Imps v Rovers

[Sparky]

Thanks for the report RLC. January will be pivotal if we are to improve our chances of staying up. As most people know we need more goals. We have all these strikers: Mullin, Payne, RHM, Ponticelli but only Ferrier seems capable but we can’t rest our hopes of him. It will be interesting whether the Indonesian investment impacts on our spending power

 

[Ian]

However, playing the better football and showing a good attitude can only ever take you so far when you are not ruthless in both boxes

Sums us up in a nutshell.

 

[aldoes mustache]

if i was Pilling i would be bashing Melons door down demanding a Transfer .they dont trust him he needs to leave and get his career on the move poor lad . we are crap and another fkn red card its shear maddnes im glad im missing the football at the mo .

 

[aldoes mustache]

from what in led to believe only around £250k has gone to the playing budget . i know a gent who is well in at rovers he works at the games . but cant say much more as i could get in trouble

 

[ADD]

Ref was abysmal but we are our own worst enemy - IFollow didn't show the build up clearly but it certainly looked like he deliberately walked in the way of their defender so yes by the letter of the law but most decent refs would have just had a strong word with him. CBT has flashes of class yes (as does RHM) but CBT is already becoming a luxury player as he does nothing to help in backtracking. MM talked about educating him re defensive duties but if you are a lazy "glory boy" kit doesn't work. He needs a reality check PDQ - he is not a Villa player any more - he wasn't good enough so forget all the dreams of being a Premiership player for now and knuckle down.
Saying we were the better side is all fine and good but we created absolutely nothing aside from the blatant penalty that wasn't given and according to the stats we had only 32% possession. I really wonder whether the pressure is getting to MM. No Wilson at all - and no mention of him being injured?? Woods on the bench. Are they really worse players than those he picked... come on! Also DWR disappeared into the ether - yes he is young but arguably our best player against Man U AND he can deliver on set pieces which we continue to be terrible at. Ponticelli on the bench who is never going to be played instead... something needs to change and quickly or we will be cut loose at the bottom...
Been a while since I was as disappointed as I was after the game yesterday...

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

CBT was working hard and tracking back in the first half today.

He has problems with discipline due to inexperience - similar to RHM and Wilson - so I don't think attacking his character really gets us anywhere.

Lincoln created less than us over the ninety minutes.

 

[Ian]

The reactions from people when we lose a game are well OTT. It's clear we do not have enough quality in the squad but pointing the finger at the manager isn't going to help matters. Really not sure what he can do when he doesn't have the budget to get quality in. MP is no mug either, so he'll know that we need a good january otherwise we'll be looking at a very 'interesting' second half to the season.

MM is actually doing a good job with what he has. He's got the team playing well, they are working hard for each other and that's all he can do. He cannot magic quality onto the players that do not have much. I know we lost but we were the better side today and unfortunately the sending off changed the game. I think CBT and RHM do show a lot of potential however they are very young lads and the fight we are going to be in this season calls for more maturity and experience they do not have.

 

[ADD]

CBT was working hard and tracking back in the first half today.

He has problems with discipline due to inexperience - similar to RHM and Wilson - so I don't think attacking his character really gets us anywhere.

Lincoln created less than us over the ninety minutes.

I am not attacking his character. I was commenting on his attitude... I didn't personally see much back tracking but nevertheless yes he is inexperienced but the naivety yesterday with a terrible ref is very disappointing. We can ill afford to have him miss games especially if Ferrier is still injured....

 

[bigmart]

Accrington have been struggling all season, despite their victory today. The budget is still by far the biggest factor behind our struggles.

If you are suggesting that the manager's position should be questioned, then I think you are misguided. With some journeyman manager we would be screwed in this division with our current budget; Mellon performed a miracle to win a promotion last season that we had no reason to expect. As I have said previously, even if we go down this season I want Mellon to remain in charge. He is a good manager and a great fit for the club.

I agree that it will be a struggle to stay up, but this was always going to be a very difficult season.

