Sutton needs to prove his worth against Barnet

Chris Sutton has said in the last few days that the players need to stand up and be counted, however, Sutton should look closer to home if he wants to point the finger at underperformers. Sutton has an horrendous record as Imps manager and it is little surprise are already involved in a relegation battle.

There are no two ways about it, Sutton's time in charge of the Imps has so far been a failure. Despite some fans rating him as a better manager than even Schofield or Peter Jackson, both had accumulated six from their opening three games, a total that Sutton has yet to reach after five games. Some fans will point to the fact that we lost 5 of our first 7 games in competitions in 2008/9 and finished midtable, but Jackson proved on two occasions he was capable of putting together winning runs, something Sutton has yet to achieve.

Then you get onto the players he has bought in. It's strange that Sutton has said on a few occasions that some of the players simply aren't good enough, I say strange because he bought the majority of the current squad to the club. For every Davide Somma, Chris Herd or Matt Saunders, there has been a Michael Gordon, Anthony Pulis and Khano Smith. Below is a list of all the Players who Sutton has brought to the club, I'd be interesting to see if anyone can come up with a squad from that lot that would be capable of challenging for promotion, taking into account you can only have a maximum of five loanees in the squad.

Sutton has not proved that he is a good manager yet and it seems strange that he expects a large points haul from the next ten games, especially given as only two of our next ten opponents are actually below us in the table.

Don't get me wrong, I obviously don't think Sutton enjoys the fact he doesn't win, so hopefully it will improve in the near future, but much like Sutton doesn't "suffer fools".......I aint going to lie and I'm happy to say that I don't think he's a good manager.

History would indicate that City do have a favourable fixture list coming up. The Imps haven't lost to Barnet at Sincil Bank since March 1996, with City winning the last six meetings in the Imps' turf. City have only lost once to the current version of Accrington Stanley and Stevenage will be an unpredictable game. Burton will be tricky after their double over the Imps last season, whereas the Imps haven't lost a League game to Southend since the 2001/2 season.

Macclesfield have only beaten City once in the last thirteen meetings (with the Imps winning eight of those meetings), but the biggest test will come a week later as the Imps travel to Shrewsbury, a ground where City used to literally win every season, but haven't scored there in the last two meetings and the Shrews are currently top. Stockport is a winnable game but City don't have a good record at Wycombe. Northampton at home is also tricky.

Quite frankly, Lincoln can't afford to take any of their next ten opponents lightly. Everyone will look at the Barnet and Accrington games and just expect victories, but both are above City for a reason. The two aforementioned side are, with greatest respect, in a group of clubs in the division that everyone views as a game where you can pick up a decent level of points, also in that group are Macclesfield and Lincoln. There are very few sides that don't get points off of Lincoln, so to think we're automatically better than any other club in the division, is simply not the case.

Let's make no bones about it, we are in a relegation battle. The Imps could return to the bottom of the table if they lose to Barnet and results don't go our way. None of the teams below us are playing each other, meaning all could overtake the Imps, although thankfully most have games they won't be expected to win. A win on the other hand could propel City to a position that Sutton has never guided us to.....above 15th.

Andy Hutchinson is definitely out after getting a foot injury earlier in the week, but thankfully he's not one of the vital players in the squad, and it is good news elsewhere as Albert Jarrett, Drewe Broughton and Gavin McCallum are all expected to return. Jarrett is in line to face Barnet for the first time since leaving Underhill at the end of last season, he has been one of City's best players so far this season (not saying much, I know) and if his early performances are anything to go by, our survival could rest in his hands.

With the return of both of our attacking midfielders, we could see an unexpected 4-4-2 formation.

