Michael Appleton: “Clearly, it worked against Sheffield Wednesday and since then we’ve had a couple of decent results.”

Going into the Shrewsbury Town fixture this weekend, Michael Appleton reflected on the recent formation change and gave a nod towards his thoughts on squad dynamics for next season.

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Arriving at the Correct Formation for a Match: MA remarked that in spite of some reasonable performances beforehand, the Gillingham game had in effect brought things to a head.

“Clearly we had to do something just to change the mindset, the way people thought about us, the way we set up ourselves. Clearly, it worked against Sheffield Wednesday and since then we’ve had a couple of decent results, a couple of clean sheets. But it’s getting the balance between performances and results, clearly results are the most important but Saturday was probably a good example. Look we took a point from the game but I’m not sure if we would have played that game again and performed at the same level we would have got that point”.

MA indicated that flexibility is what is required, touching upon what he meant when previewing opponents Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury Town: The Shrews have spent the majority of the season playing three at the back. Sometimes they have deployed a ‘two’ in front of them, at other times a ‘four’. Over time that has changed a bit and is something MA is looking at. MA will select his formation and personnel appropriately based upon that and the personnel available to him.

TJ Eyoma is out with a hamstring injury and may only be available for the last couple of games or so of the season. Norton Brooke Cuffey is of course away on international duty. There is no change in the goalkeeping situation and MA referenced he had previously discussed the pros and cons about whether or not to sign an emergency loan.

On Jordan Wright, “I think we’ve seen from the performances from Jordan so far, he’s more than capable of standing in for Josh (Griffiths)”.

Shrewsbury themselves are in great form; scoring freely and have kept five clean sheets in the last six games. In Dan Udoh they possess an individual having really good attributes of physicality, athleticism and pace.

The game will be played on a good pitch surface and is a match to look forward to.

Next Season’s Squad: MA passed comment on his opinion regarding the multiple ex scholarship players who have now signed professional contracts.

“If you ask me right now I still think they’re way off from being regulars but things can change in football really quickly”.

He cited Jovon Makama as a great example of somebody who had ‘gone again’ in terms of his height and stature. It is not unusual to see youngsters returning from the close season break who have put on bulk and grown a couple of inches.

Turning his attention to the need for experienced players given the amount of younger players in the squad, MA had this to say –

“We certainly need experience, but we need experience who are going to be able to play, and that’s going to be the key”.

The problem this season hadn’t been a lack of experienced players, it had been their lack of availability. MA asserted that he had to find a group that can help the young players not only off the pitch, but on it as well.

Writer: hulloutpost

Have a go at our Lincoln City versus Shrewsbury Town Quizzes, published last season (they were all correct at the time they were published):

Michael Appleton: "Clearly, it worked against Sheffield Wednesday and since then we've had a couple of decent results."https://t.co/FYs9Wfh5Gp#Salop #ImpsAsOne

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) March 25, 2022