Neil Warnock has criticised Scotland boss Craig Levein for making Jamie Mackie play a full 90 minutes for Scotland on Tuesday night while other players were rested.
Mackie was delighted to open his international account for the Scots against the Faroe Islands at Pittodrie, but was still flogging himself in his own unique style deep into injury time while other players had been withdrawn long before. Warnock today told the Fulham Chronicle he wasn’t happy to see his striker play a full 90 minutes in a meaningless game.
Warnock said: “Mackie's come back a bit tired and I'm disappointed in Scotland not taking him off,” Warnock said angrily. But I guess we're not in the Champions League are we? They took off Darren Fletcher of Man United – players like that. We don't want to upset them do we? They took Kris Commons off and he doesn't run anyhow. Jamie Mackie runs his socks off every game and I don't think he should have played the whole game. I didn't ask them not to play Mackie for 90 minutes because I thought they'd know he'd played four games in ten days.
“When I rang Levein yesterday, I don't think he was aware of it. I think they should know how many minutes their players have played and not abuse it. If it's a proper game with points at stake in a European qualifier, maybe, but they're beating Faroes 3-0 at half-time. What is that all about? There's no way I can rest him on Saturday either because we need him.”
Mackie himself is looking forward to the weekend game and has warned against complacency in the QPR camp. He told the official website: “You can't suggest that it's going to be a straightforward win - not for a second. Every fixture in this league is tough and Saturday will be no different. Any team can beat each other in this league. That's the nature of the Npower Championship - which makes it one of the best divisions in the world. If we apply ourselves like we know we can, I'm confident we'll get the result we're all craving. We want Loftus Road to be a fortress, which it has been so far this season, and hopefully we'll continue our good home form on Saturday."
Warnock faces a selection dilemma ahead of this weekend’s home match with bottom of the table Preston (match preview online 8am Friday) but wasn’t tempted to add veteran French international Robert Pires to his line up. Pires has been a free agent since leaving Villarreal in the summer and signed for Aston Villa today after issuing a come and get me plea to both QPR and Cardiff. Warnock told the Fulham Chronicle: “I think Robert would be a distraction to what we’re trying to achieve – and I don’t want to go down that route right now.”
Gavin Mahon however has done enough to earn an extension to his short term contract at Loftus Road, despite only appearing as an unused substitute since returning a month ago. Mahon has signed a new one month deal at Loftus Road and may have a role to play this weekend with Shaun Derry suspended.
Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has defended striker Peter Crouch against criticism from the cub’s supporters. Spurs fans have barracked Crouch in recent games and called for Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko to start in his stead, but Crouch scored against Blackburn at the weekend and for England on Wednesday night. Redknapp said: “He gives you something else. You take Crouchie out of there and you’ve got to play perfect football to break teams down. When teams have got numbers in there it’s very difficult. You can drop the ball in to him. You take him out and you’ve really got to play through teams.”
- Leeds have transfer listed midfielder Bradley Johnson after the player refused terms on a new contract extension. Johnson joined Leeds from Northampton in 2008 but negotiations over an extension to his contract which expires at the end of this season have ground to a halt.
- Leicester and Hull seem set to compete over separate loan deals for West Brom strikers. The Foxes are keen on Ishmael Miller while the Tigers want Roman Bednar before the loan deadline closes next week. West Brom are willing to loan out one, but not both, of their reserve strikers ahead of the January transfer window.
- A second vote of confidence update for the week. Following Preston’s assertion that Darren Ferguson will remain in charge Ipswich have moved to solidify Roy Keane’s position after a home defeat by Barnsley at the weekend. Chief Executive Simon Clegg said: “We are committed to Roy, Roy is leading this football club, he is taking us to where we want to get to. We're three points away from being fourth place in the Championship and we're the only non-Premier League side through to the quarter-finals of the League Cup.”
- Bristol City hope their survival battle will be boosted by the return of star striker Nicky Maynard before Christmas. Maynard is yet to play this season after summer knee surgery but said today: “I've always said I'll be back before Christmas and the way things are going I'm way on schedule for that. Hopefully in a few weeks time I can get a reserve game under my belt."
- Middlesbrough have confirmed that central defender Stephen McManus will miss the next four months after surgery on an ankle injury.