Man-management is an acquired skill, says Preston North End boss Alex Neil

There is currently a big emphasis on the mental side of the game at PNE as eight new signing must settle quickly into their new surroundings to help their side mount a play-off push.

A few under-par performances can be put down to not knowing their team-mates moves or tendencies well enough – but Neil is not getting too carried away with leniency nor is he cracking down too hard on his players.

The 39-year-old instead tends to look for a middle ground but admits it can be difficult to cater for all personalities and what they are able to withstand.

“You’ve got to be balanced, there’s naturally got to be a bit of critique in there because if not, how do you improve it? You’ll always learn more from the bad things you do than the good things you do because people take for granted the good things they do and put it to one side," said Neil, who is preparing his side to face derby rivals Blackburn Rovers this evening at Ewood Park.

“Whereas the bad things you tend to over analyse and say, ‘I should do this’ or, ‘I should do that’. It’s a bit of everything really, we need to be balanced in our view.

“What we can’t do, and players aren’t stupid, you can’t praise poor play, there’s no way of dressing it up.

“Confidence in particular isn’t something that you can give to someone but you can quickly take it away from them. Confidence comes from within.

“There are some players you can’t offend, whatever you say to them, they just believe they’re the best players and that’s it, that isn’t going to change anything.

“But there are others that, even if you phrase something even slightly negatively, they’ll read a lot into it and it’ll take something away from their game. Man-management is something that you’ve got to keep learning but you learn more about the person rather than the player.

“When they walk in the door you may have one idea about how they will react but the reality might be different. It’s an ongoing process.”

According to the PNE boss, despite analysis and coaching available to the new men, there is no substitute for being out on the pitch.

He added: “It’s just really been about trying to get them on the pitch together as often as possible. We’ve had team meetings in regard to how we’re trying to play and we’ve had meetings in debriefing.

“This is going to be a challenge for these lads coming in, this is going to be a challenge for me, because we’re basically starting from scratch.

“The difficulty is that I’ve probably only had two or three days through the week since the new lads came in to assess where their strengths are.”

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