Michael Skubala has hinted there will be heavy rotation, as expected, ahead of this evening’s game against Manchester United Under 21s.
An Imps win should see us progress to the next round with a game to spare, with United kids still to play Notts County and Barnsley, who also play tonight. However, that desire to progress has to be balanced against our push up the table, and a possible tilt at the top six.
The current squad depth means that even for tonight’s fixture, there should be decent competition for places. Michael said he will pick his squad to win the game, but it’s not just based on the outings they’ve had recently.
“I see them every day in training as well,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “Don’t forget that. I’m looking for consistency in training. I’m looking for consistency in the games. I’m looking for the learning they take from what we do in training into the game. But I’m looking for consistency across not just the game.
“It’s an opportunity to show what they can do, of course, especially to the fans that haven’t seen them as much. But more so it’s in training and the games and how well they learn. And then that’s obviously balanced against the player they’re trying to take the shirt off.
“That’s what the business is. That’s what the industry is. We’ll have a really solid, strong group on that pitch because, like you said, the depth is really exciting.”
Often, in these games, we forget the opposition. We, as fans, labour under the misapprehension that they’re cannon fodder, faceless kids served up for us to beat and progress. They provide the dollar for the tournament, but they’re not meant to provide a proper opponents.
Of course, that’s not true at all, and having lost to them at this stage before, we know an academy like Manchester United, or indeed Manchester City, can be a tough prospect. It will also be a game the club prep for as much as they can, but as Michael admitted, that in itself is difficult.
“Really difficult,” he added. “Probably one of the harder games to scout because you can watch them in their own league, if you like, the under-21s league. And I’ve been there, done it, got the T-shirt. So I know that can be a little bit up and down, a little bit different. It’s a kids’ competition in a sense.
“You also know in all of the top academies, the Cat 1 academies, they have some really good individual talent that can hurt teams that generally come out on loan, but there’s some in there that have been around the first team, like Harry Amass will probably play, and Sam Mather, these have been around Premier League first teams, so they’ll have some really good technical ability.
“But again, they’re coming to our place, and for them it’ll be probably the biggest game of the season. For them, for their 21s, going to a league club like ourselves is probably the biggest game of the season, so they’ll want to put on a good show. They’ll be running really hard, I’m sure, and we have to match that first. It doesn’t matter what team we play against and who we play against.
“For us to be at our best, we have to do the basics very well.”
I did a short article on my ‘expected XI’ for this evening for The Real EFL, but feasibly, we could put a whole new 11 out from Saturday, and still look strong. That would be Jeacock in goal, Lembikisa and Towler at full back, with Hamer and Montsma in the middle, Varfolomeev and Barbrook holding the midfield, Ring, and Thorn out wide with Okoronkwo behind Obiwu up top.
Frightening, when you consider our so-called second string has our club record signing, who got an assist against Chelsea, a player with three goal involvements in two league matches and one of two full internationals, two under-21 internationals, a defender with more than 100 outings for us, and another with almost 300 senior outings who could play 46 games in the first team and never let us down.
That’s depth.
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