Thursday 16 October 2014 11:27, UK
Bolton's supporters have been warned it may take some time for Neil Lennon to get the results he craves as he bids to discover which formation best suits the current squad.
Bottom-of-the-table Wanderers will run out under Lennon's rule for the first time this weekend when they visit Birmingham hoping to secure just their second victory in 12 games.
But while Lennon may have had a full week to work with the squad after being appointed midway through the international break, the ex-Celtic boss admits he needs to familiarise himself with a group which is fairly alien to him after four years north of the border.
"I think they're capable of winning games and being consistent," he said.
"There's huge experience in that squad - Matt (Mills), Jermaine (Beckford), Neil Danns, Darren Pratley, Jay (Spearing)...Dean Moxey's played Premier League, Kevin (McNaughton) played for Cardiff for a long, long time at this level, (Adam) Bogdan is a superb goalkeeper, Andy Lonergan will push him all the way as well and then we've got Paddy Kenny so we've got three excellent goalkeepers which is a huge bonus because the big man, Bogdan, is injured at the moment.
"I think there's a wealth of experience there and I don't really know the reason why (they are bottom), and I don't want to dwell on it either.
"I think Dougie (Freedman) will be a successful manager, there are times when it doesn't work for you but I think he'll come again and I hope he does because he's an excellent manager and a good guy as well. But we're looking forward now.
"I would dearly love to hit the ground running but there's no guarantee of that; I don't know myself what the best team's going to be.
"I've got five players away at the minute that I'm not going to see until maybe Thursday, Friday - Tim Ream and the rest of the international players.
"It's still very, very early days. I need to find a formation that suits them, I need them to be comfortable as well."
One of Lennon's first tasks since being appointed at the Macron Stadium was to watch a DVD of the 4-0 drubbing handed to them by Fulham, which proved to be Freedman's final game in charge.
The Northern Irishman has already identified Wanderers' porous defence as an area of concern, while he is confident that the likes of Beckford, who he tried to sign at Celtic, can flourish again.
Lennon added: "I don't really know Jermaine as a person. What I do know is that over the piece he has got a good goalscoring record, he's a good athlete and his movement's very good. We need to get him firing.
"Max Clayton's come in now and is fit, I quite like the look of him. Joe Mason has got goals in him, Craig (Davies) is a target man, as it were, and he's got good goals in him.
"We need to find that recipe for getting the goals and getting the right service as well. And we need to work on the back four because we need to start keeping some clean sheets."
