Reaction to the Cheltenham game

Lincoln City put in yet another performance that could best be described as poor, it's starting to become apparant that we'll be battling relegation for a long time this season, but let's not automatically assume that we're guaranteed a clearout in January.

I'm going to start by referring back to a Steff Wright quote when Chris Sutton was appointed. Wright justifiably described it as a gamble and despite a good start, that gamble is certainly not paying off anymore. I suppose on the level that we're two places higher now than when Sutton took over that you could call it as a working gamble, performances are gradually getting worse and worse. Other than Baker, I haven't been impressed with any of the loanees that Sutton has brought in (I class Torres as a Clark loan), especially people such as Pulis.

I'll grant you that we're not losing many games, only two games since Sutton came in, but we've also only won two games in the League and we are slipping back down the table. Our recent run has seen us face Macclesfield, Northampton, Torquay, Morecambe and now Cheltenham, all of whom were below us, now only two of those are below us. It's a worry trend, especially as our next game is against Grimsby, and let's not just assume that we're guaranteed to win against Grimsby, we haven't beat them in three years, plus they showed what they are capable of in that 5-1 win against us last season.

Talking of assumptions, let's not also assume that there will be a guaranteed cull in January. The thing about trying to get rid of players is that at least one other club will have to want that player. It's obvious that Sutton doesn't rare Kerr, but how many teams can you actually think of that would be willing to have Kerr, and more to the point, how many of those teams would Kerr be willing to go to? We could quite easily end up having no players leave.

However, the one thing I will say in Sutton's favour is that he does appear willing to make a tactical substitution. It's safe to safe that Shane Clarke is a more defensive type of midfielder than Stefan Oakes, so when Oakes replaced Clarke just after the goal it shows that was aiming for the win, something I suppose we can't fault him for.

Going onto issues with the squad, I just really wish that this squad could do the absolute basics. Morecambe's performance against us the other week was the one that we should aim for. There seems to be no ability to pass either accurately or to a player that is actually in a half-decent position. However, the thing that winds me up the most is that we are constantly hoofing up to Fagan. Not only does Fagan rarely do anything worthwhile, but he's the shortest player in the team, he's not going to win a header against someone who's considerably taller than him.....especially as he doesn't jump!

Then we get onto the brawl. It's not the brawl that winds me up, it's the attitude of those players who were on the radio after the game and claimed they were nowhere near it....bullshit! The one Lincoln player who wasn't involved in the action at the side of the pitch was Nathan Baker, the on-loan defender with his hands on the back of his head and was probably thinking to himself "What have I got myself into?" People like Janos Kovacs and Gordon claiming they were nowhere near the scuffle quite frankly shows that they are bullshitters and it makes you wonder how many others will claim they weren't near the action when it was only Baker (and the walking-away Brown who had just been sent up) not near it.

As debuts go, Gordon had a half decent one and set up the goal. Other than Baker, I'd say he was probably our best player and was one of the few who looked like he could do something and I'd be quite confident of a midfield being able to create something if it contained Oakes, Gordon and Torres, unfortunately, it's a midfield at the moment that doesn't create anything for strikers that don't score and play in front of a defence that can't stop conceding.

Overall, I must say that I am worried about the future of this club, there are far more negatives about the club these days. We are slowly fading away and the game against Grimsby is a must win, anything less and we're officially in a relegation battle.