Adel Taarabt
The Warnock that started in a dugout 20 years ago could not have handled the histrionics of a talented midfielder that pinnacled in an extraordinary outburst during the 0-0 at Hull on Saturday.
Home fans revelled in Taarabt’s tantrum singing: ‘where’s your dummy gone?’
However, the Moroccan international atoned when he broke the deadlock in the 2-0 win over Portsmouth on Tuesday – but after his hell in Hull where he lashed into his own players, refused to play for a couple of minutes and then demanded to be substituted – it took all of Warnock’s 12-club experience and 62 years to calm his man down.
The manager said: "I’d agree with the idea that not many managers could have handled that. Listen. If I’d been younger I couldn’t have handled it.
"It’s like walking a tightrope with
him. Hopefully, any thing like that (Hull) will be after another 17 games."
The manager refused to go into specifics, but he made clear that intense man-management right up to the Portsmouth game was needed to return Taarabt to the fold.
Warnock added: "There’s been a lot of work with Adel. I’m not going to say what – that’s for us. But in truth he was disappointed with himself.
"But I like him. And is he the most difficult player I’ve managed? How can he be difficult when he wins as many games as he does?
"He’s got deficiencies, and when they show you need a good team around him to get 0-0."
Clint Hill scored the second against Pompey and echoed Warnock’s care control over Taarabt insisting the mercurial talent could be the difference in returning Rs to the Premiership.
Hill said: "He listens more to the gaffer than anyone else, and I like Adel. If he helps us up to the Premier League he can do almost what he wants."
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