O’Neill Worried – Cahill Shocked

Following our loss to dirty dirty Bolton at the weekend Martin O’Neill has admitted to being worried with our slide down the league.

He said: ‘I’ve been worried since the start of the season. This is the situation we find ourselves in. We were only able to add Stiliyan Petrov to the squad in terms of buying anyone. It was always going to be difficult. I’ve been worried even when we won at Everton. I always get worried but it’s my job to worry and the defeat by Bolton doesn’t change anything.’

‘After that game was probably the worst I felt since I came here. We were beaten in our previous home game by Manchester City and had not played well enough in the first half. Against Bolton we were on the front foot for all of the game and we were beaten. It was particularly galling and disappointing.’

O’Neill said: ‘We haven’t got a strong enough squad and outside of Olof Mellberg and a couple of others, we have a very young side.

‘They are showing a great willingness and ability but we do need strengthening for every single reason under the sun.’

Meanwhile defender Gary Cahill, who had a blistering shot superbly saved by Jussi Jaaskelainen said: ‘I still can’t believe we lost that one.’

‘He (Jussi Jaaskelainen) did well to keep my shot out as it looked as if it was heading for the top corner. Generally when defenders hit the ball from that far out it goes over the bar. To be fair he made two crucial saves with the one from Craig Gardner. I think he got the slightest of touches, and then there was the save from me, so he was unbelievable. I thought before the game that I’ve got to be knocking on the door for a goal. I had two chances against Sheffield United, one against Middlesbrough, so it’s coming.’

Adding: ‘It hurts when you lose like that. You feel as though you’ve put everything into the game and come out with absolutely nothing, and that’s exactly what happened. I thought the penalty was a harsh decision too. I think there was contact, but I think Anelka hit the back of Stiliyan’s calf. He stood there and as he was about to strike the ball, he kicked the back of his calf and went down, so I thought it was very harsh. They had one chance all game which was a penalty. We had so many chances to have won, the lads are so disappointed.’