Manchester United In Focus: Michael Appleton

- Leicester City assistant manager Michael Appleton has highlighted the physicality and athleticism of Manchester United’s players
- The Foxes make the trip to Old Trafford on Saturday in the Premier League (5:30pm kick-off)
- Appleton is confident City can get a result against Jose Mourinho’s men, but must be at their best to do so

A second away trip of the 2017/18 Premier League campaign sees Craig Shakespeare’s men make the journey to Manchester to take on a Red Devils side that sit top of the table after two games.

Always a challenge playing at Old Trafford, City will be hoping to build on their victories over Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield United, but must be at the top of their game to do so, says former Manchester United man Appleton.

“It’s difficult to pick out weaknesses in their team,” Appleton told LCFC TV. “What Jose Mourinho has done with his side, first and foremost they’re big men. They’re units and there’s not many players in the team that are under six foot.

“The physical aspects of the game are very good and they’ve got a lot of athleticism, especially the front three or four players.

“Their transition from defending to attacking, which they’ve shown in the last few games, they’ve been fantastic at it.

“We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got numbers in the right area of the field to be competitive. If you switch off or there’s that little lapse in concentration, you can get hurt.”

Appleton’s previous experiences of heading to the home of Manchester United have of course been difficult ones and the Foxes’ assistant manager is well aware of what to expect from the most successful Premier League club of all time.

He said: “I’ve been involved a couple of times with West Brom when I was there as an assistant. It’s one of them where the game can see you by very quickly.

“You can get caught up in the occasion and the atmosphere and you can find yourself going a minute, 90 seconds or two minutes without even touching the ball.

“I think the concentration levels on the day is the thing that’s massively key. We know we won’t have possession of the ball or more opportunities against Manchester United.

“We know Kasper [Schmeichel] is going to have to have a good day and we’ll have to make blocks. Ultimately, it’s doable, so we’ve got to go in there with a frame of mind that we can win this game and we can get something from it.”

A win at Sheffield United in Round 2 of the Carabao Cup saw City register back-to-back wins and Appleton knows that success in other competitions can be transferred into the Premier League.

“I think momentum is really important and it’s something that personally, I’ve spoken to the manager about,” said Appleton. “From my experience of managing at lower level, cup competitions at times can bring momentum to the Football Club.

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Michael Appleton oversees a training session at Belvoir Drive.

“You might find yourself having a couple of dodgy games or poor results, but then you have a cup game that can bring everybody together again and bring morale up.

“It’s important that the players that played on Tuesday got the opportunity to get some minutes under their belt and play. They did it ever so well and I think the performance on Tuesday was very good.

“Even looking back at it, you look at things you can improve and get better at, but against a decent Championship side, the lads can be pleased with how they played.”

The win came courtesy of efforts from Demarai Gray and Ahmed Musa, while Islam Slimani’s brace saw him become the Club’s third striker to net two goals this term alongside Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki.

Delighted with the competitive nature of the squad, Appleton continued: “Shinji Okazaki and Vards (Jamie Vardy) have got their goals in the league games and obviously Slim (Islam Slimani) scored two on Tuesday night.

“Leo [Ulloa] I’m sure at some point will look forward to pitching in and putting himself in the frame. Not only that, we’ve got Kelechi [Iheanacho], who has had a difficult start with his injury and he’s been a little unfortunate.

“The competition for places in that area of the pitch is very good and we’d like it to continue. I like that fact that we’re a side that seems to be scoring goals.

“We’ve got players in the team with certain attributes up top that on any given day at the right time, picking the right opportunities, can definitely score goals.

“I think sometimes if you’re not conceding many but also not scoring many, the tables can turn very quickly. We look like a side that have got goals in us and that’s important when we go to the places like Manchester United.”