Home
In-form Wanderers may be upwardly mobile in the Championship table but Neil Lennon insists big improvement is necessary if the club are to even consider a run on the play-offs in the New Year.
Sixteen points from a possible 24 represents a decent return for the Northern Irishman since he succeeded Dougie Freedman in October, and a total only bettered by Bournemouth and Brentford in that particular time period.
And yet the manager says his side are “nothing like finished” as they look to take on board the brand of football he wants to play at the Macron Stadium.
The Whites could go above Reading in 14th if they take three points from the Madejski Stadium this afternoon and Lennon believes the key to improving a poor run of away form is to better utilise playmaker Chung-Yong Lee.
“We definitely need to get Chungy on the ball more because he has a habit of finding good pockets of space between the lines, making this happen,” he told The Bolton News.
“I think away from home we’ve played reasonably well since I came here but if we’ve got any aspirations about challenging or looking at play-offs then we have to start winning games away from home, not draws, but wins,” he said.
“The standard of football has been fine. You look at the game at Charlton and we actually played well there but lost the game.
“If we can match that level of performance but add some goals – which will come if we can bring Chungy into the game a bit more and maybe be a bit more ruthless in the final third – then we’ll be okay.”
Wanderers haven’t failed to score in a single game since Lennon’s arrival but the manager still feels he is being short-changed at the business end of the pitch.
“I want us to be scoring more goals because I think we have it in us,” he said. “In terms of possession we have dominated the majority of games but we have just lacked a bit of creativity or composure in the final third.
“It is not going to be done overnight. But it will come with confidence and the longer the players play with each other.”
Subdued first-half performances against Blackpool and Huddersfield Town have also served to annoy the boss, who is demanding a better tempo to today’s game at Reading.
“I’m not quite sure why it has happened,” he said. “In the previous two games we haven't started as well as we would have liked but we are certainly finishing games really strongly.
“It’s something I want us to look at and improve on. You should always be looking to do certain things better.”
Lennon has resisted making predictions of where he wants the club to be as they enter into 2015 but admits December’s fixtures will give him a much better idea of whether they can trouble the top six.
“It’s a dogfight this league, we know that, and we do need to be strong this month and see where we are after Christmas,” he said.
“I want to add a bit more quality as we go along but for now I want us to just focus on winning games. Let other people do the talking.”
Source
Sixteen points from a possible 24 represents a decent return for the Northern Irishman since he succeeded Dougie Freedman in October, and a total only bettered by Bournemouth and Brentford in that particular time period.
And yet the manager says his side are “nothing like finished” as they look to take on board the brand of football he wants to play at the Macron Stadium.
The Whites could go above Reading in 14th if they take three points from the Madejski Stadium this afternoon and Lennon believes the key to improving a poor run of away form is to better utilise playmaker Chung-Yong Lee.
“We definitely need to get Chungy on the ball more because he has a habit of finding good pockets of space between the lines, making this happen,” he told The Bolton News.
“I think away from home we’ve played reasonably well since I came here but if we’ve got any aspirations about challenging or looking at play-offs then we have to start winning games away from home, not draws, but wins,” he said.
“The standard of football has been fine. You look at the game at Charlton and we actually played well there but lost the game.
“If we can match that level of performance but add some goals – which will come if we can bring Chungy into the game a bit more and maybe be a bit more ruthless in the final third – then we’ll be okay.”
Wanderers haven’t failed to score in a single game since Lennon’s arrival but the manager still feels he is being short-changed at the business end of the pitch.
“I want us to be scoring more goals because I think we have it in us,” he said. “In terms of possession we have dominated the majority of games but we have just lacked a bit of creativity or composure in the final third.
“It is not going to be done overnight. But it will come with confidence and the longer the players play with each other.”
Subdued first-half performances against Blackpool and Huddersfield Town have also served to annoy the boss, who is demanding a better tempo to today’s game at Reading.
“I’m not quite sure why it has happened,” he said. “In the previous two games we haven't started as well as we would have liked but we are certainly finishing games really strongly.
“It’s something I want us to look at and improve on. You should always be looking to do certain things better.”
Lennon has resisted making predictions of where he wants the club to be as they enter into 2015 but admits December’s fixtures will give him a much better idea of whether they can trouble the top six.
“It’s a dogfight this league, we know that, and we do need to be strong this month and see where we are after Christmas,” he said.
“I want to add a bit more quality as we go along but for now I want us to just focus on winning games. Let other people do the talking.”
Source
