Going into the pre-Christmas fixture away at Derby County, Michael Skubala gave a ‘no holds barred’ review of the Imp’s previous game against Reading.
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You can discuss what Michael Skubala has said ahead of this match here, and get involved with our pre-match discussion!
Reading: In terms of the Imp’s own performance, that was the toughest yet for MS. Reading were good but the Imps were under par and created nothing in the game.
The effort most certainly wasn’t lacking, with the team working hard – the stats. bear that out – a good aspect of the player’s abilities consistently seen in games thus far. The side is still challenged by the absence of an experienced player ‘up top’ who has pace and power to impact on the game.
“I think sometimes we just need to be a bit smarter of how we work, how we change the intensity in the game without the ball; but also then when we do have the ball, how do we do better on it, and have spells”.
MS wants and does need the wingbacks to get higher (up the pitch) but against Reading it was a struggle to get them in the game. The quality of the team on the ball, the switches of play, the time taken on the ball, number of touches, all took too long. As such the youth and naivety of the side showed on Saturday.
“The challenge we’re having and we have to do better is when it’s our time to have the ball, how do we have longer spells of the ball to try and create something, or build something”.
That is all part of the learning for the players, though MS felt it is important to remember that the Lincoln side remains young and inexperienced; also the players are still adapting to how he wants to do things.
“It’s an evolution, not a revolution and within that, there’s going to be peaks and troughs, and we have to be patient”.
Nobody was happy with the performance on Saturday and that includes the players who want to do well, but on reflection, it was a good point in the bag given that Lincoln struggled to get hold of and retain the ball.
Derby County: “We know where Derby are, we know they’re a big club”.
MS views the Rams as a club that are still ‘building back’, showing real experience throughout their side. They have some of the best and most powerful forwards at L1 level which makes teams have to defend a lot against them.
“I don’t think we can go there and be open and expansive because I think we’ll get hurt”.
Writer: hulloutpost
Skubala: "I don't think we can go there and be open and expansive because I think we'll get hurt."https://t.co/wIoHOedVgt#DCFC #DCFCfans #WeAreImps
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) December 20, 2023
