View From The Town End: Lincoln City’s ‘Mildly Frustrating’ SeasonReading are looking to get back to winning ways on Saturday afternoon following a defeat and draw at home in the last week, but to do that, we’ll need to do what we’ve struggled to do this season: take three points on the road. It won’t be easy - this weekend’s opponents are Lincoln City, who sit three places and five points outside the top six. To find out more about them, we spoke to Nigel from Vital Lincoln City. He discussed the Imps’ season so far, new manager Michael Skubala - who took over from Mark Kennedy last month, Lincoln’s core strengths and weaknesses, and plenty more. You can find their forum here, and they’re on Twitter @VitalLincoln. How would you sum up your season so far? Mildly frustrating to be candid.
However, it’s a moot point given that he is one of strikers that was injured at the end of August and, following a hip operation, probably won’t be seen until the end of the season. What are the main strengths and weaknesses of this Lincoln side? We are very much an out-of-possession side who look to counter.
Whilst not prolific or great with his back to goal he is very strong, front-foot, incredibly hard-working, quick enough and highly astute - becoming renowned at effectively closing down opposing defences. His technical ability means that he has it in his locker to score with some very astute finishes but he too has suffered from the curse of being the isolated lone striker. If he has somebody ahead or alongside him I can see Ben becoming a very dangerous number 10, getting on the ball in the pockets of space and pushing on to harass the defence when we are out of possession. Perhaps that will happen if Skubala changes to a back four.
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Our midfield lynchpins are the two aforementioned Ethans, with Erhahon sitting deeper to protect the defence - and watch out for Hamilton breaking forward to pepper the goal from the edge of the box. Nominally we play a front three but it has been a huge issue getting players forward in support of an often woefully isolate lone striker. Skubala has stated he wants to retain possession higher up the pitch - who knows, perhaps Saturday will be the day we start to see that being implemented more effectively.
We thought we had made some astute signings during last January and this summer’s transfer windows - the likes of Ethan Erhahon, Ethan Hamilton and Tyler Walker to bolster the midfield (a long-term achilles heel) and increase our short-handed attacking options. We thought and expected to see the side push on and become more progressive and attacking. It hasn’t happened, and in spite of steadily picking up points, the football remained safe and dull, with rumours of Mark Kennedy losing the dressing room and a lack of on-field unity seen on the pitch during the embers of his tenure. In fairness to Kennedy he was dealt a huge blow, effectively losing all three of his striking options long term, ‘bang on’ the transfer window shutting. We have found ourselves relying on a teenage striker (Jovon Makama) who was reportedly destined for a loan to National League North level, which had to be hurriedly cancelled given the striker crisis, and a young loan from Blackburn Rovers (Jack Vale, once he recovered from his own injury woes).
Skubala certainly fits our model of appointing progressive coaches rather than tried and failed ‘dinosaurs’, and whilst he aims to change the playing mindset, he has publicly admitted that is not going to happen overnight. How does he set Lincoln up tactically? Reportedly he favours a back four but apart from when chasing a game we have seen little evidence of that. The club is well stocked with very solid centre-halves and, for the past 18 months, have used a defensively effective three at the back. Given the lack of pace and genuine full-back options I don’t see that changing in the short term. We will aim to see the wing-backs being pushed higher up the pitch now Skubala is in charge.
Lincoln City vs Reading live score, H2H and lineups Lincoln City Reading live score (and video online live stream) starts on 16 Dec 2023 at 15:00 UTC time in League One, England.
