Michael Appleton revealed The Imps continue to struggle with the injury situation ahead of the Forest Green Rovers cup tie on Saturday.
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 Forest Green Rovers Quiz, which can be found near the bottom of the page. Every page view helps raise money for Lincoln City Football Club!
Portsmouth: In terms of physicality and aggression when looking at the two sides, Imps came off second best. One player who most certainly wasn’t second best was Tom Hopper who was outstanding against their centre-halves.
Tom has never been prolific and wasn’t brought to the club to score 20 goals a season – MA expects double figures from him. Tom can run in behind with decent pace but that’s not what he was really brought into the club for. Tom’s strength for us is his ability to hold up the ball with his back to goal and bring other players into the game. Tom plays well when he has his aggression and we are seeing that at the moment.
FA Cup: MA’s earliest memories probably go back to the 1983 Brighton v Man. Utd. cup final being a MU supporter. He always enjoyed seeing the players interviewed at the hotel and on the coach which gave a sense of the occasion and insight as to how players prepared in those days.
Like anybody, MA dreamed of playing in The FA Cup and was fortunate to enjoy relative success as a player and coach in the competition reaching the quarter-finals with Blackburn and 4th/5th rounds as manager as Oxford.
Sometimes the cup gives spirit to a club when it needs it and that is no exception in this year of Covid. MA’s approach is to treat every game the same regardless of whether it is 3 points on offer or a chance to progress to the next round – it is an opportunity to win.
Some people may see the cup as a hindrance; MA most certainly does not. It is a mindset and attitude issue with this game being just as important as playing Portsmouth last Tuesday.
Forest Green Rovers: They are a good side who play decent football. This season they have been getting the ball forward earlier, into the striker which is unusual for a Mark Cooper side of the past so it is a matter of staying strong and keeping a tight structure. MA has encountered Cooper a couple of times with relative Derbys when he was at Oxford and Copper was at Swindon.
Imps will be seen as favourites but we hardly have a clean bill of health. The term is down to the bare bones with some fresh injury issues today. MA imagines it is simply down to the volume of games. The regular players don’t do much training between matches with MA spending most of his coaching time with the players that haven’t played much and need top-ups. That in itself isn’t a bad thing as they are the players that are the hardest to manage in terms of ensuring they understand their importance and value to the squad.
The next 24 hours will be important to try and turn around some injury issues and MA is confident he will be able to patch up the side for the game before looking forward to a clear week to come.
Writer: hulloutpost
Have a go at our Lincoln City v Forest Green Rovers Quiz below:
Michael Appleton: "I just see it as an opportunity to win a game of football."https://t.co/t96sxojgHA#ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps #FGRFC pic.twitter.com/yMICnGfKbi
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln1) November 6, 2020
