New Shrewsbury Town manager Michael Appleton has admitted that reading too many of Birmingham City’s League One stats could “scare the life out” of his players.
The former Charlton Athletic and Lincoln City boss has only just taken over as manager of League One’s bottom placed club following the departure of Gareth Ainsworth to Gillingham.
His start could not be more difficult as his side are faced with the daunting task of coming up against the runaway League One leaders Birmingham City.
However, Michael Appleton will take some confidence after Shrewsbury Town became one of the few teams to take three points from the Blues this season, after they won the reverse fixture 3-2 in Gareth Ainsworth’s first game in charge.
This means that this will be the second time this season that Birmingham City have faced Shrewsbury Town with a brand new manager at the helm.
Birmingham City Stats Could “scare” Shrewsbury Town Players
The former Blackpool and Portsmouth boss has not been afraid to admit that Saturday’s game could appear to be mission impossible on paper.
“Eight wins on the spin at home, 19 unbeaten, I can read them off loads of stats if you want, but I think that’d scare the life out of players if we give them too much of that.
“I think we’ve got to just make sure that we take them on and make sure that we give them the game they’re probably going to expect having a new manager on the side of the pitch.
“People talk about the bounce, and hopefully we will get that. I’ll remind the players that they’ve done it before, albeit our home stadium, a little bit different, but they’re capable of beating them.
“The reality is clean sheets win you games, obviously your goal scorers put the icing on the cake.
“But at the same time, I think sometimes if you sit out just to try and defend, defend, defend and keep clean sheets, you don’t really have anything else at the top end of the pitch and it’s never been massively my forte.” he said to BirminghamLive.
What are the stats behind Birmingham City’s potentially record breaking season?
Currently Birmingham City are tracking on course to smash the League One points record set by Wolverhampton Wanderers. According to our League One predicted table, they are on course to record 105 points, however they could still obtain a higher amount as sides continue to suffer from fatigue against the deep squad of the Blues.
They boast some of the best players in League One with Christoph Klarer currently amongst the top ranked players on WhoScored and SofaScore.
The Blues have also only been defeated three times in the league this season, whilst also scoring 59 goals (the second highest in the division).
More daunting for Shrewsbury Town is their home record, they remain unbeaten at St Andrews with 16 wins from 19 games and a +25 goal difference.