Alex Neil praised his 'big, strong and physical' defenders, and explained the importance of striking a balance between defence and attack.
CENTRE BACKS
“They’re experienced, they’re big, strong and physical. But equally, we’ve sort of chopped and changed all the way along. I think I said that against Sheffield Wednesday. We’ve got a really selfless group because my method is figuring out how we’re going to win the next game, and pick the team appropriately."
BATTH
"Danny Batth has had to bide his time. He had a niggly injury when I came in, he hadn’t had a lot of game time. But we brought him in for Gillingham and he was excellent. We dropped him out for a game then brought him back in. We went to a back three, we’ve now gone to a back four. So there’s been a lot of moving parts in that sense. But certainly in the last two matches, those centre backs were fundamental in our success. They’ve been big, strong, and have good leadership qualities in and around the group."
MIDFIELD
"Corry Evans and Luke O’Nien in front of them as well, likewise. So what we have got is we’ve got the lads in the right areas to do the right job. You speak about the likes of Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke, Alex Pritchard’s in there, Embleton as well has been great in some of the games he’s played this season. There's been a really mixed bag through the whole group. But you don’t win anything as individuals. It’s a collective effort.”
BALANCE
“I think every team needs to be balanced. You need to be defensively strong, but equally you need to carry a threat going to other way. However, that balance looks like in terms of personnel, I’m sure we’ll do a lot of work this week in getting that right and it’s up to the lads to go and deliver on the day. That balance is fundamental, because you need to carry a threat as much as being defensively solid, so that’s important.”
