Souness Makes Excuse No 893

Souness said: "It was always the worry today the we would get caught up in the day and it took us to the second half to get going. At this time, we seem to be taking one step forward and one back, or even two back.

"I am referring to Luque, who has done yet another hamstring, which is not great news for us, but I thought first-half, we never got going.

"They were first to everything, they were better than us in the first half. Then in the second half, we managed to exert a wee bit of pressure.

"We did not get any real supply to him (Owen) today, and with them getting the goal - it was not a good goal to concede on our part - they defended quite deep, and that is not best suited to Michael. Personally, I would have preferred to have played Michael's first game away from home, but that is the way it goes.

"The occasion maybe affected us a wee bit, all the hype that was going on, and in the first-half we did not get started. They are all disappointed, they wanted to win today. Not just Michael, everybody was disappointed because we have not played particularly well, especially in the first half and we are disappointed we did not get three points."