the sort of player you described

would cost us the best part of 5 million. Of course, every manager would love to have a midfielder who can tackle and pass playing next to a midfielder who can pass and create attacks. But that's not possible with our sort of budget, so we have to play one midfielder who can hustle and contain and another who can collect and pass. And of course it depends on the opposition - nobody expected us to have any time on the ball against arse or chelski, but against coventry and crewe it should be a different matter. That's what's so annoying about sat's result - we should have done better, even with a left back in central midfield.

Posted By: Dave in France, Aug 8, 14:26:35