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Life under Neil Lennon begins in earnest at St Andrew’s tomorrow – with the new Wanderers boss urging his side to “go out and impress”.
The Whites travel to Birmingham City looking up on 23 other teams in the Championship table and with a five-point gap between themselves and safety.
But while Lennon embraces the challenge, he is not expecting too much, too soon from his new side after just five full days in the job.
“I can’t guarantee that we'll go to Birmingham and wipe the floor with them,” he said. “But it would be good to try and get the result.
“If we can give a decent performance, then so be it. What I'm looking for is a performance of some sort that gives me encouragement going forward.
“I know at the minute that results and performances haven't been what they should have been.
“I have made it abundantly clear to the players what I expect from them moving forward and I'm sure they'll join me on that.”
Lennon has been linked with a number of players this week, from former Celtic charges such as Efe Ambrose and Kris Commons, to Premier League starts such as Hull City’s Stephen Quinn.
But in the short term he will have to coax improved performances from the group of players assembled by his predecessor, Dougie Freedman.
Lennon has thus far refused to pick holes in what went wrong in the previous regime, choosing instead to call a fresh start across the squad.
“I think they're capable of winning games and being consistent,” he said. “Thinking it and doing it are a different thing.
“There's huge experience in that squad - Matt (Mills), Jermaine (Beckford), Neil Danns, Darren Pratley, Jay (Spearing), Dean Moxey's played Premier League, Kevin (McNaughton) has played for Cardiff for a long, long time at this level.
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“(Adam) Bogdan is a superb goalkeeper, Andy Lonergan will push him all the way as well and then we've got Paddy Kenny so we've got three excellent goalkeepers which is a huge bonus because the big man, Bogdan, is injured at the moment.
“I think there's a wealth of experience there and I don't really know the reason why things haven’t gone well, and I don't want to dwell on it either.
“I think Dougie (Freedman) will be a successful manager, there are times when it doesn't work for you but I think he'll come again and I hope he does because he's an excellent manager and a good guy as well. But we're looking forward now.”
Lennon’s task has been further complicated this week by the absence of Chris Herd (Australia), Chung-Yong Lee (South Korea), Medo Kamara (Sierra Leone) and Tim Ream (USA) on international duty.
“Having those players away makes life a little tougher,” he said. “I don’t know at this point what my best side is going to be.
“I need to find a formation that suits them because I need the players to feel comfortable.
“Then it will be much easier to get results.”
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The Whites travel to Birmingham City looking up on 23 other teams in the Championship table and with a five-point gap between themselves and safety.
But while Lennon embraces the challenge, he is not expecting too much, too soon from his new side after just five full days in the job.
“I can’t guarantee that we'll go to Birmingham and wipe the floor with them,” he said. “But it would be good to try and get the result.
“If we can give a decent performance, then so be it. What I'm looking for is a performance of some sort that gives me encouragement going forward.
“I know at the minute that results and performances haven't been what they should have been.
“I have made it abundantly clear to the players what I expect from them moving forward and I'm sure they'll join me on that.”
Lennon has been linked with a number of players this week, from former Celtic charges such as Efe Ambrose and Kris Commons, to Premier League starts such as Hull City’s Stephen Quinn.
But in the short term he will have to coax improved performances from the group of players assembled by his predecessor, Dougie Freedman.
Lennon has thus far refused to pick holes in what went wrong in the previous regime, choosing instead to call a fresh start across the squad.
“I think they're capable of winning games and being consistent,” he said. “Thinking it and doing it are a different thing.
“There's huge experience in that squad - Matt (Mills), Jermaine (Beckford), Neil Danns, Darren Pratley, Jay (Spearing), Dean Moxey's played Premier League, Kevin (McNaughton) has played for Cardiff for a long, long time at this level.
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“(Adam) Bogdan is a superb goalkeeper, Andy Lonergan will push him all the way as well and then we've got Paddy Kenny so we've got three excellent goalkeepers which is a huge bonus because the big man, Bogdan, is injured at the moment.
“I think there's a wealth of experience there and I don't really know the reason why things haven’t gone well, and I don't want to dwell on it either.
“I think Dougie (Freedman) will be a successful manager, there are times when it doesn't work for you but I think he'll come again and I hope he does because he's an excellent manager and a good guy as well. But we're looking forward now.”
Lennon’s task has been further complicated this week by the absence of Chris Herd (Australia), Chung-Yong Lee (South Korea), Medo Kamara (Sierra Leone) and Tim Ream (USA) on international duty.
“Having those players away makes life a little tougher,” he said. “I don’t know at this point what my best side is going to be.
“I need to find a formation that suits them because I need the players to feel comfortable.
“Then it will be much easier to get results.”
Source