Three Things The Imps Need To Do To Win Versus Sunderland

Ahead of tomorrow night’s match away at Sunderland in League One, I asked the Vital Lincoln City members what three things they think The Imps need to do to pick up all three points.

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Here’s what sedgleyimp said:

1. Make the most of any opportunities. I think that Tuesday night will see some quite interesting possession tactics. It could very well be 70-30 in their favour. But that to me won’t be a problem. I expect that we will have to play largely in a counter-attacking way whilst being strong and organised at the back, something made less easy by our injury issues at the back. So it will come down to players being professional and organised. This will probably mean that you won’t see too many overlapping runs from the full-backs. What we do have though is the double threat of Whitaker and Scully who can be used as counter-attacking weapons through pace and trickery. Their set of skills will be key to getting two or three decent chances during the match and of taking those opportunities.

2. Dead ball situations still need working on. One thing I noticed on Saturday was that Oxford had quite a number of players who were taller than the majority of ours. As a consequence, many of our dead ball positions just never looked likely to succeed with a punt into the box. We need to be smarter and that might just mean a few short corners trying something different. This is also relevant when we defend such situations. In Ross Stewart, they have a striker good in the air and in form. So don’t give away those soft little free kicks around our box and be on our toes whenever they get a corner.

3. Players relax and enjoy the occasion. It is very much a free hit on Tuesday. Confidence after the win on Saturday has risen, yet if there is a poll for this match I suspect that the majority still expect a loss. Sunderland are 2nd in the division and in good goalscoring form. But we showed on Saturday and in a similar re-arranged Tuesday night game at Wigan back in October that we are very capable to put on a good display and get the win against the best teams in this league. So relax and play your natural game. That is the best way to upset the odds come Tuesday night.

Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!

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.

Three Things The Imps Need To Do To Win Versus Sunderland:https://t.co/XhBB6Sl6A4#SAFC #ImpsAsOne

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