Allardyce: "We pulled Michael Owen off the pitch for precautionary reasons.
"We're hoping it won't be too serious, but Michael was one of 14 players away on international duty last week and none of them have performed like they did before they left.
"I don't suppose Billy (Davies, Derby manager) had too many international players away, certainly not as may as we had. If you had got two weeks to work at things, it has to be an advantage.
Sam Gives His Excuse!
"I used to seek that advantage in the early stages of my time at Bolton. When bigger teams came to play us in the week following an international break we always fancied our chances.
"Our players didn't hit their best and suffered the consequences. It was a wonder goal that beat them, but we were not pleased in our performance.
"We think we should have had a penalty just prior to them scoring because Leacock hauled down David Rozehnal at a corner.
"The referee was right in line and didn't give it, then they went down the field and won it with a wonder goal. There's nothing you can do about someone who strikes a ball like that.
"The really disappointing thing for me was we got a bit too frantic in the second half and tried to push forward too quickly.
"We should have been a little more patient in terms of trying to break Derby down, but didn't create the kind of chances in the second half that might have got us back into the game.
"It was always going to be a scrap against Derby. They were always going to be fired up after waiting for the game to come around following their Liverpool defeat.
"I always thought they would spend a lot of their energy closing us down and that's what they did. To beat that you have to score when your chances come. Our best two chances came early on for David Rozehnal and Shola Ameobi and they didn't even hit the target."
The book details are as follows: ISBN: 9781844035861 Price: £18.99 Published by: Cassell Illustrated |
