Enzo Maresca exchanged angry words with his Chelsea players at half-time, having gone around the room asking each of them before the match if they had ever faced a League One side.
Maresca had hoped to prepare his side for the aggressive challenge of Lincoln City, who won countless duels as they took a 1-0 lead into half time through Rob Street.
Chelsea managed to come back in the second half through Tyrique George and Facundo Buonanotte, but only after a few stern words from Maresca.
‘We expected long balls, duels, throw-ins, free-kicks, every time inside the box,’ Maresca said.
‘I asked today how many of them had played against a League One team, because you need to play a different kind of game. It’s not the same game, because the desire is double from them. We struggled in the first half. In the second-half we were much better.’
Asked if he showed his anger at half-time, Maresca said: ‘Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.’
Pressed on how angry he was, Maresca paused then continued: ‘Absolutely. We prepared the game thinking exactly in the way it was in the first half. Jamie Gittens had never played against a League One side. Jorrel (Hato) had never played this kind of game.
‘This kind of game, you have to play in a different way. It’s more about desire, and we struggled in the first half.
‘If the next game in the Carabao Cup is against a League One or League Two team away, for sure this experience will be good for the next one. We need this experience. We need it.’
Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen, standing in for the suspended Robert Sanchez, struggled at times, especially when Lincoln fired balls into his box at will throughout the first half.
‘I don’t know how many balls they put inside the box, throw-ins, free-kicks, crosses, so it would not have been easy for any goalkeeper, to be honest,’ Maresca said.
‘We conceded against Brentford in added time from a throw-in. It’s not easy. It’s not easy because they bring so many players inside the box, they try to create chaos around the goalkeepers, so you cannot move, you cannot go out, you cannot catch the ball, it’s difficult.’
