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These are testing times for Neil Lennon and Wanderers.
Injuries are piling up, stretching resources to the limit, but the January transfer window remains tantalisingly out of reach.
The Northern Irishman had to get inventive against Ipswich and change the shape of a side which had looked settled in recent weeks.
Switching between a back three and back four over the course of 90 minutes took its toll on the quality of football played – but the Whites at least had a clean sheet, a point and a sixth unbeaten game to show for their afternoon’s work.
Lennon admits the performance wasn’t perfect but then with so few resources at his disposal right now, it is hardly surprising.
“We’re stretched quite thin at the moment,” he admitted. “We started with a back three and brought David Wheater in. We needed to deal with the physical aspect Ipswich would bring and I think we did.
“Then we played two up front to give Conor Wilkinson a bit of support up there.
“The shape of the team was fine but we lost our way a little bit when Darren Pratley went off and had to change it around.
“Wheats tired a little bit so we brought him off went back to our normal shape. Josh (Vela) had been out with the flu on Thursday and we wondered whether he would be a little bit under the weather but he did fine when he came on.
“To come away with a point is very pleasing. We didn’t play anywhere near the way we can at home in the second half but a point from that is very, very good.”
Ipswich boasted the division’s most prolific strike force going into the game but Lennon was delighted to have kept them at bay.
“We knew they would put the ball in the box but I think we felt with it quite comfortably,” he said.
“The best chance they had fell to Jay Tabb from a deflection. They had another couple of half-chances but I felt we had the two best ones, particularly in the first half.
“There are one or two things of course I’d like to see us improve on but for now I’m happy with the point.”
Lennon admits he looked to shore up the game after Pratley came off with mild concussion.
Although Chung-Yong Lee had one decent chance at the bitter end, both sides were reluctant to push too many men forward in the latter stages as a point was at stake.
“The longer the game went on, we didn’t look like we were going to win it. We weren’t penetrative enough,” he said.
“I basically said to myself if we can’t win it, don’t lose it.
“That is part of management, you know, we didn’t go defensive by any means and I wouldn’t send a team out to be like that.
“We weren’t hanging on, either, but we didn’t look like causing them many problems.”
Source
Injuries are piling up, stretching resources to the limit, but the January transfer window remains tantalisingly out of reach.
The Northern Irishman had to get inventive against Ipswich and change the shape of a side which had looked settled in recent weeks.
Switching between a back three and back four over the course of 90 minutes took its toll on the quality of football played – but the Whites at least had a clean sheet, a point and a sixth unbeaten game to show for their afternoon’s work.
Lennon admits the performance wasn’t perfect but then with so few resources at his disposal right now, it is hardly surprising.
“We’re stretched quite thin at the moment,” he admitted. “We started with a back three and brought David Wheater in. We needed to deal with the physical aspect Ipswich would bring and I think we did.
“Then we played two up front to give Conor Wilkinson a bit of support up there.
“The shape of the team was fine but we lost our way a little bit when Darren Pratley went off and had to change it around.
“Wheats tired a little bit so we brought him off went back to our normal shape. Josh (Vela) had been out with the flu on Thursday and we wondered whether he would be a little bit under the weather but he did fine when he came on.
“To come away with a point is very pleasing. We didn’t play anywhere near the way we can at home in the second half but a point from that is very, very good.”
Ipswich boasted the division’s most prolific strike force going into the game but Lennon was delighted to have kept them at bay.
“We knew they would put the ball in the box but I think we felt with it quite comfortably,” he said.
“The best chance they had fell to Jay Tabb from a deflection. They had another couple of half-chances but I felt we had the two best ones, particularly in the first half.
“There are one or two things of course I’d like to see us improve on but for now I’m happy with the point.”
Lennon admits he looked to shore up the game after Pratley came off with mild concussion.
Although Chung-Yong Lee had one decent chance at the bitter end, both sides were reluctant to push too many men forward in the latter stages as a point was at stake.
“The longer the game went on, we didn’t look like we were going to win it. We weren’t penetrative enough,” he said.
“I basically said to myself if we can’t win it, don’t lose it.
“That is part of management, you know, we didn’t go defensive by any means and I wouldn’t send a team out to be like that.
“We weren’t hanging on, either, but we didn’t look like causing them many problems.”
Source