THEIMPS.KA OFFICIAL RATINGS
	Anyon is due a clean shee and other than one or two incidents, has looked reasonably solid, so hopefully he can get that bit of luck this time.
	If there's one player that has improved a lot recently, it is definitely Joe Anderson. The defender has looked far better with decent defenders around him.
	Watts is one of the few decent permanent signings that Sutton has made during his time as City's manager. Barnet waere also the first team that Watts played against as a permanent Imps player.
	Clapham had a quiet game against Chesterfield last season, but at least the defence has looked more solid since he came into the side.
	With Jarrett and Carayol returning to the first side, it is expected that Hughton will return to his right back position. He is better than Paul Green, hence why he'll start ahead of the former Villa trainee.
	Carayol returned last Saturday but didn't have a good game, mainly because he was quite clearly still injured. Hopefully the extra week will have been enough to get his fitness back up to a decent level.
	Jarrett returns to the club after representing Sierra Leone last week and the difference without him was there for all to see. Our best player so far this season
	Keltie is having a difficult season far, failing to make the same sort of impact he had towards the end of last season.
	Scott will be clapping his hands in anticipation of what will probably be a rare start.
	Delroy has been one of the better players over the last few weeks and despite Broughton and McCallum returning from injury, Facey should keep his first team place.
	The goal last week has plastered over the otherwise poor performances from the on loan striker. Sutton seemingly insists on sticking with him, despite him being no better than any of the other strikers at the club....well, if you ignore Andy Hutchinson.

It's far to say that the Imps and the Bees like to score goals against each other. Scorelines between the two down the years have been Lincoln 0 Barnet 6, Barnet 0 Lincoln 5 and Barnet 4 Lincoln 3 (after Lincoln were 3-0 up). However, last season the two games weren't exactly goal filled.

Saturday's fixture could be the third season a row where City's first home win comes against Barnet.

The clubs met on the opening day of last season and despite Barnet dominating, a Janos Kovacs goal in the second half gave the Imps a victory. The return game saw Cian Hughton give the Imps the lead before Yakubu headed in a cross from a certain Albert Jarrett. However, the story wasn't over there as Lenell John-Lewis scored what turned out to be his final goal for the club.

The 2008/9 season saw both sides win their home game. The game at Sincil Bank saw late goals from N'Guessan and Adrian Patulea secure a 2-0 win, but goals from Patulea and O'Connor could get City any points in the return fixtures as goals from O'Flynn (two) and Adomah gave the Bees a 3-2 win at Underhill.

The Sincil Bank games of 2006/7 and 2007/8 both saw City wins. Lee Frecklington secured the 1-0 win at Sincil Bank in 2006/7, whereas Ben Wright (two), Jamie Forrester and Louis Dodds gave City a 4-1 victory in 2007/8. The games at Underhill couldn't have been more different in those two seasons though.

Both of those games saw the winning side 3-0 up at half time. Jamie Forrester (two) and Lee Beevers gave City that lead at half time in 2006/7 before Forrester and Mettam scored in the second half. 18 months later and Barnet found themselves 3-0 up at half time before they eventually made it 5-0. Ben Wright did eventually make it 5-2 with a quickfire brace after coming on.

2005/6 had seen the return of Barnet to the League and the clubs played each other within 4 weeks, City coming from behind both times to win 4-1 at Sincil Bank and 3-2 at Underhill.

Barnet had no former Imps currently playing for them, whereas City have former Bee Albert Jarrett. Only Rob Burch and Junior Agogo have also represented both clubs over the last ten years, although Ben Wright did have a trial at Barnet before Johns Deehan and Schofield snapped him up from under the Bees' noses.

Barnet barely survived the drop last season, only surviving on the final day after beating Rochdale, although it didn't matter in the end due to Grimsby losing at Burton. It had been a far fall from grace after the Bees had topped the table at the beginning of the season.

They didn't start this season brilliantly either, losing at Chesterfield on the opening day, although Glenn Poole became the first away player to score at the new stadium. That came before getting a 3-0 thumping at Swansea in the Carling Cup before a goalless draw with Burton. A 7-0 defeat at the distinctively average Crewe sparked fears of another relegation battle, but since they have drawn with Bury and beaten Cheltenham 3-1.

They currently sit one point and one place above the Imps in the table.