Michael Skubala explained how he is looking forward to observing how his new Imps side deal with the completely different type of challenge compared to the last game, which midweek opponents Leyton Orient will present.
NEW QUIZ: How much can you remember/do you know about the match between Leyton Orient at Lincoln City at Brisbane Road in 2005? Have a go at the quiz at the bottom of the page or simply CLICK HERE (opens in a new window)!
You can discuss what Michael Skubala has said ahead of this match here, and get involved with our pre-match discussion!
Injury News: Jack Vale has been recovering well. He ‘felt’ his groin during the Stevenage game and it is possible he could have stayed on and seen the game through. It was a tough call but given the shortage of front-line options MS felt it was too risky going forward to keep the player on. JV has come through training today and he will be checked for any reaction tomorrow.
All of the other players ‘from the weekend’ have come through fine.
Implementing Changes: The players are humans not robots so implementing the style that MS thinks the Imps should play will undoubtedly take time. In reality, MS and Tom Shaw have only had two proper training sessions on what he calls principles (of) gameplay. The remaining sessions have been taken up with opposition-specific input.
MS made a clear distinction between learning from seeing his players in action and making judgement.
“There’s a difference between learning and judgement”.
MS will learn all the time about his players and the team as a whole; especially as they encounter different challenges. The Imps have only played one opponent with one style under his stewardship, therefore it is far too early to make any judgements.
Set pieces are an area that MS and goalkeeping coach ‘Scotty’ are actively looking at very closely given that statistically 33% of goals arise from restarts.
“We have to improve our defensive set pieces, we have to improve our attacking set pieces”.
Within that, there is a fine line between implementing new routines and seeing how well the players take that on board whilst retaining established actions they already do well but can be ‘scouted’.
Leyton Orient: The ‘O’s’ are a good possession-based side and Richie Wellens has them playing some really nice football. One of the beauties of football is that it will be a completely different type of game and style for the players to Stevenage, and hence another of the aforementioned opportunities for MS to learn from.
L. Orient may have benefitted from an ‘International’ break whilst the Imps will be going into the game after the weekend fixture, therefore MS will bear in mind the ‘load’ on players. However, it is a positive opportunity to post three points on the board whilst no other L1 sides are in action.
(MS will be)….“trying to make some tweaks if it needs tweaking in order to try and freshen the team up a little, but without compromising the three points. We have to try and go after the three points all the time”.
Writer: hulloutpost
