RUUD WAS WORRIED ON SATURDAY

Last updated : 09 February 2004 By Editor
Van Nistelrooy:

"It is hard to find yourselves giving away three-goal leads.
We watched it happen in midweek when Manchester City
produced that amazing victory, but we did not expect the
same.

"But when it goes 3-1, 3-2, you say `oh my God, it's not
happening to us, is it?' Then it's 3-3 and you don't believe
it. But to bounce back from that, to get yourselves over
that disappointment and to come back and show character and
still win the game is a hard thing to do. But we did it, it
is something about us.

"It was an amazing match, a game of two faces. In the first
half we dominated and in the second half they did, and I did
not expect that to be the case. We were dominant, created
loads of chances and were the best team, but after the break
they turned it around which was a disappointment to us. But
in the end we won it, and that showed a lot of character.

"It is hard to say what changed. We knew they would launch
the ball up to [Duncan] Ferguson. But it was [Wayne] Rooney
who made the difference, he arrived, got the ball from
everywhere and just played very well. He wanted to run with
the ball and attack us and he was a difficult opponent.

"Let's face it, when you are 3-0 up at the break and look
like drawing then you are bound to be very upset. We could
not really see anything like that happening. No, no. You
have to give them credit for never giving up. We did not do
well, we know that. Their set-pieces were a handful. We
should be able to handle that, but we didn't. There was a
time when I felt Everton would win, not us.

"That is what it looked like, but when they got back to 3-3
they changed the way they were playing. They stopped the
long balls up to Ferguson and started to go for short-
passing combinations more, which suited us better. That gave
us the chance.

"The 100th goal was just a matter of time. I was on 99, I
knew it would come, it is really only about us winning
games, not me personally. Last week my 99th was the winner,
this week I got 100 and 101. I am delighted obviously."