By Tim Hodges from the Amex Press Briefing
Gus Poyet said this morning how shocked and saddened his was to learn of Gary Speed’s death and how it was a sad day for football.
The Albion boss recalled playing against the late Wales manager saying how he had been designated to mark him as he was so good in the air.
Poyet spoke like many others about Speed’s professionalism and that the two had played against each other in seniors tournements.
Later we learnt that both Vicente Rodriguez and Jara Reyes should be availabe for Saturday’s game against Nottingham Forest but probably not Derby tomorrow.
Vicente is training hard to be match fit. Marcos Painter will be further assessed today.
I asked Poyet what positives from Saturday’s victory he would take into the Derby game.
He said that, for him, the way the team started and responded to the equaliser and the way the team defended in the second half was good.
He acknowledged that some thought the team defended too deeply in the second period but he thought this was an effective way to have dealt with Coventry’s attacking style.
We then moved on to Will Buckley’s somewhat suprising omission from the recent match-day squads.
Poyet advised that he (Buckley) needs to take the next opportunity he gets to make sure he has a prolonged run in the team.
He suggested that the million-pound man needs to give him the problem of having to find a place for him in the squad.
He was pleased that Buckley was so eager to play as he was with many other players who want first-team action.
We ended with Poyet comparing Derby’s season to the Albion’s saying how well they had started but had lost their way a little.
