I have not decided yet on Ashley Cole, |
I have not made up my mind completely, but I don't think I will play him on Saturday. |
I have said all along that I feel this country is ready for an Englishman, and that would be my choice. |
I have signed many English players - they have not all come off. That's why I say it is always a gamble. When you sign a player you believe he will do it and you give him the maximum opportunities to achieve his potential. You can never make a player successful, you can help a player to want to be successful. The biggest part comes from him. |
I hope the quality that our young team has shown here will help persuade him to stay. It is important that this growing team and their leader is with them. I do not want to have to take one step back when the best player leaves. |
I just have to make a decision and I will try to be fair. It's a fair competition between them, Sol will get his opportunity again but as I say Philippe is doing well. |
I know Thierry Henry well. He is straight and honest. He would never do that behind our back. |
I like Joey Barton. But, you know, I don't want to interfere with that publicly. He has been negotiating with his own club so I do not want to interfere with that. |
I like the player and I am interested in him, yes. It's a massive gamble because no matter how many qualities you have...he is only 16 years of age. But when you believe in a player there is less risk and you spend the money you can afford to spend. In his case it would be a massive amount of money for a boy of his age. You either go with it or not. |
I planned to bring him on at some stage but I had to do it early, |
I really can't remember having as many injuries as this but it is not a crisis. We have enough good players in the team to win the game. |
I rushed him back a bit because losing Vieira, Henry and Campbell was too much in terms of experience. I was uncertain about his fitness but he's remarkably fit. |
I saw a lot of positive signs that can still make this a great season, |
I see [Chelsea], Manchester United and Liverpool as well for the title, and I, personally, think Newcastle are a very good side as well, |
I spent long years alongside him so obviously I learned a lot from him but also from different people, different clubs, different countries and different continents. I've got bits and pieces of everyone. |