Reaction to the defeat to Torquay United

Another game, another defeat as the Imps now sit bottom of the League. It was the second league game where the Imps have been the better side but were let down by poor finishing and even worse defending. In this rather reflective reaction, I look back at how City have gradually gone downhill over the last five years.

The 9^th of August marked five years since I last missed a game for the Imps so I've decided to do this reaction in a bit of a contemplative mood. Infact, I'm going to go back even further than that to September 16^th 2000.

September 16th was the day I decided to go and watch the Imps on a regular basis and guess whom were the opponents that day, Blackpool. It is always strange to see a side that you used to see City play against competing in the Premiership, especially when one of your old players scores their first goal at that new level. During my time at the club I have watched as we rarely lost to Hull, Scunthorpe, Doncaster and numerous other clubs, the majority of whom now play at a considerably higher level that we do.

Anyway, so five years and 256 games later, I am must admit that even though it occurs on such a regular basis, I have never quite gotten used to watching City control games and failing to win. There are certain things you never quite get used to in football and last season I said that although you can always get used to winning, you never quite get used to losing. You can watch your club play awfully one week and then go into the next game thinking that your team can do brilliantly.

In 256 I've seen many things. I've seen us come from two goals down twice at Fulham, win 7-1 just a week after winning 5-0, lose 4-0 on more times than I'd care to even remember and seen players come and go so much that we only have one player left that was at the club 256 games ago. In the five years I haven't really gotten used to watching City not winning, which is interesting given that I'd be prepared to bet we've lost considerably more games in that time than we've won. I've watched as this club has gradually got worse, with each manager less impactful than the rest.

It all started with Keith Alexander (RIP) (left), whom I have the utmost respect for. The football under Keith was awful, but the one thing you couldn't argue with was that he got results. In his final season we only lost four times between mid-November and the end of the season, a magnificent record. He left but I always got the feeling that one day he would return and finish off the job, and you never know, he might have done.

He was replaced by the combination of Schofield and Deehan. The football under them was simply breathtaking, it was excellent and having 50 points before the turn of the year was amazing. Who will ever forget the 5-0 win at Barnet or the 7-1 win over Rochdale? Then it just went downhill and they were sacked, replaced by Peter Jackson.

Jackson was what the club needed at that time and his level of the enthusiasm was excellent. He secured us midtable in both of his seasons and had he not overhyped the club in 2008/9, most would have probably accepted the eventual midtable position. He was sacked at the beginning of last season and replaced by Chris Sutton.

After 10 months and 43 games of Chris Sutton's management, my jury is definitely still out and is now leaning towards the "it won't work" side of the scale. I'm not sure whether it's the winning record of just 12 wins in 43 games, whether we've only kept two clean sheets this calendar year (one of which was a 0-0 draw), or that we've lost 8 of the last 13 games in all competitions. The annoying thing is though that I still strangely think that things could improve at any moment.

In 10 months we have watched City dominate games, only to them concede with what was effectively their only shot(s) on goal. The home games against Crewe and Northampton last season come mainly to mind, but now we have the Torquay game to add to that list.

The annoying thing about today was that the Imps did dominate the game. We created chances and when McCallum's shot went in, the majority of the ground breathed a sigh of relief after the summer of doubt about our forward line's capability of getting goals..........damn pesky linesman. Not to forget the number of chances Broughton had and the one Hutchinson wasted.......and then the defence buckled under the pressure and not for the first time this season, the goal from open play came from the side that Paul "Stand Off" Green was defending.

The 4-4-2 formation certainly worked better than the 4-1-4-1 formation, but we simply don't have the players to make it effective. We have the wingers to make it work and in all honesty, I think the McCallum/Broughton combination did well, although it would be helped if Broughton didn't stand offside for 50% of the game. Watts and Hughton are also adequate in their positions, but that's about it.

None of the central midfielders seem to do anything, and especially as O'Keefe is from the same identikit pack as Scott Kerr, we just seem to be lacking a central midfield that links up with both the defence and the attack well. Keltie is the best of all the central midfielders at the club, but he is rarely given a chance.

