But Gibbens did well and wasn't the problem, no left back and them targeting that space with arms folded manager not addressing it was the problem.

Agree once they changed there system and brought on a right winger Benning looked in trouble.

But you could still argue that playing with both Wing Backs so far up field we created enough chances albeit not clear cut to have won two football matches.

We did get in behind them on numerous occasions but didn’t find that killer pass or when we did we didn’t take the chance.

I felt they were only ever going to score from a set piece or a knock down which they did. They weren’t good enough to open us up despite only having 3 at the back.

My concern would be that better sides will exploit that space much better and we could struggle with this formation

[Marky Mark]

I thought Gibbens was fine, very nervy at the start and he was up against a 7ft lummox, but was no worse than any other player. As I've mentioned on another thread; our system is very easy to nullify - the Macc manager noticed that we were going down the left at will in the first half so he changed his formation so that Benning was pushed back further, and then we had no idea what to do about it - it was exactly the same thing as the Tranmere manager did on Tuesday night, which resulted in Benning having to defend more and being exposed more, and then being taken off because he was being skinned. If the opposition play 5 across the middle and one up front against us then we haven't a clue because our wing backs have to spend more time defending and our 3 centre backs are falling over each other to mark one forward. And also to be fair to the midfield, Davies and Walker hardly held on to a ball all game. Essentially in our system, if Benning and Hamilton have good games then we win, if they don't then we don't.

[pemill]

Flitcroft has to do something about the left back situation, he changed it on Tuesday night when he saw Benning was being slaughtered, a bit bizarre he didn't do something about it against Macc.

[Amber Andy]

I thought Gibbens was fine, very nervy at the start and he was up against a 7ft lummox, but was no worse than any other player. As I've mentioned on another thread; our system is very easy to nullify - the Macc manager noticed that we were going down the left at will in the first half so he changed his formation so that Benning was pushed back further, and then we had no idea what to do about it - it was exactly the same thing as the Tranmere manager did on Tuesday night, which resulted in Benning having to defend more and being exposed more, and then being taken off because he was being skinned. If the opposition play 5 across the middle and one up front against us then we haven't a clue because our wing backs have to spend more time defending and our 3 centre backs are falling over each other to mark one forward. And also to be fair to the midfield, Davies and Walker hardly held on to a ball all game. Essentially in our system, if Benning and Hamilton have good games then we win, if they don't then we don't.

Fair comment. We need to be more flexible in changing formation when things arnt working.

[Kenwood]

Flitcroft has to do something about the left back situation, he changed it on Tuesday night when he saw Benning was being slaughtered, a bit bizarre he didn't do something about it against Macc.

I wouldn’t say Benning was being slaughtered he was just attacking so far forward he was struggling to get back in the last 20 minutes

Benning was still causing them problems going forward and was unlucky with a shot at the back post which the keeper did well to save. He also delivered a great cross for Rose who lost his marker and should have done better with his header.

On a day when our strikers offered little all our threat came from CJ and Benning if we had scored the second which we should the game would have been over

[Vice President]

I have never been a fan of playing 3 central defenders. Our defense and midfield do not appear to be balanced.

I would favour 4 at the back with either 4 or 5 in the midfield.

It doesn't help having players out of position. (Hayden white is a right back and Hamilton is a left winger - both are being played out of position which is not helping the balance of the team).

I think DF needs to re-think the success from his pre-season games (which as we all know mean nothing) - and look at what is actually happening in the league games ... and make the necessary adjustments.

[bellwhiff]

Agree CJ should be played down the left.

[geoffhill]

Cj's main attributes are his pace and a good left foot..Not as quick as White according to a supporter who sits near me.He can play at left back as he did very well last season when Benning got sent off against Accy.He is not as confident on the right as he is on the left.

[abc]

Cj's main attributes are his pace and a good left foot..Not as quick as White according to a supporter who sits near me.He can play at left back as he did very well last season when Benning got sent off against Accy.He is not as confident on the right as he is on the left.

According to pre season tests CJ is quicker than White.

[EdwinstoweStag]

Cj's main attributes are his pace and a good left foot..Not as quick as White according to a supporter who sits near me.He can play at left back as he did very well last season when Benning got sent off against Accy.He is not as confident on the right as he is on the left.

According to pre season tests CJ is quicker than White.

He’s a bit like good custard - thick and sweet!