Diao Was Watched

Glenn Roeder says he would have liked to have brought Salif Diao to Upton Park if he could have afforded him.

His performance for Liverpool on Saturday was certainly robust and influential, and Glenn says:

"That was the first time I have seen Diao live for Liverpool, a big central midfielder that we watched quite a few times in the last year at Sedan.

"We were always very impressed with him - but the price was very expensive for us.

"Anyway, he has gone to Liverpool and is playing Champions' League football which is, I'm sure, what he wants."

It is not just on the field last weekend that Glenn cast an envious glance at Liverpool, but on the bench as well.

"It just about sums up the strength in depth when you have England's central midfield player Steve Gerrard coming on as a substitute in the second half, having sat alongside Diouf at £10m, Cheyrou at £3m, Kirkland who wasn't exactly cheap, and Baros - as for Gerrard, you couldn't put a price on him.

"It is a very impressive Champions' League squad, and possibly a chapionship winning team this year.

"They were certainly good on Saturday, and Gerard Houllier is a very experienced manager; everything he is saying is making sense, and he is playing things down - but I am sure inside Anfield they must be delighted with the way things are going, and they have given themselves a hell of a chance.

"Gerard Houllier has been allowed to get together a very impressive squad over the last three or four years, and he has certainly spent very well."

Looking at the game overall, he says:

"I certainly would have liked the opportunity to bring the game back to 1-1.

"We spent most of the first half on the back foot, and Gerard Houllier himself said he didn't think his team could have played any better than they did in that opening 45 minutes.

"We only created the one chance in the first half, which fell to Steve Lomas after Jermain Defoe did very well to wriggle past Hypia.

"But when the second goal went in, during the opening 10 or 15 minutes after the break, we were having our best period, and who knows what would have happened if we had scored - we certainly won't now.

"We were certainly up against it in the manner in which Liverpool played."