Michael Appleton hoping 'spiky' training sessions bear fruit for Shrewsbury Town
Michael Appleton wants Shrewsbury Town’s players to take the attitude from this week’s “spiky” training sessions into Saturday’s showdown with MK Dons.
The boss challenged his squad to show they are as frustrated as he is at Town’s poor start to the season and has been encouraged by what he has seen out on the practice pitches at Sundorne.
But he knows the key is now transferring that energy into a match, as his team look to secure just their second League Two win of the season and first in front of their own supporters.
“There’s been an aggression to it. There’s been an edge to it. It’s been a little bit spiky,” said Appleton, when asked about how training had gone this week.
“It is exactly how you want it to be when you are in the bottom two of the league. There is a frustration they don’t want to be there. No-one wants to be there. I would rather it that way than being passive.
“It’s not easy, the position we are in. But as long as you have players who are prepared to respond, you give yourself half a chance.
“Certainly, from what I have seen this week (we have that). I asked them to see and feel if they are as frustrated and as disappointed as me and I have seen the answer. I just hope they can transfer that into the game.”
Town sit one place off the bottom of the league having lost six of their first nine matches.
But Appleton, who has won just two league matches since initially taking the reins on an interim basis in March, is confident their form can be turned around and believes his players share that view.
The 49-year-old former Blackpool, Lincoln and Oxford boss explained how more than two decade’s experience in coaching and management has taught him to channel his own frustration.
“I was a lot more hot-headed as a younger coach,” he said. “I’ve done various damage to various things in dressing rooms, broke a couple of hands, broke a couple of feet - my hands and feet that is - by doing something stupid.
“At the end of the day it only makes me feel better for about four or five seconds and then the pain kicks in and you realise what a stupid thing that was.
“It is one of those where I have found ways of channelling my own emotions, while at the same time making sure the players are aware you are not happy.”
He continued: “It is after a game on a Saturday you get massively frustrated.
“You have the game constantly going over in your mind - could have done this, should have done that, can we do this, can we do that?
“Then, once you come in first thing Monday morning, you are very much looking forward to the next game. For me, just coming through the gates picks me up straight away.
“I love coaching, trying to make players better. That is what motivates me in a way and it is one of those where, sometimes, if you let yourself beat yourself up too much, you step away from what you really want and what you are targeting.”
