Premier League - What the managers said

Eurosport - Thu, 03 Jan 13:45:00 2008

FOOTBALL 2007-2008 Premier League - Sam Allardyce, Newcastle United manager - 0

Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City

Sam Allardyce: "It's great that the chairman [Chris Mort] and owner [Mike Ashley] have come out and given me a vote of confidence. But at the end of the day the pressure still mounts, even with that support. And it mounts upon us all, particularly me, because we've lost a game at St James' that we shouldn't have lost. But we have, and that's a big worry for us."

Sven-Goran Eriksson: "Of course I am very happy - it has been a long time since we last won a game away from home and it is a very nice way to start 2008."

Liverpool 1-1 Wigan

Rafa Benitez: "We need to do almost everything perfectly now but if you lose points like this it makes it more difficult. When you have chances you need to take them and finish the game."

Steve Bruce: "It gives everyone a huge lift. We were really disciplined and stuck to the game plan well. I have always liked Titus, he just needs a bit of confidence and he will only get better."

Blackburn 1-0 Sunderland

Mark Hughes: "There were two penalties in the game, two clear penalties - we converted ours and they didn't convert theirs. Benni is positive about his penalty taking. He was disappointed he didn't convert one against Wigan. But today the keeper guessed right but Benni's pace and power was too much."

Roy Keane: "The result sums up the way our season's been going away from home. We were the better team in the first half but we didn?t create too many clear-cut chances. We had a great opportunity from the spot but we didn't take it. Maybe Dwight Yorke should have taken it but Dean Whitehead did instead."

Bolton 1-0 Derby

Gary Megson: "I cannot say that we fully justified the victory. It's a great reward for us playing as badly as we did. If I was the Derby manager, I'd be saying that was a bit unjust. But we're told they even themselves out."

Paul Jewell: "We need some players now and hopefully we'll be able to get four or five this month. This is a good club and if we get it right we'll do well. We've now lost Jay McEveley to a nasty tackle, it's a bad one he got there and somehow we just keep losing players."

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Arsenal 2 - 0 West Ham

Arsene Wenger: "Overall this period has been absolutely great for us - we have had four difficult games, but we have come away with three wins and a draw, which is terrific. It's been fantastic."

Alan Curbishley: "The Manchester United game took a lot out of us as well. It was probably one game too many for us over the Christmas period."

Aston Villa 2 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

Martin O'Neill: "I was concerned about our energy because of the big efforts in games we've played recently. I thought our energy might drop a little but we showed fantastic desire. No-one epitomised that more than Martin Laursen. He was incredible."

Gus Poyet: "We conceded two goals from set-pieces again. It is not about individuals. Week-in, week-out it is a different player so it becomes a team problem. As soon as it is a corner or a free-kick wide it is panic."

Fulham 1 - 2 Chelsea

Roy Hodgson: "This is my first game and I though the attitude and desire of the players to give their best was very good. You won't hear from me that the team is not good enough to stay up. We know we have a lot of work to do and we know that work must begin on the training field."

Avram Grant: "At half-time when you see the players are slipping, you need to wake them. Today everything was wrong. We didn't press well or move the ball well. We lost many passes, but we still had two great chances to go ahead and then equalise. But I was very happy with the second-half. We played good intelligent football."

Manchester United 1 - 0 Birmingham City

Sir Alex Ferguson: "The crowd were dead. It was like a funeral out there. It was the quietest I have heard here for some time and the atmosphere today did not help us. Sometimes we need them to get behind us. They can help produce the right performance but we did not get that today."

Alex McLeish: "Manchester United had £125million worth of talent on the pitch, so you have to be realistic, even though I felt we could get something out of the game. I am trying to add some new faces during the window because we are desperately short of bodies."

Middlesbrough 0 - 2 Everton

Gareth Southgate: "As is often the case with games at the end of the Christmas period, the first goal has a massive influence. If we'd have got it, and we had two cleared off the line, it would have been a huge lift, an extra boost. But they got it and they energy drained away. We weren't quite at our best but I can't fault what they've given."

David Moyes: "We've no Cahill, no Yobo or Osman and Thomas Gravesen is injured. Coming here without all those players shows we've not been too affected by the last game. It shows the strength in depth and what we have got here. The players who came in were fantastic."

Reading 0 - 2 Portsmouth

Steve Coppell: "It was poor defending but I don't do my dirty washing in public. I can count the mistakes Marcus (Hahnemann) has made on the fingers of one hand. I just took for granted he would take that cross. You can't judge them on 85 minutes with 10 men. The 10 men I thought were magnificent. They will sleep well tonight and I could only thank them at the end of the game."

Harry Redknapp: "John Utaka has pace to burn but he wouldn't have run for the goal if I hadn't been standing a yard away from him. I said to him 'please John, run behind the full-back' and in the end he did."

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