Lads came back from the World Cup later than the rest and it will take them a week

Lads came back from the World Cup later than the rest and it will take them a week or two more to regain their sharpness. It’s just that extra 5 or 10 per cent that makes them the great players that they are. So they could have a problem around October and November with overall fitness. But for Dennis it’s a question of sharpness and overall fitness – two different problems, really.”The Liverpool co-manager Roy Evans is also worried about the fitness of his World Cup players, with the England striker Michael Owen entering his second full season at the age of 18.He said: “Most clubs are in the same position.

But it is mainly physically because he only started training on 1 August and had a small setback injury-wise against Manchester United in the Charity Shield.
“And he has played just two games now – one last Monday against [Nottingham] Forest and one at Anfield. He’s not as sharp as he used to be, but that is a question of time. ARSENE WENGER fears Dennis Bergkamp and many of the Premiership’s leading players are in danger of suffering from World Cup burn-out. The Arsenal manager claims that only two games into the new season his Dutch striker is experiencing fatigue after reaching the semi-finals of France 98. “Because of the fact they turned it down right away, but they knew in December I was going to leave, I felt let down.”Van Hooijdonk claimed his refusal to play is not motivated by greed: “It’s not about money It’s about my ambition and I’m careful about my career.”. Wenger said: “Dennis Bergkamp is not at his best at the moment, he knows that.

There’s a little bit of anger from last year, and it has been carried on from there.”Nottingham Forest’s on-strike striker, Pierre van Hooijdonk, has insisted he will not be returning to the County Ground this season.Van Hooijdonk, who is training with the Dutch club NAC Breda, claims Forest were aware that he wanted to leave last December and that, had they allowed him to look elsewhere, he might still be at the City Ground now.”I would have been playing if there were no offers for me,” he said. Gross has got to be given time to implement his own ideas at the club and then be judged on what he has achieved.”The Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear, often tipped to be the next Spurs manager, has offered his backing to Gross.A former Spurs player, Kinnear said: “The trouble is with Tottenham is that [they are] used to the best After two games, there’s a little bit of panic setting in It’s not just the two games. Tottenham’s 3-0 weekend defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday, following a 3-1 opening day defeat at Wimbledon, led to angry demonstrations at White Hart Lane on Saturday calling for Gross and Sugar to quit the club. An offer from the former Atletico Madrid coach, Raddy Antic, to take over from Gross, as well as a report that Sugar had been driven to the point of deciding this week whether to sell his stake at the club, have hardly helped matters.
However, Mabbutt, who left the club in the summer after his contract was not renewed and enters hospital today for a knee operation, said: “Even in the harshest of circles, you can’t be talking about managerial changes after just two games. GARY MABBUTT, the former Tottenham captain, has appealed for Spurs fans to give the club’s beleaguered coach, Christian Gross, more time as they continue to turn against him and the chairman Alan Sugar in increasing numbers. The Rugby Park side face a huge task to recover a 2-0 deficit against Sigma Olomouc in the second leg of their Uefa Cup qualifier.. The Italian defender has found himself under pressure recently with a series of mistakes on the field since being handed the Ibrox captaincy by the new coach, Dick Advocaat.
Amoruso’s temperament for the job has also been called into question after he appeared to be involved in a dispute with his German team-mate, Jorg Albertz, following Rangers’ 3-1 win at Kilmarnock on Saturday.Amoruso, who missed all but a couple of months of last season with a succession of knee problems following his pounds 4m transfer from Fiorentina, said: “A foreigner, and on top of that an Italian, has become captain of Rangers, and Scottish people are struggling to accept that.

Colin Hendry is a Scotland international and a local hero, and a lot of people want him to be the captain.”Amoruso is fully aware that Rangers will need strong hearts and minds if they are to sweep aside PAOK Salonika in tonight’s Uefa Cup preliminary round second leg tie in Greece.Rangers will be wary, particularly after Arsenal, the English league and cup double winners, were beaten there 1-0 in last season’s competition. But the Ibrox side go into the match with the advantage of a 2-0 lead from the first leg.The Kilmarnock manager, Bobby Williamson, admits he is hoping for a timely dose of travel sickness to affect his Czech opponents as he attempts to prolong his team’s European dream. Substitutes not used: McKinlay, Dailly, Fettis (gk).Referee: D Gallagher (Banbury).. LORENZO AMORUSO last night walked into more controversy after claiming that Colin Hendry’s arrival has made it more difficult for him to be accepted as the Rangers captain. “Our performance was good apart from some poor defending on the one-two. Were it not for some incredible blocks in their goalmouth, we would have got something.”Yet even in a tight division, Graham can see only four possible winners – last season’s leading quartet – unless, he added with a twinkle in his eye, Manchester United or Arsenal “get bogged down in the European Cup”.Leeds United (4-4-2): Martyn; Hiden, Molenaar, Radebe, Harte; Hopkin, Bowyer, Haaland, Kewell; Wijnhard (Sharpe, 83), Hasselbaink.

Sebastian Perez, a livelier acquisition, forced an acrobatic save from Nigel Martyn in the second half, although the fact that Leeds’ third Dutchman, Robert Molenaar, had slammed a clearance against his own crossbar moments after Hasselbaink’s breakthrough summed up their luck.Hodgson is certainly not getting down-hearted. Substitutes not used: Wetherall, Ribeiro, Granville, Beeney (gk).Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Filan; Kenna, Henchoz, Peacock, Davidson; Perez, Flitcroft, Sherwood, Wilcox (Gallacher, 78); Davies (Dahlin, 78), Sutton. If you don’t, the pressure comes on and players can’t express themselves.”The Leeds manager was delighted by the rapport between Hasselbaink and Wijnhard, who had played together only once before. While Wijnhard looks a better team player than the departed Rod Wallace, Graham felt that the former Ajax junior would take time to adjust to the “intensity” of English football.The goal came in the 18th minute. Leeds, for whom Lee Bowyer had almost scored from nearly 40 yards, probed again through Hasselbaink 30 yards out on the Blackburn right.Hasselbaink twisted away from two Blackburn players and shrugged off a third, Tim Sherwood, with contemptuous ease.