Michael Skubala has outlined the challenge of managing returning players ahead of the weekend’s clash with Doncaster.
City are looking for their first win at the Bank against Rovers since 1997, and with the rest of the top six not in action, we could jump up the table. A win could leave us top of the table coming out of the international break, no mean feat given our recent sticky patch.
With Dom Jefferies and Jack Moylan in action this week, Michael has spoken about how managing them, and other returning players is a significant challenge.
“I think the challenge is with the bench, making sure you don’t have too many that you have to manage minutes,” said Michael on Imps+.
“I think there’s more context to who’s on the bench tactically, different positions, what they can cover, what they can’t cover. If you’ve got a few that are managing minutes, that becomes another added challenge that you’ve got to be careful of.”
As well as Jefferies and Moylan, Reeco Hackett and Ben House are expected back in training, which is four players who might not be able to play as many minutes. Couple that with Dexter Lembikisa and Ivan Varfolomeev being away, and there’s a challenge in terms of who appears on the bench.
“We’ve got Housie close, Reeco’s close. So they’re back into training over the next couple of days,” confirmed Michael.
“We’ll see how they react. So, again, they won’t be able to do full 90s, so I’ve just got to think about that as we move forward.”
It’s highly possible that Fin Barbrook, impressive in pre-season, could feature on the bench. He was another who impressed against Barnsley, along with Oscar Thorn and Erik Ring, both of whom will also be eager to be involved.
Justin Obikwu could also be involved. The striker wasn’t called up for Trinidad and Tobago’s crucial World Cup qualifier, which takes place at midnight this evening.
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