Premier League - Managers: Nolan backed

Eurosport - Sun, 22 Feb 19:00:00 2009

All the reaction to the weekend's Premier League games, with reaction to Kevin Nolan's horror tackle on Victor Anichebe and Rafael Benitez on Liverpool's chances of winning the Premier League.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League - Newcastle United's Kevin Nolan fouls Everton's Victor Anichebe - 0

Newcastle 0-0 Everton

Chris Hughton: "For us, to go down to 10 men at the time we did and to come through with Everton having limited (if) good opportunities to score is testament to this group of lads.

(On Nolan's red-card challenge) "I've seen him: he is very apologetic. My first impression is that it was a poorly timed tackle, not malicious and with no real intent. Kevin has apologised to David (Moyes) and to the lad and the team."

David Moyes: "The injury to Mikel (Arteta) is the biggest blow of all. We played for an hour against 10 men and hardly created any chances. A draw is not a bad result but under the circumstances we are disappointed we did not take all three. When we lost Mikel we struggled and we didn't have enough changes (to influence the game).

"We are concerned about him: the news we are getting is not great news, but I'd rather wait and see what happens.

"It (Nolan's late tackle) was a sending off. I had no doubt at the time. Kevin Nolan isn't that type of player: I wondered whether he had mistimed it and left two feet in. I like to think that no footballers go out to hurt others - but I must hold up my hand and say it was a bad tackle."

Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City

Rafa Benitez: "I have confidence that we can still win it (the Premier League), but we must win our next two league games against Middlesbrough and Sunderland and then win against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Then we may have a different situation. But I just accept that this has been a bad result and it clearly makes it more difficult for us to win the title.

"We will talk with Steven (Gerrard) and the doctors, he is improving but we will make a decision (on whether to play him against Real Madrid in the Champions League) after he has trained."

Mark Hughes: "It is always the case a club's ex-players want to do well against them. Craig (Bellamy) is a proud man and maybe he feels he did not get a fair crack of the whip when he was at Liverpool. He has played extremely well since he joined us."

Fulham 2-0 West Brom

Roy Hodgson: "There's been a time when Bobby (Zamora) would have welcomed a break from it, he's often complained that he's quite tired because he's played so many matches and he hasn't done that in the last couple of seasons. But we've kept him on track and said to him 'that's what we want you to do. That's what good players do, they play every week'. There's no doubt there's been an element of fatigue and there must have been an element of mental pressure too because it gets on top of you. But it's great credit to his strength of character and his determination that he's been able to ride though that and today he's got his reward."

Tony Mowbray: "There's no negativity, we're working very hard as a group of players. There's no points target, every game we just try and compete. We'll win some games, I think, especially at home. Will we win enough? I don't know. We have some teams in the bottom half coming up and those are the days that will probably define our season. We need to nick another game away probably but we have to catch a team on a bad day if I'm realistic."

Eurosport

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  1. Nolan is a disgrace to football, now the most red­ carded palyer in the history of the premiership and 10­ yellows already this season...his third suspension­ coming up. Not the dirty type of player I read, well it­ looks to me like that is jusy what he IS !

    From jonnoatgy, on Mon 23 Feb 6:23PM

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    From , on Mon 23 Feb 3:49PM

  3. Ken A, what a lovely "Animal" (Rabbit)

    From owenhero89, on Mon 23 Feb 2:31PM

  4. Ken A! U look like a lovely "Rabbit"....

    From jterry_lampard, on Mon 23 Feb 2:23PM

  5. Gee, that's too bad that Zamora is so tired - must­ be from scoring all those goals these past few seasons!

    From Kirk, on Mon 23 Feb 2:23PM

  6. Ken A! Are U first time watching­ "Football"???

    From jterry_lampard, on Mon 23 Feb 2:22PM

  7. I remember some unknown QPR player saying sorry to­ Danny Thomas after his tackle that ended Danny's­ career,Nolan was lucky the same did not happen,he must­ be made an example of and banned

