Coleman On The Return Of Injured Players

Last updated : 23 November 2009 By Covsupport news service RD

Chris Coleman has been speaking of his delight that some of his injury hit squad have returned to fitness and have started to regain some form.

Coleman singled out the performance of the two wingers, David Bell and Michael McIndoe,who started a match together for the first time since the first game of the season against Ipswich. He was also pleased with new central defence partnership of Leon Barnett and Richard Wood.

The manager said to the CT, "It's important to have natural wingers who are comfortable in the position. You can get away with playing square pegs in round holes for a couple of games but it soon catches up with you."

"Having Bell and McIndoe together gives us a better balance, attacks flow and you get quality balls into the box, as Michael showed with a great cross for our equaliser. At the back we had two centre-halves who had never played together."

"It will take time for them to get the feel of each other but even first time out we showed more solidity, in the main when we were called upon we answered the questions."

Chris Coleman is now hoping his players continue to recover and stay injury free.

"That was David Bell's first 90 minutes for six months and Richard Wood's first for six weeks and Leon Barnett hadn't been playing for West Brom before he came here. Stephen Wright had an injection in his foot on Thursday which meant he couldn't train on Friday but he was able to play, so although we had some good strong players out there, they weren't all 100-per-cent fit."

"We've had that for four or five games which is one of the main reasons we've been struggling; we've been showing flashes of really good play for 20 minutes and that's not enough, we've got to be consistent for 90 minutes. I'm looking forward to getting everybody fully fit, not just for one game but seven, eight or nine."

"If we can do that, and maintain the work rate we showed against Palace, I'm sure we will start to kick on."