Alan was awesome - Sir Bobby

Last updated : 22 October 2003 By Martyn Elliott

Sir Bobby

"Alan was awesome. He was marvellous and quite magnificent.


"He won a lot of balls in the air, held it up well, had a lot of movement and scored two goals and made the first.

"But the goals are just part of the story as his overall display was outstanding.

"He is a strong personality. He is 33, has kept his fitness and he is very mobile.
He is a great player to play alongside because he is so reliable.

"When we brought Shola Ameobi back into the side, we sat them down and talked about what they were going to do.
To be fair to Shola, he has responded well and they are working well together as a pair.

"But when you are two-down and win 3-2 away you have had fine displays from all your players.

"At 2-0 down with 10 minutes gone, we were in trouble and a long way from home, but once we got one back I thought we were the better side throughout.

"Laurent (Robert) did very well because he kept his shot down and we could have equalised before half-time. But we told the players at the break that we could win it and they went out and did just that.

"It is a big victory for us and we know that. We've now won our last three league games and the players have shown fantastic spirit to get over our slow start to the season.

"That was Lee (Bowyer)'s best game for us, without a doubt. His general fitness is back to what it was when he was in his prime at Leeds United and he was outstanding. He played a great ball in for Shola to win the penalty and he got everywhere on the pitch."

Chris Coleman


"We were beaten up. We were second-best and lost battles all over the pitch. I am disappointed as Saturday's performance was not up to scratch and we were not at the races again.


"We know we are not good enough to be playing at 75% - if we are not at 100% we will lose a lot of games.


"We were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes but lost 3-2. When there are people like Shearer in the opposition, you know it is not game over."