Michael Appleton: “That’s the hand we’ve been dealt and we’ve got to try and manage it.”

Prior to facing off against Sunderland this weekend, Michael Appleton delved a little deeper into his thoughts regarding the prospects of an emergency loan signing for the goalkeeping position.

You can discuss what Michael Appleton said earlier today HERE, as well as many other topics on our 100% Imps forum! Every page view helps raise money for Lincoln City Football Club!

Player Update: Regan Poole has been doing limited training but remains 50/50 for the weekend. The good news is that he should be fine thereafter. Max Melbourne emerged as the latest player to be carrying an injury; having a persistent calf problem that is not responding to treatment as the medical team would expect. Ordinarily, he would have been back in training about ten days previously but that hasn’t transpired.

MA shed some reasoning behind the process of resolving the emergency loan goalkeeper conundrum, having confirmed it is unlikely there will be any movement before the Sunderland fixture.

“It’s getting that balance between having someone who can come in and have more experience and be in a position to deal with the next nine games better than probably what Jordan (Wright) would, or bringing someone in who’s not as good; or certainly not as far in their development as what Jordan is, and then having to play someone who’s not as good as the person you’ve got on the bench etc.. So, it’s such a delicate situation for us to be in and we’re aware of it, but ultimately that’s the hand we’ve been dealt and we’ve got to try and manage it as best we possibly can”.

MA is knowledgeable so far as the list of players that are available to him are, but it is not an ideal time of year as clubs have their own key fixtures to complete and of course Premier League players (under the rules) are exempt from the concession.

Sunderland: Under the stewardship of Alex Neil, MA has not noticed a massive change in their style of play although they are certainly showing resilience within their matches; noticeably scoring goals in the latter stages. A pattern has emerged whereby if they are behind or in stalemate around the 70-minute mark, Sunderland are going on to find a way through.

MA is mindful that Sunderland can and do switch between a three and four (defenders) at times.

“What they (Sunderland) have got is obviously some fantastic players in their forward areas, and obviously one who is very dangerous is Stewart”

Whilst MA expects his defenders to compete aggressively with Stewart, that is only part of what is required. Sunderland have the ability to get quality early ball into him with others around him for the knockdowns. Therefore Imps players will need to jump on second balls in order to nullify the opponent’s wide players and threatening midfielders.

MA is looking forward to the prospect of a big game.

“If we get off to a fast start like we have done in a couple of previous home games then it’s going to give everyone a lift”.

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: "That's the hand we've been dealt and we've got to try and manage it."https://t.co/oEkKiALe6m#ImpsAsOne #SAFC

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) March 18, 2022