Rollings left spitting feathers, but Basque nest grows
Bilbao manager Mark Rollings launched an attack on the standard of refereeing in Spain, suggesting they 'made decisions based on the league table'. The young Welsh manager was visibly outraged as he watched his side get denied three clear penalty decisions and go down 2-1 to a Vigo side he suggested 'should be playing rugby, not football'. Rollings' young troops have been having a torrid time of things in La Liga, but drew support from the clubs board recently as Rollings sticks to his plans to create a home grown Basque club. Rollings clearly wasn't in the mood for subtelty however as he addressed journalists in his post-match interview.
"We certainly don't need referees like that turning up here. We are up against it as it is and don't need idiots like that making things harder for us. We felt we could get at Vigo today but we never got chance. Vigo are a poor side who look to bully teams. It looks like they may be coming down with us this season and i will look forward to playing them off the park next season with a referee with an ounce of integrity. I felt my young lads did well to keep their heads and it is all a learning curve for them. I keep telling them to hold their heads up because there day will come. We all know what we are trying to do here and everyone is keeping the faith."
Rollings also welcomed the latest Basque fledgling into his ranks this week as highly rated winger Susaeta was offered a pro contract. Fans were eagerly anticipating the promotion of 16-year old wonderkid Iker Munian but it seems the club have preferred to shelter their hottest prospect away in the youth side for a little longer. Rollings welcomed his latest protege and suggested a bright future for Susaeta.
"He is a tricky winger with a craft about his play. We kept an eye on him this season and he has progressed well. We felt it was time he got his chance and i anticipate big things from him. He takes us one step closer to our goal of giving the fans a Basque based La Liga club. We are in a very fortunate position in that we represent the natural avenue for all Basque youngsters to play football and our youth system greatly benefits from that. We have a raft of top prospects waiting in the wings but we won't rush them and risk spoiling their talent."
Best criticises players after poor performance at the Emirates
Jamie, you are clearly disappointed with the result, what do you think went wrong?
Well to lose 4-2 at home to one of our closest rivals is unacceptable. No disrespect to Liverpool but we have a much better squad than them and the team we fielded today was full of class all over the park. I set them up with the intention of exploiting Liverpool in defence where they are weak, especially in the wide areas and we simply didnt so that, the players need to have a long hard look at themselves after that performance.
Conceding 4 goals has clearly angered you, but you seem to have a very strong defence?
Thats exactly my point i have strengthened the team in our weakest area by bringing in Zapata from Sevilla who with Senderos i thought would be a solid pairing but perhaps i was wrong. We have two of the best fullbacks in the game and so for us to concede 4 there must be something clearly wrong, i will be speaking with all the lads when we watch the video back first thing in the morning.
Halfway through the season now and you've already lost 4 games, can you recover to achieve the top 2 target set by the chairman?
I'm not sure, we need to have much improved performances to finish in the top 4 let alone the top 2. I think the one thing we have in our advantage is that we have a young squad in all areas of the field and this should help us with fitness come the end of the season. There is no chance we will catch Chelsea but our aim now must be for second spot and i will try my hardest to get the team focused and back on form.
You were again active in the transfer market this week, what do you have to say about the players you've brought in?
Well i am very excited about Milner coming in, i've been following him for a while now since we let Rafaello go, as Rosicky cant play every game he's just not fit enough, so James is a great addition to the squad and i hope he will settle in quickly. Gasparetto is a good younf centre half who will add a bit of depth to the squad and may be loaned out for the rest of the season just to gain a bit of experience but we'll see.
Thanks Jamie
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Jamie Best Newcastle United Premier League
Genoa - Season 7 Arsenal - Season 6 Inter Milan - Seasons 4-5 Wolves - Seasons 1-3
No not really, Gareth is a top manager and i knew they would make us work hard, I rested Xavi to keep his fitness for later in the season and luckily Palmiteri scored another hatrick to see us home, just !!!
So Watson and Elmander have gone what are your thoughts ?
Well i never intended to sell Ben but the offer was too good to refuse as young Rafaello is going to be a top player, i have been looking to bring in some young players so he fits the bill. I also managed to bring in Tom Soares as a replacement for watson. I have been chasing Soares since my Zaragoza days so very happy to have him. Watson is a class act and will do well wherever he plays and i wish him all the luck.
So are you chasing a top 6 place now?
We always have been to be honest but its never gonna be easy, this league is so strong, but we are doing well scoring lots and playing exciting football and the fans are loving it.
Jonny Sinclair was happy to annouce that he recently accepted an offer from Parma to become their manager thus staying in Italy.
'Im delighted to have accept the managerial position at Parma who are a big club with a great history they have struggled in recent seasons although Chris Hanton has done a great job at make the club stable after a lot of retirements and they are doing well and i hope to get them into the top half of the table which is easily achievable we have a rather young squad i might try and sign a experienced forward and might use the loan market to get us firing up the table I'd also like to wish Dave Davies Evans good luck at Ascoli after recently hearing he'll be the new manager there I'm sure he'll do a great job I've already try to lure Iva Iaconi from him but he's having none of it sadly haha'
ted being out of a job for the last couple of weeks Recreativo Huelva had yet to get back to me and whilst i wanted the job there i wanted to get back into work straight away and i didn't want to wait so long for decision although I can understand that they want the best for their club and look at all the options before appointing a manger who they think is good enough but I'm too impatient to wait to see if i was going to be successful or not and I'm delighted Parma think im capable of doing a job here I know the Italian League well as ive spent all my five season in Italy and hope I can win the fans over in the coming weeks to my appointment'
