This weekend we put on a live show for Lincoln City supporters and Stacey West Patreons. Usually, we have a QnA, and take questions from the room.
This time, we had a bank of questions from readers who were not there to fill the QnA, but luckily, we had plenty from guests. Therefore, I thought I’d work through seven of the questions we were asked for you. One of those needed a whole article, which you can find here, while the others are all below.
Enjoy!
1. Who would you pick: a player who hasn’t performed well recently but has team spirit, or a player who has performed very well but is more divisive?
I think that’s a really interesting question, and it’s hard to pick on those two variables alone. First of all, does the player who hasn’t performed well recently have a ceiling? Are we talking, with no disrespect to him, about someone like Jake Sheridan, who had all the team spirit but wouldn’t be at the level we’re at now? Or are we talking about a superb maverick, like a Dany N’Guessan, who might not quite get it all the time but is capable of moments of utter brilliance?
I think it would also depend on the opponent you’re trying to beat. If you were looking for a moment of magic to put a lower-league club to the sword in the FA Cup, you might want your player capable of brilliance. Against a team like Swansea on Saturday, where everybody has to be on it, fight for each other and battle, you might pick the player with that commitment, team spirit and team ethos.
It also depends on what being divisive and lacking team spirit actually means. Are they arguing with other players or refusing to pass to them? It would depend on the individuals, which makes it quite hard to answer without specifics.
There isn’t really anybody I’d describe as divisive in the team now, and even looking back, it’s difficult to find the right comparison. Ben Tomlinson came to mind, but was he divisive? I’m not sure, so I wouldn’t want to label him that.
If you put Ryan Amoo and Dany N’Guessan in front of me as a choice, I’d always say N’Guessan because Amoo’s ceiling was lower. That’s why the individual players matter as much as the two characteristics in the question. It’s a good question and would perhaps have worked particularly well live.
Comments Welcome!