Inside Lincoln City: Michael Skubala’s innovative imps using sex and artificial intelligence data to win their advantage | Football news

Lincoln City is not the richest club in Ligue 1, but they could be the most innovative. And that is perhaps what they need to find what they call “The Sweet Spot” and achieve their goal of achieving the championship.

A 2-0 home victory against reading the opening weekend was the ideal start to Michael Skubala’s team. The only surprise was that neither of the two objectives comes from a whole. The IMP led the one on this particular metric last season – and it was not an accident.

However, the first goal came after a long ball on the field by goalkeeper George Wickens. It may also have been the product of the ideas taken from the data. In conversation with CEO Liam Scully on the training field, he is a bit shy.

“Perhaps the only thing I would share at this stage is that I believe that the construction principles are often dictated by what is in vogue in football, but these things are cyclical. In 10 years, playing 4-4-2 and going back forward could be fashionable, who knows?

“What I will share is that we obsess results, not what is trendy.”

Going against the grain is Lincoln’s strength. Skubala outperformed the budget last season and the previous season, statistically their most successful coach this century. “Look at the data and there is a huge gap between resources and production,” says Scully.

“I see our approach as a game of better Trump cards. If you spread limited resources and try to beat the opposition to absolutely everything, you will end up being a little less good than your opponents at all levels. Our approach is to really specialize in a certain number of areas and to engage, as really commit, in these areas.

“Our goal is to find the biggest differences. This is to know where we can move the dial, make the biggest impact, get the biggest blow for our money.” Sets, for example? We decided to be the best in the division. We have managed to be the best in the country. “”

Scully admits that many other clubs have access to the artificial intelligence they have used to master the sets. “You really have to get started.” This is where Skubala comes into play. Because you have more than getting involved. You really have to coach him.

“I started watching AI and sets in my days of leeds,” said Skubala Sky Sports. He was a coach there during their Premier League race, after joining the club after many years in the football association, including a passage as a futsal trainer in England.

“What is sexy is to specialize in the construction of the rear. But you may only have six Restarts per match of the goalkeeper. You have 50 jets-ins. Seven to 10 corners. So where do you put your tokens? A third of the goals come from sets at all levels.

“We have called on an AI company to help us and it has very good yields. But you can buy all the data, this is what you do with it. The ways we are marking from sets now, many players would not buy it. But we work hard to train it.

“We are setting up a plan against each opposition, then we will work there.” When Skubala says that work on it, he means it. Not for Lincoln the unique session on the sets before the match. “We make a sex delivery three or four times a week to maximize it.”

Ideas he can share? “Everyone thinks that short shorts are not good. But a short corner taken in 20 seconds is the best corner you can take. Short shorts of more than 20 seconds are the worst corner you can take. Everything is on how you train this.”

This is just an example of how Lincoln tries to find an advantage. They appreciate the correlation between wages and the league painting is clear. But they hope that by focusing on the maximization of performance, they can “tighten the pips” as Scully says.

Lincoln’s training field is an impressive installation where players want nothing. The gym equipment is standard of the championship and the players appreciate it. They know they will receive quality coaching, helping them develop and help them stay healthy.

“We know that we are not going to have the biggest team, so we have to put resources and expertise to keep players in shape and make sure that we do not get a lot of injuries with soft tissue,” said Skubala. “If we lose five pre-season players, it harms the budget.”

This commitment to the care of players makes Lincoln a destination club for loans, based on the past success of international footballers Brennan Johnson and Morgan Rogers, among others. The talents of the best academies are pleasantly surprised by what they find.

Meanwhile, this emphasis on development helps Lincoln to pass his own players. They have just sold the 21 -year -old attacker Jovon Makama to Norwich City for a club record after having made nearly 100 appearances for the club. This is the model.

“You do not buy a Ferrari and no longer spend time adjusting it,” explains Scully. “We have talented people in the building. Our job is to help get the absolute maximum of them. We have no infinite resources but we think of what gives us the best return.

“For example, maybe people raise eyebrows in a League One club with two assistant managers, but our team of coaches has proven to add a significant value every day with our players.

“So, perhaps we have over-resources on the team of coaches, but by returning to our principles, we believe that the particular investment brings us better global yields.”

The community area on the training field is a hive of activity because players go through their data with analysts. Players attract more attention here. They have staff. “Better to spend it on it than a right back that is not going to play, for example,” says Skubala.

Some innovations are less obvious. Indeed, even Lincoln does not know exactly what they are looking for. This is why they have Jason Faters in a unique role as a chief officer of growth and innovation. “I am sure that we descend many rabbit holes,” concedes Scully.

“But Jason makes sure that we have an eye on the innovations that can give us this quantum jump. We look at everything, supplements that players use in the location of the locker room. The state of mind is that we believe that there is something.”

It is realized that he can take something special to achieve their ambitions. “We are not hiding from the fact that we want to be a championship football club. But everyone will need in this football club to hit your Sweet Spot.” The investment too, maybe?

“Maybe it will sting the interest of someone from an investment point of view,” adds Scully. After all, they seem ripe for it. The infrastructure is in place. “If we have investments, we are in a very good place to go like that,” says Skubala, making a gesture to the sky.

For the moment, there is an acceptance they need to adopt long -term opinion. “He cannot be linear like Birmingham,” said the head coach. “We have to sell players to continue growing. Everyone wants to go faster but it’s us. And I knew it was the work to come.”

Skubala adds: “We all want to win a promotion. I don’t think you can remove this northern star. The target is still there. Many things should be fine for us, but I think it’s feasible.” Like Scully, he sees that the potential is there.

“The hypothesis is that it is a small club. But this city comes to life with football on a Saturday and we are not back in the football league for eight years. We have been growing, we are starting to push.” Continue to innovate and Lincoln City can simply surprise.

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