Then we get onto a defence. I've seen some incompetent defending before so believe me, I know an incompetent defence when I see it. I played for a Sunday League side last season who in the space of 6 games lost 9-0 four times, lost 4-2 and 12-1 (I'm a striker by the way), but even though we conceded some shocking goals, I can't recall all of our defenders running to one side of the goal and leaving several attackers completely unmarked on the other side. If it doesn't happen in the Sunday League then there's no way it should happen in professional football.

I think that the best thing we could do in terms of the defence is drop Swaibu and replace him with Pearce. Pearce is a far superior defender than Swaibu and is the experienced head that Watts needs next to him. There is no doubt that Watts has a bright future ahead of him, but having a gung-ho defender like Swaibu next to him is ruining any chance of people standing up and noticing how good Watts is. Just look at Rotherham for example. Swaibu feigned injury and when he realised he wasn't going to get a free kick, he ran towards the ball and left Pearce to mark four attackers on his own.

The worst thing is that the vast majority of the players that are performing badly were brought to the club by Sutton. Everyone will point to Somma (right) as an example of the quality Sutton can bring to this club, but for every Davide Somma there's a Brian Gilmour. For every Chris Herd there's an Anthony Pulis. For every Albert Jarrett there's a Khano Smith. Keith's signings were hit and miss, Sutton's are heavily on the miss side of that.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Sutton is entirely to blame for what's happening at the moment, as we have dominated both games so far and I think I'm quite safe in assuming that he doesn't want to do badly. A lot will depend on how much money the Carayol deal will cost us. You get the feeling that Sutton has held back some of his budget to see what happens with the tribunal and if all goes according to plan, we could well see a few more players joining the club before the end of the transfer window.

Do you want to know what hurts the most about the last 256 games though? It's that it wouldn't take me very long to count the games where City have played well and yet I keep going back. I suppose that's what football is about, never knowing quite what's going to happen. For all we know we could be top by a country mile in two/three months.

THEIMPS.KA OFFICIAL RATINGS
	Still not being helped even slightly by his defence and did make some excellent saves during the game. It amazes me that some are calling him a poor-man's Burch, forgetting that Burch rarely kept a clean sheet. 6.5/10
	I've never been overly impressed by Swaibu and if you're going to play a right footed defender at left back, Swaibu is probably the least appropriate man to have at his side supporting him. All the goals from open play so far this season have come from the side which Swaibu has been playing. 2/10.
	I do feel sorry for Watts, by far the best defender and is made to look incompetent by those around him. Could have marked better for the second goal. 6/10
	Goals coming from the side of the defence that Green was on? Never. Despite being here nearly four years, Green still stands off the attacker far too often and just allows him to cross. The weakest of the defensive weak links? 2/10.
	I didn't even notice he was playing until half way through the second half. He did excellently on the right wing last season, but with Jarrett playing there, Hughton seems consigned to the defence again. 5/10
	Getting a bit predictable when he's attacking the defence and cuts inside every time. He was our best player on the pitch today though and was the only player who looked threatening going forward. 7/10.
	The reaction the crowd gave when it was announced he was Man of the Match said it all. Identical style of play to Kerr and after seeing him six times in pre-season and competitive action so far, he offers virtually nothing and lets games just pass him by. The latest in a long line of passengers that has come to this club recently. 2/10.
	Carayol had a poor game against his former employers and didn't really do anything other than give the ball away quite a lot. He did jink past several defenders to create a chance, but then continued to run without shooting. 4/10
	Other than the disallowed goal, you'd have been forgiven for not noticing he was actually playing. Infact, he didn't do virtually anything and it was Broughton who was having the chances. 3/10.
	Broughton had a half decent game and should have scored at least two of the chances. However, if he didn't insist on standing 20 yards offside then City would probably get more chances in on goal. However, he was the only player who looked like scoring. 6/10
	Brought on with about 5 minutes to do so he didn't really have a chance to do anything. 5/10 by default.
	Hutchinson comically said he hoped to be in the starting XI in the next few weeks. Hutchinson continues to do very little when brought on and is effectively the new Ollie Ryan. Wasted a good chance when he came on and was otherwise anonymous. 2/10
	As much as it scares me, I want Broughton and Facey to start the next game. Facey has played the best out of all the strikers so far this season and did well again today. 6/10
	To be fair to Sutton, he did go to 4-4-2 for today's game and it was far more dangerous than the 4-1-4-1 formation, but he's playing too many passengers. At least he's dropped Scott Kerr. 4/10