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Neil Lennon reckons he would be on easy street in the Championship if his team had more Liam Feeneys.
Reflecting on the winger’s electric performance against Burnley at the weekend, the Wanderers boss singled him out for special praise.
Feeney’s efforts did not stop the table-topping Clarets from running out 2-1 winners at the Macron Stadium and leaving the Whites seven points adrift of safety with 12 games to play.
But Lennon believes the Whites would not be in a relegation mess if more of his squad had the same attitude as the former Millwall flyer.
“If I had 10 Liam Feeneys we’d be top two or three,” he told The Bolton News. “There are days when he is not at his best but for the majority of the season he has been excellent.
“He trains every day he’s asked, he’s never injured, his stats are always the best in terms of work-rate and high-intensity runs. He gives so much to this team and if I had a few more of him we’d be alright.”
Wanderers wasted a 1-0 lead against Burnley, conceding two late goals to wreck an encouraging performance.
But Lennon bit back at the suggestion he should have changed his team’s shape after going ahead – explaining his decision to keep things as they were after Feeney had opened the scoring with half an hour to go.
“You can’t shut up shop because it was too early and you didn’t want to invite pressure,” he said. “I didn’t feel we were experiencing any massive problems. I certainly wasn’t thinking about making changes at the time.
“We looked very good.”
Lennon was not surprised his side matched Burnley for as long as they did and has been pleased at the overall improvement in performances in the last few weeks.
But as time ticks down to the end of the season, he admits the opportunity for Wanderers to save their own skin is becoming less likely.
“We’ve been playing like that for a while but we do need to make more of our chances as well,” he said. “When we’re in the ascendancy I always think we need that second goal. We seem to lapse a little bit at times.
“We’re not that far away from being a decent team but we are running out of time and we can’t keep doing that.
“If we carry on making individual errors, we go down. It’s as simple as that.”
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Reflecting on the winger’s electric performance against Burnley at the weekend, the Wanderers boss singled him out for special praise.
Feeney’s efforts did not stop the table-topping Clarets from running out 2-1 winners at the Macron Stadium and leaving the Whites seven points adrift of safety with 12 games to play.
But Lennon believes the Whites would not be in a relegation mess if more of his squad had the same attitude as the former Millwall flyer.
“If I had 10 Liam Feeneys we’d be top two or three,” he told The Bolton News. “There are days when he is not at his best but for the majority of the season he has been excellent.
“He trains every day he’s asked, he’s never injured, his stats are always the best in terms of work-rate and high-intensity runs. He gives so much to this team and if I had a few more of him we’d be alright.”
Wanderers wasted a 1-0 lead against Burnley, conceding two late goals to wreck an encouraging performance.
But Lennon bit back at the suggestion he should have changed his team’s shape after going ahead – explaining his decision to keep things as they were after Feeney had opened the scoring with half an hour to go.
“You can’t shut up shop because it was too early and you didn’t want to invite pressure,” he said. “I didn’t feel we were experiencing any massive problems. I certainly wasn’t thinking about making changes at the time.
“We looked very good.”
Lennon was not surprised his side matched Burnley for as long as they did and has been pleased at the overall improvement in performances in the last few weeks.
But as time ticks down to the end of the season, he admits the opportunity for Wanderers to save their own skin is becoming less likely.
“We’ve been playing like that for a while but we do need to make more of our chances as well,” he said. “When we’re in the ascendancy I always think we need that second goal. We seem to lapse a little bit at times.
“We’re not that far away from being a decent team but we are running out of time and we can’t keep doing that.
“If we carry on making individual errors, we go down. It’s as simple as that.”
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