Michael Appleton: “Straight away you can see the potential we have got as a group if we can defend well enough.”

Michael Appleton discussed his limited options ahead of the quick turnaround for the midweek Sunderland clash.

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Oxford: They have an outstanding front five and MA sees them as a benchmark side that the Imps will achieve over the coming years.

“From an attacking point of view, Anthony Scully (AS) back and obviously Morgan on either side of the flanks …..straight away you can see the potential we have got as a group if we can defend well enough”.

Injuries, Squad availability: There is no update on Lewis Montsma (LM) as the knee is too swollen and requires compression for several more days, prior to the necessary scan. AS and Morgan Whittaker are sore as expected as they haven’t had much football, so it is a case of nurturing them for the remainder of the season. In a similar vein, Lewis Fiorini is feeling his shin after the ‘sending off’ tackle but by and large everybody bar LM came through the Oxford game ok.

No new signings are expected in time for the match but Max Melbourne has been recalled from his loan and may be part of the squad. It hasn’t been a great loan spell for Max as he has been in and out of the Stevenage squad and they have had a change of manager which hasn’t helped. It will be a good re-set and regroup for Max to look towards his future. Any game time he gets will help him with that but MA can’t expect him to be a long-term answer for the Imps.

Naturally, incoming player negotiations are ongoing with MA suggesting it can sometimes be easier to bring in the Summer targets if their clubs are looking to downsize their wage bill. In light of the LM injury, MA reaffirmed that a centre-half is now a target.

There have been tentative discussions with current players regarding contracts, but in reality due to the number of upcoming games that is currently best avoided as MA does not want his players distracting from the job in hand.

Sunderland: Having set the benchmark, MA is looking for the same mindset as shown by the players versus Oxford. Sunderland will be a more direct threat than Oxford and in Ross Stewart, they have probably the best leader of the line in L1. It’s not only his physical threat, the player has good technique and ‘soft feet’.

As a group, MA observed from the perspective of an outsider looking in, that he can see differences to the Sunderland mindset this season. They appear to be a more cohesive unit with a sense of purpose and motivation about their goal of achieving promotion.

MA noted the effect that the Sunderland crowd had on his players during the first half of the play-off semi-final last year and there has to be no repeat of that. If the Imps should concede the first goal then they must stay strong to get a result.

MA remained tight-lipped about the limited options defensively, but inscrutably suggested that he did have some people available with something to offer. He was fulsome in his praise of the job that LM up to his injury, Regan Poole (RP), and TJ Eyoma had served up against Oxford.

“Regan, since going into the centre-half position, I think has been outstanding really. His performances have been superb and certainly he was well aided on Saturday by TJ”.

Writer: hulloutpost

Have a go at our Lincoln City versus Sunderland Quizzes, published last season (they were all correct at the time they were published). The first quiz can be found below, and the links to the other four can be found HERE: Quiz No.2, Quiz No.3 & Quiz No.4.

Michael Appleton: "Straight away you can see the potential we have got as a group if we can defend well enough."https://t.co/DevY5mVlav#SAFC #ImpsAsOne

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) January 10, 2022