United boss Warnock ready to make major surgery

ANGRY Leeds United manager Neil Warnock is threatening a major overhaul of his whole squad for next season after seeing the Whites fail again to give him his first home win at Elland Road on Saturday.

Warnock was unhappy at United’s latest home failure when they lost 2-0 to Watford and said that it had been a worse performance in some ways than the 7-3 horror show against Nottingham Forest.

He said: “We played against a streetwise team and we’ve been mugged in every department. We were so naïve.

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“But goals change games and it was a great chance for Robert Snodgrass. We couldn’t take the chance and put pressure on.

“If Snodgrass had scored I could see us going on to win the game, but I couldn’t see us scoring in a brothel today.

“For their first goal you’ve got the most experienced player on the pitch trying to dribble the ball in the wrong areas. You wouldn’t get Watford conceding a goal like that because they’d just clear their lines.

“It shows you today why I’ve been brought in and why I’ve got the job. A major overhaul is needed.

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“There were more questions answered today than in the 7-3 debacle against Forest. A few of the lads went missing.

“It’s no good talking about the play-offs when you can’t win one game at home. You can’t fool 21,000 fans.

“It was great really in one respect, you’ve got to know about your players now, you got to look at what you want and need and it’s major surgery really.

“The players have done well away from home so it fools you a little bit. It’s not through lack of effort. People say is the stadium too big, is the expectations too big? But you’ve got to have guts and too many departments were miles away.

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“We are scrapping and getting results here or there, especially away from home, but we struggled in most departments today.

“The sending off (of Paul Connolly) summed it up really. Obviously he doesn’t want to go to Reading next week. We’re going to go with no Clayton, O’Dea and Connolly. It was total irresponsibility so why not give one or two of the kids a chance now?

“I don’t think the Forest game was as bad as today. When a player looks away rather than trying to win a header there’s got to be something wrong in their make-up.”

Warnock said he was hoping to get the green light to make some investment in improving the squad.

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He added: “I think we are miles away from where we should be.

“I think this is as tough a job as you are going to get, but the one plus is the fans and the turnout you get. What it would be to get them a team you can be proud of.

“We are lacking leaders and I don’t think we’ve got a leader at the club. We’ve got to get the right type of player to come to Leeds to play in the Championship.

“There’ll be enough people wanting to come because it’s a fantastic club to play for.

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“At Leeds you’ve got to have guts and determination irrespective of how good you are quality wise. But I thought a lot of players were lacking in certain attributes. It was another game we’ve thrown away.

“There’s a lot needs doing at the club. Organisation can get you so far, but we lacked imagination up front, we lacked strength in midfield and we lacked pace in certain areas at the back and up front.

“We will have to invest. The chairman knows what I think and I will talk to him when he comes over at Easter. We’ve got to get the right type of players because I don’t want to be stood on the touchline watching a performance like that.

“It hurts me that over 20,000 people have paid good money to see that..

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“It’s been as big a challenge as I’ve had to put the pieces to the jigsaw. But I’m desperate to get promoted next year so I’ve got to get the right support from the chairman and face the challenge as it comes.”