Shay Hits Out At Souness

Given: 'I don't think the squad feels like we are muddling through until those two (Dyer and Owen) return.

'We felt that we could have won the game on Saturday and that's with whatever team we put out. We didn't win the game, but if you are waiting for Kieron Dyer you could be waiting all season because he has been injured for so long and Michael has had his problems.

'We have got to dig deep, in an ideal world we would have all our players fit and you would see our real team, but other teams are the same and we have got to get on with it. Other teams have injuries and suspensions so we can't keep using that as an excuse.

'We were looking comfortable at 1-0. They didn't really trouble us until they scored. I don't remember having much to do at all, although I don't think their keeper was overworked either. Shola (Ameobi) had a couple that he made himself. Apart from that we didn't create much, which is understandable because confidence is not sky high after three defeats.

'At the end we could have lost it. I don't know what was going through my mind. I could see the penalty coming. I could see Titus coming across and Baros was waiting for him to come in. Titus has to learn from that. At 1-0, in an ideal world, you would like to see the game out. I suppose we were pushing, trying to get the second one. The dressing room was OK afterwards, I suppose. We were one up so there's mixed minds in there.

'We are kind of happy in the sense that we got something, but before the game we wanted to get the three points. We are lucky to have a point in the end because they missed a penalty, but the manager deserves that little bit of luck. We didn't have that luck at Chelsea and at Everton. Maybe today Lady Luck was shining on us. Little things like that do change seasons and obviously confidence wasn't really here today.

'Pressure is only a word, you have just got to do your job. Confidence isn't great with losing three in a row and it was very important that we took something. We will be back in training on Monday morning and we will start to prepare for the arrival of Arsenal next weekend. People have to realise that changing the manager isn't always the answer. You can't deny that this has been another season of under-achievement. We have got to improve, but we have got two thirds of the season to go and we need to be back in Europe.

'If we get some of our players back who knows? If we get everyone fit I don't see why we can't go on a charge. Look at Liverpool, six weeks ago everyone was saying they were under-achieving and I looked at them before kick-off and they were second in the league because they have put a run of wins together.'