Swansea City boss Vitor Matos has praised our defensive strength and clear approach ahead of this weekend’s meeting at Sincil Bank.
The visitors are looking to round off a positive opening spell before the international break, but Matos expects a demanding afternoon against the Imps. Asked about the importance of another good performance and result, his response quickly turned to what we would put in Swansea’s way.
“Lincoln is, I think, a really good team in terms of idea, how they really want to approach games. They have a really clear one, they make the game really competitive, they are quite a direct team with really strong structure to catch a lot of second balls and to use that straight on.”
As with many managers before Matos, inspired to get into coaching by Jose Mourinho, he knows what the challenges are. Can he, unlike the five that have come before, combat our approach?
“We know which kind of game we’re going to face, we know it’s one of the best defences in the league, so they are in a positive moment. So, yeah, we expect a good game, a game that we also want to compete and to show that we want in our way to go every place and do a proper game performance.”
He stopped short of suggesting that facing us would present an entirely unfamiliar challenge. Swansea have already encountered sides playing directly or using a back five, giving them some experience to draw upon. For Matos, the differences come through the players involved and how they execute that approach.
“Yeah, all the games are different. Lincoln is different in many ways. But yeah, we played against as well more vertical or more direct or back five teams, it’s not the first one. But of course, different players, different personalities, so different dynamics.”
Matos’s interview was quite relaxed, with several short, punchy answers, but like Tonda Eckhart, Tony Mowbray and even Michael Skubala, he knows what Lincoln City do. Everyone does.
The question is, can he stop it?
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