We lost on Saturday, but Mark Kennedy was adamant that despite the result, we’d played well.
Given that seven first-team players were sidelined, I can certainly see his point, but arguing it with stats never works out well. We were as good as we’ve been since those back-to-back wins against Bristol Rovers and Accrington in terms of numbers (well, all numbers except goals), but it’s hard to see that in a third successive defeat. Or, should I say, it is hard for us to see that, but not neutral pundits and observers?
That’s why you’ll be shocked to hear that two respected outlets have listed Lincoln City players in their Team of the Week after the Fleetwood defeat. Our players do appear in these every so often, but I find it interesting that a defeat that attracted so much criticism internally has been acknowledged, at least for a couple of players, as a decent outing.
The first outlet to have Imps in the Team of the Week is Whoscored. In fact, only three teams made up the team of the week, Exeter (who won 5-0), Peterborough (who won 2-0), and us. That means the game between Barnsley and Sheff Weds didn’t contribute a player, but we contributed two. The obvious pick, and the current Man of the Match on the site, is Regan Poole, but Ted Bishop is also in that team.
Ok, so sometimes I am critical of Whoscored for accuracy, and I know that’ll be thrown back in my face, but you’ll rarely hear me being critical of the next outlet, The Football League Paper. Their Team of the Week was a little more varied and had Jayden Stockley in from our opponents, but once again Regan Poole got a mention. I know this will lead some to start going on about how he’s leaving, as football fans do, but as a snapshot of a single game, it does suggest we were actually as bad as people made out.
๐๐๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ
๐ง๐ผ๐ฝ ๐๐ผ๐๐ – ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น, @OfficialECFC
Congratulations to Exeter, @theposh, @LincolnCity_FC, @MKDonsFC, @wwfcofficial, @OfficialPVFC and @ftfc who all have players featured in the team this week! pic.twitter.com/Qw9v4JFJMk
— The Football League Paper (@TheLeaguePaper) March 26, 2023
In fact, maybe Mark’s assessment of it not being a terrible afternoon aside from the result was accurate.
I’m still waiting for the Sofa Score Team of the Week as well, but I just found it really interesting that from the outside looking in, things might not be quite as bad as some might perceive.