Players Under The Microscope / Gary Speed / 24 August 2007 /

Bolton's midfield dynamo on the England goalkeeping dilemma, Bolton's hidden talent and why Real Madrid can retain their title

As Jussi Jaaskelainen keeps reminding me, it's not easy being a goalkeeper.

If you do make a mistake it invariably means conceding a goal - and if you make a mistake as an international goalkeeper you can expect to get hammered. If you make that mistake for England against Germany then it's the very worst case scenario and poor Paul Robinson has been finding that out.

It was a strange one because it seemed he was trying to anticipate the cross, and whether Bernd Schneider was good enough to have spotted that or just got lucky we'll never know, but either way it couldn't have ended up worse for him. As another professional you feel a bit sorry for Paul, but equally it's a harsh world and he's probably been under a bit of pressure for a while. Certainly there was the one against Croatia and with David James coming back into the squad he would inevitably have felt a bit more focus on himself.

But then it's been a bad start to the season all round for the goalkeepers' union. There was Tony Warner's mistake for Fulham against us, and then Jens Lehmann's one against Blackburn when I think he was deceived by a ball that flew off line, as the modern balls can do. I suppose it's the flip side of how in that position you can also be the hero - Wayne Hennessey was brilliant for Wales in Bulgaria and rightly earned rave reviews. As Jussi says you're either the hero or the villain in that position - not like we midfield players who can chug up and down and go unnoticed!

The England game has been good for us at The Reebok because it's taken just a bit of focus off our own problems, but it's fair to say that we're pretty focused on putting things right. I couldn't help noticing that Sammy Lee has taken over from Martin Jol as favourite to be the first managerial change, but I can assure you we won't take that too seriously. It's at times like this when you see the qualities of a person and Sammy has been absolutely brilliant around the club this week.

I think he's been around the game long enough to know that if you get off to a start like we have it's inevitable you'll get that sort of reaction and he's experienced enough not to let it affect him. That's part of the job of a Premiership manager these days because everything is so much more high profile. You take the job knowing it will happen if you have a couple of bad results and so you are ready to deal with it. We're aware that results dictate everything, and have certainly added to the speculation around Nic Anelka and El Hadji Diouf. I think both of them are professional enough to ignore it and focus on their game.

One thing that does surprise me is when people say Bolton haven't strengthened the squad. I think that's probably because apart from Jlloyd Samuel and Gavin McCann most of the players we've brought in are relatively unknown in this country at the moment. But from training with our new boys I can assure you there is some talent settling into the club.

Daniel Braaten, a Norwegian striker who has played for Rosenborg in the Champions League, is one who has really caught the eye, and Christian Wilhelmsson who is a Swedish midfielder who has played for Nantes and Roma is another who I think will attract some attention in due course. They and the other new players from abroad will need time to settle in, but it shouldn't surprise people if either of them emerge because we've got a record at Bolton for unearthing good players. Who had heard of Abdoulaye Faye or Tal Ben Haim before they joined us?

The Spanish Primera Division kicks off this weekend and Real Madrid have certainly pushed the boat out to try to strengthen their challenge by getting Gabriel Heinze and Arjen Robben. That will add significantly to their threat down the left. They look value at 4 to recapture the title, although I'd still think Barcelona deserve to be 1.74 favourites. We had reports in the week from Norway's friendly with Argentina and Lionel Messi was outstanding. Put him and Ronaldinho together and Barca remain the team to beat. If I wanted an outside bet I'd rather go for Seville at 12, especially now Juande Ramos is definitely staying.

I'll be interested to see how my old club Newcastle line up against Middlesbrough on Sunday, and whether Big Sam will bring Michael Owen into the starting team or stick with the 4-5-1 system with Mark Viduka on his own up front. If Sam does go back to 4-4-2 I can see Michael scoring loads of goals alongside Viduka because it looks like a natural partnership of his pace alongside Viduka's strength and hold-up play. I see Michael's available at 36 at the moment to be the Premiership's top goalscorer - given his record that's an amazing price. You can also back him at 7.6 to be the top English goalscorer in the Premier League and if he stays fit and plays regularly I'd think Frank Lampard is the only significant rival. Darren Bent is 5.8 favourite but with Tottenham's options up front you can't be sure how many games he'll play.

Incidentally I see Michael opened his new stables to the press on Thursday - it's quite near my home and I was lucky enough to be given a guided tour in the summer. It's a fabulous place and with Nicky Vaughan as his trainer I think he could be very successful. That's Michael - he's got that Midas touch. He's certainly sunk some money into getting everything just right with brand new gallops and state of the art facilities.

I know some footballers like having a business interest away from the game and find it helps them to switch their mind onto something different. It's not really for me though - if I do anything I want to focus completely on it and the days when as a player you had lots of spare time are gone now. These days, especially with the sort of wide ranging fitness work we do at Bolton with yoga sessions and so on, your commitment to being fit and focused on football is pretty much 100 per cent.

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