Ipswich Town (a): Michael Appleton Talks To The Press
- Thread starter Jules
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Vital Champions League
Michael Appleton was content to concentrate on tidying up questions over transfers and recruitment policy in todays pre match press conference, given the familiarity of playing Ipswich Town, the opponents for Saturday:
Transfers and Recruitment Policy - Tom Hopper is a very experienced L1 player of a prime age. MA has previously tried to sign him twice at Oxford. TH looks fitter than ever and may even have benefitted by having to overcome previous injuries. Having watched Tom a few times this season MA has been impressed and knows the player is very 'hungry'; he will be a fantastic addition to the club. Whilst there are currently four strikers at the club MA does not guarantee that the club will not revert to three in the future. That said it is very positive to have as many options as possible when looking at the bench to figure out what can be done to change a game.
There have been no formal approaches for players but MA expects the situation to hot up during the next week with a few players possibly going out and one or two maybe in. MA is sure there will be 'movers and shakers'.
When MA came in there were a lot of central midfield players - some of the wrong age and some on loan. That is something MA has actively addressed by signing younger players permanently that can be developed for the club. A good example of the thinking behind that is Tayo (Edun). We are already seeing that the players have 'got legs' and athleticism in the CM role as evidenced by the last few games. Sometimes managers don't want to utilise the transfer window in January as it is a very busy time of the year but circumstances may dictate otherwise such as taking over a club part way through a season.
The players coming into the club are a mixture of those already known to MA (through his extensive knowledge of managing and coaching at various levels and age groups) and the very hard work put in by the recruitment team. Even then MA would be surprised if he didn't know about the player already. Furthermore MA will always do due diligence on a player and there will not be a player coming through the door that has not been scrutinised and personally given the green light by himself.
General Points - There is no fresh news regarding any injuries. Imps have had a great week having come from behind at Shrewsbury before beating two different but very good teams presenting alternative challenges. It's a start but only a start - there are two games against big teams in the space of a few teams with MA's challenge to the team to back up those victories which despite having had the opportunities to do so already this season, have failed to do so. MA is not surprised how compact the league is when looking up from the bottom to mid table. What has been a surprise is that there are a number of sizeable clubs with big budgets who have not run away from the rest of the league this year. That is a good thing for the other clubs.
Transfers and Recruitment Policy - Tom Hopper is a very experienced L1 player of a prime age. MA has previously tried to sign him twice at Oxford. TH looks fitter than ever and may even have benefitted by having to overcome previous injuries. Having watched Tom a few times this season MA has been impressed and knows the player is very 'hungry'; he will be a fantastic addition to the club. Whilst there are currently four strikers at the club MA does not guarantee that the club will not revert to three in the future. That said it is very positive to have as many options as possible when looking at the bench to figure out what can be done to change a game.
There have been no formal approaches for players but MA expects the situation to hot up during the next week with a few players possibly going out and one or two maybe in. MA is sure there will be 'movers and shakers'.
When MA came in there were a lot of central midfield players - some of the wrong age and some on loan. That is something MA has actively addressed by signing younger players permanently that can be developed for the club. A good example of the thinking behind that is Tayo (Edun). We are already seeing that the players have 'got legs' and athleticism in the CM role as evidenced by the last few games. Sometimes managers don't want to utilise the transfer window in January as it is a very busy time of the year but circumstances may dictate otherwise such as taking over a club part way through a season.
The players coming into the club are a mixture of those already known to MA (through his extensive knowledge of managing and coaching at various levels and age groups) and the very hard work put in by the recruitment team. Even then MA would be surprised if he didn't know about the player already. Furthermore MA will always do due diligence on a player and there will not be a player coming through the door that has not been scrutinised and personally given the green light by himself.
General Points - There is no fresh news regarding any injuries. Imps have had a great week having come from behind at Shrewsbury before beating two different but very good teams presenting alternative challenges. It's a start but only a start - there are two games against big teams in the space of a few teams with MA's challenge to the team to back up those victories which despite having had the opportunities to do so already this season, have failed to do so. MA is not surprised how compact the league is when looking up from the bottom to mid table. What has been a surprise is that there are a number of sizeable clubs with big budgets who have not run away from the rest of the league this year. That is a good thing for the other clubs.
hulloutpost
Vital Champions League
Still stuck in a traffic jam somewhere near Burton
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