It was 1 - 0 to Newcastle against Derby County on Saturday, thanks to an Alan Shearer penalty. With this victory, you now sit in 4th place in the league table, and only three points behind Liverpool. Its a nice life at the moment in England...

It's true that its going nicely (laughs). We had no choice on Saturday. We had to impose ourselves given the fact that we lost at Fulham the week before, we knew we had to be strong for the 90 minutes, and there you go, we find ourselves nicely sitting in 4th position in the league.

What was the atmosphere like in the changing room after the game?

As usual after a win, we were all very happy, even though we could have
scored a second goal, which would have killed the game, but we held on to the lead, the team were really solid and that is what we will have to
retain.

After 13 games, Newcastle are in the race for a place in the Champions
league. Now that you have a better knowledge of the premiership, do you think that Newcastle can keep this rhythm going until the end of the season?

Oh yes ! But I'm sure we can do better, if we can string three consecutive wins together, it would be ideal. It's true that for now things are going well, but if we want to avoid any slip ups, we need to get a string of wins going. we cannot count on Manchester, Arsenal or Leeds making any mistakes.

And the title?

It's still a long time until the end of the season, but why not.

Let's get back to the game on Saturday, how did it unfold?

Shearer scored on 30 minutes with a penalty. In fact I was running down the middle and I penetrated the defence and then I was taken out. Shearer kept his cool and put the ball in the back of the net. 

On the other hand, as Derby are at the bottom of the table, they were playing to take a point back with them. They were very strong defensively, and dangerous in attack with Ravanelli and they failed to equalise with a penalty. Fortunately for us Given saved it. We had the opportunity to increase the lead in the second half, but just couldn't find the opening.

And for you, how did the game go?

I had a knock just below the thigh, it wasn't a problem for running, but I had difficulties in kicking the ball, I informed the boss at half time that I was suffering a little. He told me to carry on playing, but if the pain got too bad, then I should come off. In the end I was substituted on the 89th minute.

You have a match tomorrow against Ipswich in the Worthington cup, will you be playing?

I don't know for the time being. My left leg is feeling very heavy since
yesterday, and I had some treatment this morning, all we can do now is wait and see if the leg responds to the treatment. I will speak to you again on Thursday. Cheers.
 
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