AbsoluteZero
Active member
- Joined
- 10 Oct 2018
- Messages
- 333
Simple question - who form our vast and talented squad would you have put in the team instead?
The most depressing thing against Stevenage for me on Friday was the moment we took off RR and Goodrham and replaced them with Bodin and Henry. THAT showed me all I needed to see about the state of our squad. Up to the poijt of their substitution, we were piling the pressure on Stevenage. Goodrham and Rodrigues (along with Murphy, but not so much Browne) had given us some much needed forward momentum. Both RR and TG were out on their feet but the players brought to replace them could not get close to offering the same outlet....and so rather predictably and depressingly, we started going backwards and lost all that early second half promise.
That in a nutshell illustrates why our squad is so lacking and why we appear to be falling short - we simply have not had the personnel.
Football is a team game with 11 players required. 3 days earlier RR said that he was so knackered he couldn't run any more and he admitted himself it was best he came off against Peterborough for someone who could run. JMc has not played a back to back 90 min game for god knows how long and got a knock against Peterborough. And both were then asked to play in a very high intensity match 4 days after not being able to finish in another high intensity match. It doesn't take the technology GPS stats to tell you they shouldn't be playing, the manual eye could see it. So it was an obvious choice of start with Cam Bran and Bodin, or Smyth as an alternative in the DM position.
I would much rather have a starting 11 that could contribute fully, and in my opinion whilst the Lincoln team selection was understandable following the brilliant performance against Peterborough it made absolutely no sense from a logical team perspective. I know we lack options in the squad not helped by terrible January recruitment but there were choices there that should have been made and weren't. Whether it would have made a difference we will never know. I just feel this was another step on the learning curve for Buckingham, at a time when we could not afford to treat it as an experiment and a bit more experience or ruthlessness would have made a better decision.
But whilst I am critical of Buckingham with this single point, you cannot argue with the turnaround he has brought about since Bolton and the fact that over the last 7 games we have displayed auto promotion winning form. The problem is that so have Lincoln and Blackpool. Based on latest form it is Barnsley that are there for catching and we perhaps should feel fortunate that we are chasing 2 places not just the 1.