Lincoln Host Ex Premiership Swansea

Match Day 8

Lincoln will host Swansea, Swansea sit joint top with 14 points but also with 4 other teams, the last time we played Swansea at home was April 2005, which we won 1-0 but Swansea were promoted via a 3rd place finish, Swansea were a regular team in the league during the years of 1996 all the way through till 2005 until they achieved promotion, which they then achieved a promotion to the Premiership in 2011, they managed 7 consecutive seasons in the world's biggest league, a monumental achievement considering they was stuck in league 2 for 9 years.

Lincoln's XI
I’ve started to realise it’s actually not very possible to make the team preview on a home game, I'm too busy supping a pint of ale at local pub to actually spend 30 minutes writing an article, so I will be predicting the line up.

The formation will be 5-2-3 this will more than likely be our usual formation for the remainder of our campaign unless something drastic happens, this formation works very well in our favour as we are not a possession team, we are a counter attack a pressing team with very good midfielders that will play as centre backs when the other defenders are attacking from set pieces. 

Wickens will play between the sticks, he has kept 2 clean sheets away from home on the bounce, he is very reliable and has improved his distribution each week.

The back three could possibly be Oyegoke, Bradley, and Elerewe, Towler did actually play the last game against Bristol so there could possibly be a change with Oyegoke with Towler and also Hamer is getting back to full fitness. All 5 have been very consistent and would be harsh to drop 2 of them but the first 3 are probably our strongest back 3 bringing it height and strength.

The wingbacks could be Reach and Jefferies, there could be a change of the left wing back being Elder as he hasn’t got too much game time just yet, and has got an assist to his name, Jefferies has been very consistent and been very attacking, even getting a goal line clearance against Preston.

The midfields will probably be McGrandles and Varfolomeev, especially with Varfolomeev getting his 1st call up, and possible debut for the Ukraine national team. It’s very hard to not include Bayliss in this team but we need rotation and yet again all 3 are very reliable, with McGrandles and Varfolomeev being more defensive and Bayliss being more attacking with better passing and wide play.

The wingers could possibly be Hackett and House, but don't be surprised if Ogbene plays on the left instead of Hackett as that was the case against Bristol, House brings a great energy to the front line and because of his pressure Draper got his second goal of the campaign.

The striker has got to be Draper, he got a good set of games at the start of the season but never actually got the ball in the back of the net, he was subsequently given the chance from the mention giving Rob Street the chance to start, and scored proving why he has been our number 1 striker. I would like to see Ladeforge get a start considering we spent between 3-4 million on him, but you cant change a working formation and tactics, we learnt that last season when Elerewe didn’t get much game time and now he is one of our strongest players.

The Substitions
Gauci, House, Konak, Ladefoged, Ogbene, Olaofe, Towler, Bayliss

Analysis
Swansea beat Burnley 3-1 in there last game, a team that was relegated from the Premiership last season and are struggling as they are rock bottom so we can’t really make that result mean much, they game before however they was beaten 3-1 by Southampton, we managed a 1-1 draw and actually played very well against them, it feels like i’m going to be using the draw against Southampton a lot for the analysis, but if we only manage to let 1 goal in against one of the strongest teams in the league and our opponents let 3 in, I think that shows we have very good defenders and a goalkeeper, or maybe it was the noise of 9500 fans spurring the team over the line against a big team.

Prediction
The noise is going to be loud from the traveling Swansea fans as they are joint top and will be dreaming of a return to the Premiership, they’ve not been to Sincil Bank in 21 years the noise and atmosphere is completely different, maybe not so much the game plan as the last time they came it was Keith Alexander hoof ball era. This will be a close contest, I think we may draw 1-1, last time I predicted that (Bristol) we snatched a 1-0 win so it could go that way. I think we will bring House and Street on at around the 60/65 minute mark, Bayliss and Ladeforged could come on in the 70/75 minute and Konak or Olaofe at about the 85/90 minute mark. We have been dominant at home, we had a banana skin against Portsmouth but a good 2 draws against well established Championship teams means we will be holding the fortress, let's get 3 points against a team that belongs in their own division !