Grimsby boss on what he's expecting from Hughes' Carlisle United
Grimsby Town boss David Artell expects to face a Carlisle United side given “renewed vigour” by the appointment of Mark Hughes.
The manager of this weekend’s opponents admits it is not easy to second-guess exactly how Carlisle will line up given their change at the top.
But Artell does expect to come up against a Cumbrians outfit scrapping for everything under their experienced new head coach.
“New manager, new ideas, new impetus,” said Artell. “It’s not easy to tell what’s going to happen, but Mark Hughes was in our league last year, is an experienced manager – he’s managed national teams, managed Championship teams, managed right at the top level.
“He knows his way around a training pitch and a football pitch, both as a player and a coach.
“He’s going to get them in some sort of shape, but we don’t know what. There might be some tells from previous roles but we don’t know.
“One thing we do know is they’re going to come here scrapping and fighting with a bit of renewed vigour. So we’ve got to be able to match all that, and also show off our skills.”
Grimsby sit ninth in League Two and in with a shout of a play-off push, whilst the rock-bottom Blues are desperate for points to help bridge the five-point gap to safety.
Artell's Grimsby won 3-2 at Brunton Park in September (Image: Ben Holmes)
Artell, whose side are unbeaten in their last four home games, says his team must make the most of United’s struggles but has warned that Carlisle are a better unit than the table suggests.
“If anybody asked what position you’d rather be in, everyone to a man would take our position rather than theirs,” he said in a club interview.
“We’ve got to take advantage of their predicament in whatever way we can. If we do that, at home, with the brilliant backing of our home fans then it should be a good afternoon.
“Carlisle are a good team. If you watch the game back last week [the 5-1 defeat to Swindon Town], how they were 2-0 down after [40-odd] minutes beggars belief. They should have three up. We’ve watched them a few times this year and that’s been the case.
“Unfortunately Mike [Williamson] has lost his job off the back of that, but they’re nowhere near as bad as the league position suggests.
“We’ve got to make sure we know what we’re coming up against and maintain that consistency at home.”
Artell, whose side won 3-2 at Brunton Park in Williamson's first home game in charge of United in September, may not be able to call on recent signing Geza David Turi with the club still waiting on a Visa for the Faroe Islands Under-21 international midfielder.
Another January arrival, Darragh Burns, is building up his fitness in training after his move from MK Dons, the winger having last played in December on loan with Irish side Shamrock Rovers.
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