Interesting read - here are some of the key answers for me....
On a personal level, you must be delighted to be playing again after such a miserable time last season?
You can say that again. I had my operation on my knee at the end of December and basically it took me the rest of the season to get fit again. Towards the end of the season I started training with the team and then the FA Cup final came along but it was just a little bit early for me. I had the whole of the summer to work on my fitness again. In a way it was good that I could use the pre-season and work to get back into shape and match fitness. Also, during pre-season everybody usually plays 45 minutes but because we had a lot of injuries, the manager would come to me and say "how are you doing, do you want to continue playing?" I’d say "Yes just leave me on the pitch”. Even if I was tired I just wanted to play a lot of minutes because that's what I needed. I'm really pleased to be back because last year wasn't a nice period. It was quite hard.
Does he think he'd have played?!?
You’ve also played a number of games in central midfield which I think you regard as your best position…
I quite enjoy it in the middle because you're more involved in the game. Sometimes when you're out wide you have to wait and see if you get the ball, whereas in the middle it always goes through you and you can show a bit more aggression. It would be fair to admit as well that the manager now wants me to show more control, whereas one of my strengths is going forward. I'm trying to obviously please my manager but at the same time trying to go forward when possible, because that's where my strength is.
Not sure which strength that is....
It’s not going to be easy winning a regular place in central midfield…
We all know that. Including myself, we have got four fantastic central midfielders who can play in that position so we have to work hard to get a game. That's the way it is and the way it should be. It's the same for the other players as well.
Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko and who else is fantastic?!?
:whatever:
Comment