Zola on ... Liverpool

Gianfranco Zola shares his thoughts on Saturday's narrow defeat to Liverpool...

I’ll a look before I can say anything [on the defending]. Torres is a great striker so you have to consider he is not easy to mark. If something has not been done properly then we will have a look at it. It is not easy to defend against great players like him on a good day like today.

It shouldn’t be too bad. For Upson, the muscle got very tight so he had to come off before breaking it. Regarding Behrami because he had been working a lot in the last few weeks I think he had a little problem with the sciatic nerve so he shouldn’t be too bad.

I normally don’t work that way. I see what the players do on the pitch and the way they performed today was encouraging. I think we were unfortunate today not to pick up points. The rest is encouraging and I am sure we will get better and it won’t be long.

I think today he [Hines] was fantastic. He did well last week but he was even better against a difficult team. The boy is taking his chances very well. He has been terrific as he helped the team defensively as well so congratulations to him. He is very good and he is making himself established in the team and that is done to his work and his attitude.

You need to have players that can go on the pitch and make a difference. He did that today and we are hoping a few others will do it in the next few weeks. He is playing with a brave attitude and making an impact on the game so that is really good.

We decided before the game that he [Diamanti] would take penalties. His penalty was very scary. He said to me that he slid but he said to me that he wanted to do it so it’s a new kind of technique so that is ok!

Diamanti played a good game, he was like Zavon and worked a lot for the team.