Dyer grabs the headlines

Sir Bobby

"Dyer made tackles I’ve never seen him make.

"I thought he gave a colossal performance – I thought he and Gary Speed were massive, immense.

"Dyer and Speed today were just absolutely magnificent.

"I just reminded Dyer that it’s his first game since Barcelona at home and he needed to show the public that he was sorry for what he did in Barcelona. He just erased that situation by his performance.

"He was absolutely terrific. When you see Dyer like that there’s not much better in midfield in the country than him. He was fantastic.

"It was a surprise penalty miss by Alan, of course.

"He obviously changed the side – he missed one last year against van der Sar when he hit a very good penalty which the goalkeeper read and went early.

"I think that just tweaked Alan’s mind, and he went the other side. We’ve got some builders in to repair the stand!

"Alan was disappointed. But he made a big contribution.

"This time last year we were top – and we’ll make it difficult for other teams to win it."

Jean Tigana

"It’s very hard, but I knew that when we started in the Intertoto Cup.

"I said the hard time for us would be in November and December because there are so many games and we have no one to play. That’s the problem.

"I think we started well, and in the first half, we had a few chances to score. It was a bad time for us to make a mistake, and we let them score themselves.

"We have to keep working, and I hope it’s possible to get back a few players. I had only one striker in my team and in midfield. I have five strikers out as well, so it’s difficult.

"It was a stupid thing (Wome’s foul on Griffin) It’s not acceptable."