Michael Skubala gave his pre-match interview this afternoon and hinted at two decisions that he may need to make ahead of the trip to Crawley tomorrow.
City gave a good account of themselves this weekend, losing 3-1 to Birmingham City but taking the game to our opponents. On 60 minutes, we saw Swedish wide man Erik Ring come on, and he had a great chance with the game poised at 2-1. His energy and running have been a prominent feature in his cameo appearances.
Rob Makepeace asked Michael what the former AIK man might have to do to be close to a first league start, given his recent form.
“Keep going,” replied our head coach. “He’s growing all the time andvI’ve been really impressed with the way Eric trains. Eric is a fantastic professional, very focused. Trains hard every day.”
The blinkered fear from fans is often that players coming from Europe are not quite ready for League One football, as if we play some sort of brutal deluxe mode of the game. We’re all guilty of it, but Michael quickly allayed any fears Erik may not be quite there yet.
“He’s got huge power that people can see. So, even in the gym, he’s been a monster, and his attitude is fantastic, and he’s just adapting to League One football in England. What I think you’re seeing slowly is how well he’s adapting and how quickly, and for me, he’s adapted quicker than I thought he would.”
We then got a little more insight into why Dom Jeffries, himself impressing at left wing back, might retain his place for the trip down south.
“We definitely know he’s (Erik) an attacking threat. His defensive work needs a bit more work, but he’s definitely moving in the right direction and looking quite exciting for the future.”
The other change we might see is around the penalty taker. With the score 2-1 on Saturday, City got a spot kick that could potentially have changed the game. Reeco Hackett was the nominated penalty taker, but it was his first touch of the game. He missed, or rather, Ryan Allsop saved, and Birmingham went on to win.
Michael suggested that perhaps, with hindsight, things might be done differently, but that there’s also only one reason we’re still talking about it now.
“If Reeco puts in the back of the net, no one talks about. But you know, we have our designated penalty takers, and some are on the pitch at the time, and some aren’t off the pitch at the time.
“Because it’s his first touch, it’s probably not the right decision. But the reality is he’s got to step up. He’s confident to take it. And, like I said, it’s one of those things. If it goes in the back of the net, people will never talk about it.”
Would we do the same thing if it happened again? We’ve missed back-to-back penalties in the league at home now, Mandroiu on the final day, and Hackett on Saturday, with one costing us badly. Hackett’s didn’t, in the grand scheme of things, but would we rather see our proper penalty takers having a go, or the scenes we had last season when Ted Bishop and Tyler Walker had a little spat over it, or even further back when I recall Max Sanders doing the same?
Whatever we prefer to see, Michael didn’t give any real indication of how the team were thinking, and rightly so. Ryan Allsop admitted he made the save by researching our takers and which way they went, so perhaps it wasn’t about Reeco’s first touch at all.
“We live and learn, you know,” said Michael, bringing the incident to a close. “We go again, and maybe the biggest thing in those situations is if that happens again, do you make the same decision? Maybe, maybe not, but the reality is that we didn’t score it.”
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