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Wanderers are already missing Mark Davies – but Neil Lennon insists a replacement would be out of the club’s price range.
Despite facing up to the rest of the season without his influential and unique midfielder, the Whites boss has plans to strengthen elsewhere in the January transfer window.
Davies will be out for four months because of micro-fracture surgery on a long-standing knee problem but with a plethora of options in the middle of the park, Lennon is not lining up anyone to take the 26-year-old’s place.
Wanderers looked short on creativity at Blackpool last weekend and the manager has already made public his concerns of over-relying on in-form star Chung-Yong Lee.
So with the Korean also standing to miss the whole of January at the Asian Cup, Lennon finds himself with the first real problem to solve since walking into the Macron Stadium.
“There’s no question you are going to miss someone of Mark’s quality,” he told The Bolton News. “He brings something different to the team and to the midfield because he’s a different type of player, more dynamic.
“We missed it a little bit at the weekend against Blackpool.
“But in terms of looking for a like-for-like replacement, they are incredibly hard to find and would cost a lot of money as well.
“The answer is ‘no’ we’re not actively looking for a replacement for Mark because we’ve got plenty of cover in central midfield.
“But we do need to look at improving certain things against Huddersfield that I wasn’t too pleased about last weekend.”
Lennon has clearly improved Wanderers’ lot since taking the reins and is already looking up at mid table as the next step he wants to take.
But a stuttering performance at Bloomfield Road last weekend was a small reminder the job is far from complete, and as his side look to draw level on points with Huddersfield tomorrow afternoon the Northern Irishman is keen to see whether last weekend’s blip is a temporary one or not.
“From coming in here, looking for consistency was the hardest part,” he said. “We were going win, loss, win, loss. We felt we were better than that.
“Now I feel like we’re getting that little bit of consistency in results and obviously the more points we rack up the better.
“Maybe when you set high standards you should expect them to drop. It’s probably unreasonable to expect in a 46-game season that you can play at that level week in, week out. Certainly the games against Wigan and Cardiff – the levels were superb. We showed we can beat any team in this division.
“Obviously the loss of Mark Davies has hurt us a bit. But now we need to find the right balance to replace him.”
It is 20 months since Wanderers last strung four consecutive home victories together, with Dougie Freedman’s side putting eight together on the spin between February and April 2013.
Lennon has won his first three, changing the mood around the Macron in a short space of time, but urged against complacency.
“We’ve played very well at home since I have been here but it’s a question of maintaining that.
“Huddersfield are a good side and won’t be someone we take lightly.”
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Despite facing up to the rest of the season without his influential and unique midfielder, the Whites boss has plans to strengthen elsewhere in the January transfer window.
Davies will be out for four months because of micro-fracture surgery on a long-standing knee problem but with a plethora of options in the middle of the park, Lennon is not lining up anyone to take the 26-year-old’s place.
Wanderers looked short on creativity at Blackpool last weekend and the manager has already made public his concerns of over-relying on in-form star Chung-Yong Lee.
So with the Korean also standing to miss the whole of January at the Asian Cup, Lennon finds himself with the first real problem to solve since walking into the Macron Stadium.
“There’s no question you are going to miss someone of Mark’s quality,” he told The Bolton News. “He brings something different to the team and to the midfield because he’s a different type of player, more dynamic.
“We missed it a little bit at the weekend against Blackpool.
“But in terms of looking for a like-for-like replacement, they are incredibly hard to find and would cost a lot of money as well.
“The answer is ‘no’ we’re not actively looking for a replacement for Mark because we’ve got plenty of cover in central midfield.
“But we do need to look at improving certain things against Huddersfield that I wasn’t too pleased about last weekend.”
Lennon has clearly improved Wanderers’ lot since taking the reins and is already looking up at mid table as the next step he wants to take.
But a stuttering performance at Bloomfield Road last weekend was a small reminder the job is far from complete, and as his side look to draw level on points with Huddersfield tomorrow afternoon the Northern Irishman is keen to see whether last weekend’s blip is a temporary one or not.
“From coming in here, looking for consistency was the hardest part,” he said. “We were going win, loss, win, loss. We felt we were better than that.
“Now I feel like we’re getting that little bit of consistency in results and obviously the more points we rack up the better.
“Maybe when you set high standards you should expect them to drop. It’s probably unreasonable to expect in a 46-game season that you can play at that level week in, week out. Certainly the games against Wigan and Cardiff – the levels were superb. We showed we can beat any team in this division.
“Obviously the loss of Mark Davies has hurt us a bit. But now we need to find the right balance to replace him.”
It is 20 months since Wanderers last strung four consecutive home victories together, with Dougie Freedman’s side putting eight together on the spin between February and April 2013.
Lennon has won his first three, changing the mood around the Macron in a short space of time, but urged against complacency.
“We’ve played very well at home since I have been here but it’s a question of maintaining that.
“Huddersfield are a good side and won’t be someone we take lightly.”
Source