    From andy, on Mon 23 Feb 2:18PM

  8. Lets all forgive Nolan,what a joke! That tackle was­ worse than Taylors on Eduardo and he got hammered for­ it,Nolan should get a season long ban.Saying sorry does­ not cut the mustard

    From andy, on Mon 23 Feb 2:15PM

  9. Bolton fan here. Kevin Nolan is not a player who goes­ out with the intention of deliberately hurting anyone­ and I am quite sure it was a badly timed tackle. This,­ however, does not excuse the incident.

    From shalomcohen, on Mon 23 Feb 12:58PM

  10. beats me to read a professionsl footballer is now­ tired..I walk the dogs approx 5 miles each day, and­ I'm more than twice the age of any pro player,of­ coarse I dont go clubbing[the wife wont let me].­ Probably the pros do too much training whic defeats the­ object for which they train..that is to kick the ball­ about over 90 minutes. this is of coarse refering to­ statement about Bobby Zamora...this is not suggesting­ that Bobby Zamora frequents nightclubs..but its general­ knowledge that several do.

    From arsnic, on Mon 23 Feb 12:53PM

  11. NOLAN should be banned for life we dont need these­ animals

    From Ken A, on Mon 23 Feb 12:17PM

  12. What a shame Kevin Nolan couldn't have saved tha­ tackle for when playing against manure....

    From Nicholas, on Mon 23 Feb 11:44AM

  13. bali b you sum man u fans up you muppet

    From The Dobbo, on Mon 23 Feb 11:22AM

  14. Ref Nolan tackle,fair do`s he apologised,I like to see­ players being competetive,but these sort of tackles are­ becoming common place,it has got to be stopped,earlier­ in the season Guthrie took out Fagan of Hull and broke­ his leg, again he apologised,but damage is done.My­ opinion is that when a player is really hurt from a­ very bad tackle he should be out of the game, for the­ same time as it take his victim to fully recover on­ reduced wages

    From Peter C, on Mon 23 Feb 10:26AM

  15. nolan injured anichebe and the coach is talking about­ arteta... is he not interested in the­ guy.....................................or is the­ writer not .4 the man u fans the league is not over

    From clement l, on Mon 23 Feb 8:32AM

  16. AM A LIVERPOOL FAN SAYING GOOD LUCK MANU.TO MANU FANS,I­ THINK YOU WILL ALL BE ASHAME TO HAVE SOME GUYS LIKE­ BALI B TO BE ONE OF YOUR COLLEAGUE.

    From Michael, on Mon 23 Feb 8:25AM

  17. I'm a MU fan, always have been & always will­ be.
    Bali B should be banned from this forum, along with­ ALL other so-called "supporters" who wish­ only the worst on their opponents.
    MU have had their­ bad years, other clube have had theirs, and are still­ having them here we read Liverpool, but let's not­ be nasty or crude about it, as what goes around comes­ around. Football has to be the winner, let's not­ let the "Know-Nothings" spoil it for All the­ true supporters.

    From steve m, on Mon 23 Feb 7:06AM

  18. Just an excuse from RAFA. He need to go and look for a­ better player out there. Lucas and babel or even Ngog­ those guys are useless. Go and look from Everton how­ they manage the players.

    From ekykki, on Mon 23 Feb 6:59AM

  19. Yes Fred, your team has Castillo/Van de Meyde too. Give­ Moyes 50 Million still he couldn't buy world class­ players.

    From c, on Mon 23 Feb 5:26AM

  20. good for you man u to be 7 points up... hope you can­ say that when it's the end of the season...­ don't laugh too soon... As for all liverpools­ supporters... c'mon lads... rally behind the team­ & hope for the best...

    From a Newcastle supporters­ in Malaysia

    From xinandyang, on Mon 23 Feb 3:35AM
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