It is making me take a step back in the England reckoning

It is making me take a step back in the England reckoning.”Glenn Hoddle was at the Everton game on Monday but it doesn’t matter if I’m sitting on the bench.”Middlesbrough yesterday confirmed the career of their Italian striker Marco Branca is over. I’ve done nothing wrong and I can’t see what more I am expected to do.”The disappointing thing for me is that by being overlooked week in and week out means it is becoming more and more obvious that I am a peripheral figure – and I’ve never been that in my career. But that is little consolation to Collymore, who believes he deserves a place in the starting line-up at what he feels is the peak time of his career.
Collymore enjoyed a rich vein of form in the pre-Christmas period but his sending-off against Liverpool and a subsequent injury have cost him his place in the starting line-up.”I’ve scored twice in the last four games and even in the times when I’ve come on as a substitute I have made a difference,” Collymore said. “Seven goals in nine full appearances would be enough to get into a lot of sides.

I have looked at the statistics for the various partnerships and when I’ve played with Dion Dublin he has scored goals and, when I’ve played with Julian Joachim, so has he.”It’s down to the manager because he picks the team but it is very disappointing for me at the moment not to be getting into the side when I feel I’m playing well enough to warrant a place and to be influential It’s a case of having to deal with it. For Arsenal’s erstwhile teenage temp, Sunday should bring it home with a vengeance.. STAN COLLYMORE, Aston Villa’s record signing, has spelt out his disappointment at having only a “bit part” to play in manager John Gregory’s current plans. The pounds 7m signing from Liverpool is concerned that his “peripheral” role is wrecking his chances of resurrecting his England career.

Gregory said last week that Collymore was “winning me over” with his attitude and commitment despite being unable to dislodge the Dion Dublin- Julian Joachim striking partnership. The League goes on until the end.”Wolves’ prospects on both fronts have received a timely boost with Lee’s first major signing, Haavard Flo. The Norwegian striker has the aerial power to provide an ideal foil for the ground-level wiles of Robbie Keane, the Irish prodigy reputedly coveted by Arsene Wenger.Before paying Werder Bremen pounds 700,000 for Flo, Lee could be judged only on his organisational and tactical prowess. Perhaps now, with Sir Jack’s purse strings loosened, he will feel less like a caretaker.”I’ve been so focused on the team and the need to get results that it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I’m actually the manager of Wolves,” he reflects. They might come here not expecting such a hard game, knowing they’ve beaten us recently. Then again, they got such a shock against Preston that I think that’s unlikely.”Rather than go to Deepdale, Lee watched Wolves’ reserves. He then passed up the chance to see Arsenal play Liverpool in order to assess Watford ahead of last weekend’s game at Molineux.

Promotion, it seems, holds a higher priority than giant-killing glory “Definitely,” he says “The Cup will come and go. If Arsenal play as well as they can, they’ll get through, no doubt about it, because they’ve got better players. But it could be one of those days when it doesn’t quite happen for them. He detects similar attributes in John Gregory.Wolves-watchers view Lee’s switch from three at the back to a four as an attempt to impose his style on the team. He insists the change was forced on him by injury, illness and outgoing transfers.