Both Sam Allardyce and Kevin Keegan said the 22-year-old was far from being "the finished article", as he struggled to get to grips with English football since his big-money move from his native Spain last year.Toon Defender Gets Backing From Kinnear!
Both Sam Allardyce and Kevin Keegan said the 22-year-old was far from being "the finished article", as he struggled to get to grips with English football since his big-money move from his native Spain last year.Joe Kinnear: "The point is that Jose's working hard on his game.
"We've got to get more from him week in, week out. At times, he had the pace to keep up with (Aaron) Lennon, and he's never an easy player to play against.
"Lennon's very direct, and it was mainly him who was whipping the crosses in, but Jose did very well against him."
"I just went for broke with two quicker players on that side.
"I dropped Charles (N'Zogbia) back, because he would be more offensive, and told Duffer to stay as high up the pitch as possible because he would give us new energy and a little bit of electricity in the last third of the pitch.
"I felt two on that side would hurt their right back more than Enrique sitting in the hole."