I have not suggested the manger's position should be questioned but it is not just down to the budget, we are very lucky this season that Bury were thrown out of the league, Bolton had massive problems and Southend have been dire so far, in all probability we only need to do better than 1 other team but at the moment I do not see it being the case. The lack of discipline all season has been shocking and needs to improve if we are to stay up

 

[bigmart]

from what in led to believe only around £250k has gone to the playing budget . i know a gent who is well in at rovers he works at the games . but cant say much more as i could get in trouble

MP has said 20% of the investment has gone to the playing budget, as the investment was £2.5 million then it will be £500k and I would think some of the cup monies will be added too

 

[aldoes mustache]

would hope so but they are looking at building a new football hub and there not cheap . oh well lets wait and see we realy do need some recruits in jan as the team is poor

 

[Boz]

It is hard to tell from the brief highlights whether we defended well or Lincoln were poor; possibly a combination of both. They cartainly didn't seem to be slinging high balls into the box all game, as many including myself expected and probably Luke Pilling would have coped equally well. Hard to tell, but I thought Akinde's goal looked correct, the ball in the air and seemed to be a few inches into the net. Only the second yellow for CBT was shown and not clearly, looked harsh, but on a yellow in his situation, you should get out of the way sharpish. The referee, Carl Boyeson is one of the worst for Rovers, in the same league as Gavin Ward for giving things against us.

It is also clear that without further investment in the playing squad, we will struggle to stay up. Hard decisions for the Palioi, as a fan my view is we need to re-balance in favour of the playing side, but there are also economic benefits of staying up.

I’m broadly supportive of Micky, who’s doing his best with what we’ve got. However his decisions should not be exempt from scrutiny, is their any truth in the suggestion his family have links to Ponticelli, which is why we’ve got him? Walker-Rice would have been a better option on the bench yesterday. Maybe he got his fingers burned with Eddie Clarke, but the reluctance to give our youngsters a chance when they deserve it concerns me.

 

[Ian]

It is hard to tell from the brief highlights whether we defended well or Lincoln were poor; possibly a combination of both

Both I would say although Lincoln looked as likely to score as we did. I'm convinced with 11 men they would not have scored and they played little in the air.

I'd say overall we were the better team yesterday and so looking at the overall picture there will be quite a few teams battling to stay in this division. It will certainly be an interesting few months ahead.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

is their any truth in the suggestion his family have links to Ponticelli, which is why we’ve got him?

It seems more likely to me that there were funding issues at that point in the summer, similar to the previous year, which we meant we had to bulk up the squad with makeweights like Ponticelli, for fear that we would not have substantial additional funds before the end of the transfer window.

Lincoln were mediocre yesterday. They were not direct but played a ponderous, passing game and were pretty much unrecognisable from Cowley's team.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I have not suggested the manger's position should be questioned but it is not just down to the budget, we are very lucky this season that Bury were thrown out of the league, Bolton had massive problems and Southend have been dire so far, in all probability we only need to do better than 1 other team but at the moment I do not see it being the case. The lack of discipline all season has been shocking and needs to improve if we are to stay up

But if you are saying the budget is not the only issue, you need to state what the issues actually are. I don't think Mellon is immune from criticism and I am sure he has made mistakes this season, but given the resources we have and the quality of the squad we can afford, I don't see how this season was going to be anything other than a relegation battle.

 

[bigmart]

But if you are saying the budget is not the only issue, you need to state what the issues actually are. I don't think Mellon is immune from criticism and I am sure he has made mistakes this season, but given the resources we have and the quality of the squad we can afford, I don't see how this season was going to be anything other than a relegation battle.

Lack if discipline, signing players that don't get a go when several players regularly get a game without contributing much to the cause.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I agree with lack of discipline, but that is partly down to having so much inexperience in the team. The players on the bench yesterday - Payne, Mullin, Potter and co. - are no better than what we had on the pitch. I think the general quality of the squad is low, with one or two exceptions such as Morris.

 

[ADD]

Personally I believe Woods (if fit) and Wilson to be better than Caprice and Rides although Wilson can clearly play as wing back and Rides as the 3rd centreback should we go 532.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Personally I believe Woods (if fit) and Wilson to be better than Caprice and Rides although Wilson can clearly play as wing back and Rides as the 3rd centreback should we go 532.

I agree up to a point, but both have been used by Mellon. Wilson has played virtually every game when fit, whereas Woods has been pretty much permanently injured and hence has not been able to tie down a starting place.

 

[Ian]

Caprice is frustrating because he can get himself into good positions out wide but his crosses are on a whole awful. Rides can put in a decent cross but not consistanly enough. Neither are good enough for L1 IMO but then neither are a lot of the squad.