Southgate reserves praise for Viduka
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate paid tribute to striker Mark Viduka after seeing him come off the bench to hand him a first Barclays Premiership victory with a 2-1 win over Chelsea.
Southgate had to tell the Australian international on Tuesday he would not be starting the game, but got the perfect response when he blasted home a last-minute winner.
The manager said: “It is incredibly difficult when you have played alongside somebody, but I have said all along I will explain decisions like that.
“I did not try to kid him that I was resting him or anything like that. We wanted to play a particular way.
“He is a player of great quality and he showed tremendous character to respond in the way that he did.”
While Southgate celebrated, opposite number Jose Mourinho was left to contemplate what might have been.
Mourinho said: “Overall, the performance was not good. The team did not play well. They were too passive, reacting just to the game. When they scored the first goal, you had a reaction.
“We were not leading the game. There are no excuses.”
