James thanks Redknapp for resting him
David James has declared himself fit to play in the FA Cup Final and thanked Harry Redknapp for banning him from Sunday's clash against Fulham! Goalkeeper James, who has been out with a calf injury, was fuming at the weekend after being told he wasn't allowed to play against Fulham even though he reckoned he was fit.
But now, after joining in full training yesterday morning, he has calmed down and realised Pompey manager Redknapp was right all along!
The England number one said: "The calf is fine, thank you. And that's a relief. We had a scan last Wednesday and the damage had basically healed up.
"It wasn't 100 per cent and I think that was possibly the influence for not playing on Sunday, which as much as it frustrated me was understandable. I have been doing my usual training this week and everything is 'A-OK.
"I wasn't happy to miss Sunday but perhaps I have to thank Harry. If it had been left to me I would have been out there on the Thursday after I'd done the injury - running about, probably injuring myself more and still declaring myself fit to play Blackburn
that weekend, which would have been a travesty!"
James says he hates missing games so much that he spent most of Sunday's defeat against Fulham looking at results from other games rather than watching the football.
He said: "I'm a rubbish watcher of football. Absolutely rubbish. I spent Sunday looking at other results. There's nothing worse than watching a game you can't play in.
"Don't get me wrong I was there on the bench. But there was nothing on our game, we couldn't qualify for Europe or anything and so I was looking what was happening elsewhere.
"I suppose I was hoping we would beat Fulham just to put them down -having been in an end of season game and getting relegated I wanted someone else to feel that. But I would much rather have been playing.
"And my concerns haven't been the Cup Final, my concerns have been playing in the Premiershp. We had a very good run of form until the Man City game, which we lost, and you want to be out there contributing to winning ways."
There's no chance of James being left out of Saturday's big game at Wembley against Cardiff, however. And he has vowed he will be in top form.
He said: "I'll do whatever I need. I'll get the work done this week to be ready."
Comments
Add a comment
Be the first to comment on this
If you are a Gambling.com member, please login at the top left of this page.
If you are not a Gambling.com member, please complete our sign up form—membership is free and it takes just a minute or two to sign up.