Fulham striker Louis Saha today
said that he was disappointed to have only scored twice against Premiership
champions Manchester United at Old Trafford.
His performance earned him glowing tributes from his opponents and looked
like it would give Jean Tigana's team a dream start to the season before
they went down 3-2.
Fulham took the lead twice when Saha finished coolly at the beginning of
each half and United's Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose own two-goal response
won the points for United, said: "He is a brilliant player with a great
talent and a bright future."
But Saha, who was Division One's top scorer with 27 League goals last season,
said: "I was disappointed because I missed chances.
"Once I almost missed the ball completely when I was on my own in the
penalty area and
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Louise
Saha rues the misses
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I had another chance with my head.
"Barry Hayles missed one as well and I think those misses in the first
half were the key to the game. At the top level you have to score more of
your chances.
You rarely get the chance to score so many goals at Old Trafford and I think
it would have been difficult for them to come back if they had gone 3-0
down."
Saha's self-criticism is an indication of the ambition there is at Fulham
this season as well as the quality of their first-half showing. The 23-yearolddid
miss two good scoring opportunities in the first 30 minutes but converted
the other two opportunities he had and his goals were of the highest calibre.
United defender Mikael Silvestre said: "Saha is stronger than ever
and will annoy more than one defender this season. Fulham have progressed
since last campaign and gave us a bit of a wake-up call."
Saha added: "It is great to play at this level and against exciting
players like David Beckham and Juan Veron.
"Maybe it was important to play against United at the start of the
season because they gave us more space to play in attack.
"But I will take some confidence from the game, especially because
I scored past Barthez and he is a great goalkeeper. I don't want to stop
there though, I want to keep going." |
Source Evening Standard by Leo Spall