It’s not just about the results - 02/08/2002

The pre-season games have been good for us and I genuinely think we’ll hit the ground running. Looking back the games, I think we can take positives from each one. I remember last year at Newcastle, we played an early Intertoto game at Lokeren in Belgium and came away with a 4-0 win. The whole club was lifted by the result, and the 5-1 win at Scunthorpe has done exactly the same thing.

We then played the Notts County derby and fell behind before showing the character to come back and win with relative ease. This shows that we have spirit, that we’re not prepared just to turn up and go through the motions – this is the winning mentality the boss has been talked about, and it’ll be a necessary attribute for the season ahead.

Last night was slightly different, but again there were definite positive to come out of the performance. Look at the names on the Lazio team sheet – world class players came to Pride Park and at times, we looked the better team. I thought we showed discipline, we kept the ball well, and although we struggled a little in the final third, we’ve got the players who are capable of regularly putting the ball in the back of the net!

I hear we could have a full house against Reading on Saturday, if so, that’s just great! If there’s a message from the player’s, it’s to tell you that we’ll be giving everything we’ve got to get us back where we belong!

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