Warnock ‘rollocked’ his team
NEIL Warnock says he had dished out a rollocking to his Middlesbrough players before they went out and beat Derby County 3-0.
The Boro boss and former Burton Albion manager said he had a sleepless night after his team lost 1-0 at home to Norwich City and called for a response against the Rams.
Warnock said he had sensed some “sloppiness” in the dressing room.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been as low as I was on Saturday night,” said Warnock.
“I couldn’t sleep, I was reading a book at two in the morning. I felt it was so unjust against a good side, I felt we should have won that game.
“But on Monday morning we were buzzing again, all the lads, the dressing room is great.
“Tonight (against Derby) they all wanted it.
“All I’m asking them to do is their best. They’re all contributing and they all want to contribute. In training, it’s the same. They all want to do more.
“I had to give them a bit of a rollocking before the game, which is unusual, because they were a bit sloppy in the dressing room, a bit lethargic.
“But I knew how difficult it was going to be. I thought they started off well and then in the second half I thought we could up it and I thought we did.
“I knew they (Derby) would up it as well because they’ve got some good players. When you look at their squad, I’d be surprised if they’re down there at the end of the season.”
While Derby are facing a scrap at the bottom, Boro moved up to seventh in the Championship.
“It’s a hard league and you’ve got to get goals,” said Warnock.
“You’ve got to look at how you can get more goals and I felt the only way we could was by being a bit more positive in the wide positions.
“It’s not a natural thing for a wingback to makes runs inside and support a striker, whereas Duncan (Watmore) does it automatically.
“You’ve got to have something like that in games. It allows us to have different options.”