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Michael Appleton: “I feel for them as a football club.”

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Image for Michael Appleton: “I feel for them as a football club.”

Michael Appleton was his usual down to earth and unfazed self looking ahead to a busy month beginning with Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night.

You can discuss what Michael Appleton said earlier today HERE, as well as many other topics on our 100% Imps forum! We have also published a Lincoln City v Wigan Athletic Quiz, which can be found below the summary. Every page view helps raise money for Lincoln City Football Club!

Wigan: “I feel for them as a football club” MA could empathise with the position Wigan find themselves in through off-field factors having experienced similar during his tenure as Portsmouth manager.

They do have a good squad on paper but it can’t be easy having the changes of manager and different people choosing the teams. Even when they lose, Wigan have always been in games and have lost close affairs. They are capable of mixing it up both personnel and formation wise. MA expects Imps to have more of the ball for this game but as Plymouth (game) proves, it’s what you do with the ball that matters.

“They’ve got nothing to lose and that makes them dangerous”. Resultingly it becomes a really dangerous game as it is a match people will be looking for Lincoln to win but it doesn’t always work like that. MA was only saying to Ryan Lowe at the Plymouth game that if ‘you’ are not ‘at it’ every game then a side can play well and still lose the match, more so if ‘you’ don’t perform. Therefore the players will be approaching this as the toughest game of the season.

Squad Management and Selection: MA on selection, “I’d certainly rather have options and tough decisions to make than scratching around or looking to play certain players out of position”, when talking about his centre half options and the quality of players available to him in that position.

In reality, due to the small squad, MA can’t really plan too far ahead when choosing his line ups and is really wanting for players to come through matches unscathed as much as anything. Resting Liam Bridcutt, Jorge Grant and Lewis Montsma is something they probably appreciated and was done with a view to the next couple of games which are crucial to ‘us’.

Expectations: “Let’s see where we’re at”. Getting to New Year is a time to take stock and when it will become apparent whether a good start is turning into a good year as that’s when the business end of the season starts.

On increased expectation: “Good, yeah, whatever. If there’s expectation levels to stay where we are, fine. If we don’t do it I’m quite relaxed about that…….We’re way ahead in terms of positional where we are in the league to where I thought we would and I expected us to be”. MA went onto remind people that performance levels and Imps as a group will be much stronger and competing even better this time next year.

The group have come together and taken ‘stuff’ on board very quickly. “They’re enjoying themselves (players). We’re in a good place”.

Writer: hulloutpost

Have a go at our Lincoln City v Wigan Athletic Quiz below:

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Which club did Wigan replace in the Football League in 1978?

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