Premier League - Managers: Keane future doubt

Eurosport - Sun, 30 Nov 21:22:00 2008

All the reaction following Saturday's matches in the Premier League - including Sunderland manager Roy Keane's confession that he is not sure whether he is the right man for the job after the 4-1 defeat at home to Bolton.

2008-2009 Sunderland Roy Keane - 0

Sunderland 1-4 Bolton Wanderers

Roy Keane: "I ask myself every single day if I am the right man for Sunderland. I asked myself this morning and I said that I was. Tomorrow morning if the answer's no we will have to look at it. I have to be honest in my assessment. It's not about what's best for Roy Keane. It's Sunderland Football Club. I might wake up on Monday morning and think I'm the right man. On Tuesday it might be different. I'm the manager of this football club and ultimately I'm responsible and I've never shied away from that. That's part of being a manager and that's why I take full responsibility for today and the run we're on and everything else."

Gary Megson: "There's no secret and the only thing we're doing differently that we weren't doing beforehand is scoring goals. Our performances are not much different except in terms of confidence. When we score goals all the other aspects of our game come to the fore and people start to realise what we've got ... [Johan Elmander] scored two fantastic goals and had one kicked off the line so I'm really pleased with him. People have focused on the fact that he hasn't scored enough goals but his performances have always been really good."

Aston Villa 0-0 Fulham

Martin O'Neill: "I think from the outside it is easy to throw at us that we have choked but I don't believe that. We went into the game full of confidence and with our hopes high after the previous two games. It is tough. Fulham were cock-a-hoop after their draw at Liverpool, played the same system, and it was tough for us to break them down. But as regards choking, I do not accept that. Every game is hard and we are not brilliant enough at the moment to steamroll teams but we are doing fine."

Roy Hodgson: "We are having an impressive sequence of results and it is down to the discipline and hard work we are showing. I thought in the first half we did quite well in terms of passing the ball around and were not just defending. We were under siege a bit in the second half, the most we have been for a while, and Villa threw everything at us in that period."

Stoke City 1-1 Hull City

Tony Pulis: "When you go a goal down in the Premier League it is very difficult to come back. I was pleased with the character of the lads in the second half, their effort and commitment was first class. In the final third at times we need that little bit more to open teams up. But it is a good point, we are building, the transfer window opens in four weeks' time and we will be trying to do some business."

Phil Brown on Stoke's penalty: "We've been robbed by a poor decision, in my opinion. It wasn't a spectacle by any stretch of the imagination. But we came in 1-0 up - I said the first goal in today's game would be important and it should have been enough to win it - but we were a little bit undone by a dubious decision. It was a very theatrical dive. You have to be 100 per cent right when you make decisions like that and I don't think you can be in that situation."

Middlesbrough 0-0 Newcastle United

Gareth Southgate: "It was very much a point gained, a hard-earned point, but one we certainly deserved. We had the majority of the game, certainly in the second half - it was pretty much one-way traffic for long periods of the second half. We allowed them a few breaks and they had a chance near the end which we shouldn't have allowed them to have, but I am very pleased with how we played. Sometimes you draw a game and you are disappointed with the performance, but I thought bar the finishing touch, we had pretty much everything today."

Newcastle assistant manager Chris Hughton on Obafemi Martins's furious reaction to being substituted: "You want nobody to be happy to be taken off, but any issues that way are always dealt with in-house, and that's always the correct way to approach it, always ... On the back of last week, what we wanted to do was keep a clean sheet. We felt we had enough in the team to score us a goal here."

Wigan Athletic 2-1 West Bromwich

Steve Bruce: "We have to thank our goalkeeper (Chris Kirkland) - he was fantastic - and in my eyes is one of the best goalkeepers in the country if not the best. With his fragile back we have decided to put the reins on him and keep him fresh. That's why we have changed his training regime. He was one of the old-fashioned types who just wanted balls blasted at him from six yards. He was a workaholic. He would be on the pitch at 9am and still there at 2pm. That work left him a bit stiff."

Tony Mowbray: "I thought we played OK today, the balance of the team was fine. We created more than enough chances to win the game but ended up losing it. Generally week-in, week-out we are better than the opposition on the balance of play. Yet football is about being clinical in both boxes. We have got to keep going. We have what we have - but we paid a heavy price in this game."

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 12 of 72

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. I apologise to Roy Keane and others who were offended by my ignorant and stupid comments.

    From Chaseboy, on Sun 30 Nov 8:22AM
  2. Well lets watch and see

    From Apola24, on Sun 30 Nov 7:59AM
  3. PETER E, comment 4,
    Are you not capable of critisizing in a constructive way without insulting comments like the one you have there. I have some spare brain cells here for you if you want them. Looks like you only have one....poor thing

    From sappercommando25, on Sun 30 Nov 3:36AM
  4. Roy Keane only got away with the unbelievable tackle on Haaland because he was at Manchester United. If he were at another club during that incident, he would have got the boot. This shows how Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson really run the show in England, showing how pathetic the game has become and all those who stand by this ridiculous facade.

    From sappercommando25, on Sun 30 Nov 3:33AM
  5. well done Peter E, takes a lot to admit you were wrong. Come on Ian what was said by peter was a long way short of the worst thats been posted here. A bit of a dig is not so painful?? relax. ynwa

    From michaelh, on Sun 30 Nov 2:35AM
  6. Roy Keane should have banned from football for life for his infamous tackle on Manchester City's Alf Inge Haaland. He has always relied on bully boy tactics and both football and Sunderland will be better off without him.

    From Dreamer, on Sun 30 Nov 12:15AM
  7. Sorry if my previous comment caused offence.The agricultural industry has sustained the proud and honourable people of Ireland for many centruies. The point is that Roy Keane seems to be very weak on the man management skills and would be better suited to a job in which he had limited contact with people. I certainly wouldn't want to work with him.

    From Chaseboy, on Sat 29 Nov 11:24PM
  8. Peter E - that is racist @#$%/ You can criticise the guy without reducing it to insults. Grow up

    From Ian, on Sat 29 Nov 10:17PM
  9. Keane MUST go. He was a thug as a player and now he is a useless manager who treats his fellow managers and players with contempt.Go back to Ireland and grow tatties.

    From Chaseboy, on Sat 29 Nov 10:05PM
  10. The truth of the matter is that Roy Keane was a great player of that there is no doubt. However just as Brian Robson proved good on the field isn't the c.v. to be good in the managers seat. Sunderland have big problems that start on the training pitch. Last week we played against West Ham nothing special until the hammers upt their pace and we coudn't match it. This week the same, we go one up! and surprise surprise W B upt their tempo and we coudn't match them that is a fitness problem and consequently a coaching problem? Who can we point the finger to!!!?

    From DANIEL T, on Sat 29 Nov 8:50PM
  11. HE WONT BE THERE MUCH LONGER

    From andycameron98, on Sat 29 Nov 8:32PM
  12. I hope Keano stays at SFC, he`ll do a good job and take them down ha, ha, ha.

    From Bobby Robson A Legend, on Sat 29 Nov 7:27PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account