Players Under The Microscope / Gary Speed / 21 September 2007 /

Bolton's Gary Speed shares his thoughts on Jose Mourinho, sharing hotel rooms and Sunday's big Premiership match

Who saw that coming? We were in Skopje preparing for our own UEFA Cup tie when news of Jose Mourinho's departure started to filter through.

I've said before that sometimes the Premier League seems to be one big soap opera these days, and this would probably have been one of the hour long instalments they keep for their biggest storylines. Certainly for the rest of the country Bolton getting a draw in Macedonia would have been a very minor sub plot! We obviously had to stay focused on the job we were doing, but the truth is everybody likes a good gossip and the Chelsea situation is quite fascinating.

I think the game will miss Mourinho. He's been great entertainment for the last three years and has produced a team that played consistent, winning football. That said I don't think we'll miss him for long because you can be sure he'll be back somewhere. With his record you don't stay out of work for long.

So as I said our match might have been fairly small for the rest of the country, but for us it was pretty massive. And while having a bit of luck to get a late goal from a goalkeeper's mistake might not seem a morale booster for us it has been a real big lift.

Obviously our week started badly. We didn't play at all well in losing at Birmingham, and then Newcastle losing at Derby meant we were bottom of the Premier League table.

Now I could give you the party line that it's early days, we don't take any notice of League tables at this stage, etc, etc, but frankly I wouldn't insult your intelligence. Of course it is no fun for us to be in that position. And we know we've got to do some work to get out of it.

It's very important for any team to get off to a good start in a season, and if you don't you are always up against it until you put a series of results together to lift you away. And people do feel under a bit more pressure, there's no doubt. But I've been in these situations before and I know how you get out of them. You have to be brave, you have to be willing to get on the ball and make mistakes, and then if necessary get on it again and make another one. It's only if people start hiding that you get into real trouble.

We didn't play particularly well on Thursday night but at least the team were trying to play and I think we deserved our bit of good fortune. It certainly gave us all a lift as we flew home in the middle of the night.

On the face of it Spurs had a much better lift to their morale before what will be a very big game for both of us on Sunday. A 6-1 home win will give everybody a bit of confidence. But in our own way we feel we've come through a pretty difficult away trip with a sound result and we're up for the challenge when the League starts again.

Playing in Europe is great, there's no doubt. And for me this has been an interesting trip because it's the first time I've had my management hat on. The obvious difference was that it meant I got my own room in the hotel rather than sharing with somebody else! I had to sit down to read reports and watch videos and was glad of a bit of peace and quiet for it.

Mind you it's not so unusual for players to have single rooms these days. It's because so many come from different countries and cultures that it just doesn't work to force them to share. You need your players to be relaxed, focused and comfortable. I know there are those who will tell you that everybody being mixed in together helped breed team spirit, and there is a point to that. But in those days the players were all from a similar background and culture and the game has changed. Things have to change with it.

We flew back home straight after the game with the idea of getting rest today to train late and then do some more work tomorrow to get ready for Spurs. That's clearly a big game for both teams, although everybody else will be focused on Manchester United meeting Chelsea.

United are obviously favourites because of all that has gone on at Stamford Bridge. But Chelsea's players clearly loved Mourinho, and often in these situations there is a reaction to produce a display to make the guy who has just left proud. So 4.2 for a Chelsea win could be worth a punt. United haven't been scoring freely, so I'd also think that 2.8 for there to be less than 1.5 goals in the game is an interesting price.

With five games on Sunday it will also be a good day to use the Betfair multiples to chase a little jackpot, and I think there's value in several of the other fixtures. Villa are 2.3 to follow up their win over Chelsea with another home victory against Everton, and Newcastle are also better than evens at 2.16 to put their season back on track against West Ham.

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