Liam Cullen : ‘It just isn’t happening for him’ Lincoln manager
Monday, 4th Apr 2022 13:46 by Keith Haynes

Liam Cullen’s move to Lincoln City on loan in January was seen as an opportunity for the twenty two year old Pembrokeshire man to prove his worth to Swansea City. Unfortunately he is now being quoted by his manager as struggling to make an impact in his fourteen appearances so far this season.

Michael Appleton was open when he said post match on Saturday “The formation we played (at Charlton) is his preference but you’ve got to have the personnel to do it. Liam Cullen only came in, in January and it’s not quite happened for him. He could have scored goals in his first three games, it didn’t quite happen. When you take these loans, it can take time to work out”

On the weekends away win against Charlton, the Imps boss did offer praise,for his loan player. “ I thought he played well today. He led the line really well.”

Liam will be frustrated by the fact that Lincoln, by their own admission can’t play to what he considers his strengths all the time, however at a lower level to that he is used to it seems he is continuing to struggle. He has only started two of those fourteen games on the bench, and his only goal came against Wycombe. In nearly seven hundred minutes of football unfortunately that isn’t good enough for a player who has been played at centre forward and in a forward right role this season.

Whether or not playing up front isn’t what Liam Cullen wants is slightly confusing, that’s where he played at Swansea and that’s where he is playing at Lincoln, and he can’t expect a team to play to his own preferences, especially in the disappointing form he is in.

Morgan Whittaker, pictured above scored for Lincoln on Saturday in their 2-1 at Charlton. That was his third league goal since January and his fourth in all competitions. He was sent of on Saturday and a disappointed manager Appleton stated “ He will have to learn from that, the referee was looking to even up the game”.

It seems Morgan has settled in far better than Liam but there are still games to go and plenty of opportunities for Liam Cullen to redress the balance.