BBC 8/1/07
Blades sign Kilgallon from Leeds
Sheffield United have bought 23-year-old defender Matthew Kilgallon from Leeds United for £1.75m.
The England Under-21 international has signed a three-and-half year contract in a deal which could increase to £2m.
"Playing in the Premiership is what I've always wanted to do." Kilgallon told BBC Radio Sheffield.
While Blades boss Neil Warnock said: "We offered more in the summer, so it's a good piece of business. Sometimes you are rewarded for patience."
Kilgallon was a product of the Leeds United Academy and played 95 times for the Elland Road outfit and also had a loan spell at West Ham.
And the defender added: "This is a big opportunity for me in the Premiership. I'm here now and I'm really excited about it.
"I've played well in the Championship, but now this is a step up, so I have got to prove myself.
"I played a few games in the Premiership when I was younger and I did OK, but now I have to show what I can do all over again.
"I'm 23 today, and now I want to establish myself as a good, young defender in the Premiership. I want to do as well as I can."
And Warnock said that his new signing - the first of the January transfer window for the Blades - would relish the challenge of making a first-team place his own.
"He is the type of boy that fits into the squad. He is a nice lad, but not too nice on the pitch, which is what we want," added the Blades boss.
"I think we'll bring the best out of him. He'll enjoy playing with us, and the squad will enjoy having him around.
"He gives us a bit more quality, and that's what we are trying to do. We're trying to improve the squad. "He still knows he has a job on his hands to establish himself at this level, but that's a great challenge for somebody like him."
BBC 7/1/07
West Brom 3-1 Leeds
West Brom produced a clinical display to ease into round four of the FA Cup and leave Leeds to concentrate solely on their Championship survival battle.
The visitors were the masters of their own downfall early on, failing to deal with Neil Clement's corner and allowing Paul McShane to fire in the opener.
And John Hartson made it 2-0 inside 15 minutes from Russell Hoult's long punt.
Kevin Phillips rolled in late on to make it three, before Paul Robinson sliced into his own net in injury time.
· West Brom boss Tony Mowbray:"We can create and score goals, but we can also be pretty open and we probably conceded too many opportunities in the second half.
"But the target before the kick-off was to get into the hat for the next round and we've achieved that, so I'm happy.
"We're doing our best (to bring players in). But it's difficult in January - teams who are trying to bring players in are finding it's a seller's market."
· Leeds manager Dennis Wise:"We had opportunities to score but we didn't defend as well as they did; they finished off chances, and unfortunately we didn't.
"I think we're gradually improving and I can't argue with the way they performed in the second half, but the first-half display let us down. "Overall, I'm disappointed with the way we defended. We had chances to make it 3-3 or 4-3 but we never got close enough to them with our defending. You can't defend the way we did - and they know it."
Leedsunited.com 8/1/07
WISEY'S VIEW ON CUP EXIT
United's FA Cup exit has left manager Dennis Wise to concentrate solely on the vital task of moving
the club out of the relegation zone and up the Championship table.
West Bromwich Albion eased into the fourth round of the competition with a 3-1 victory over United at the Hawthorns, a success built largely on a first half display when they took advantage of some slack defensive work and scored twice inside the first 15 minutes.
"Overall I was disappointed at the way we performed in the defensive department," said the United boss.
"We didn't start right I talked to a couple of the players and they know they didn't perform on the day. They lost their battles and that can't happen. They have to win their battles and if they do we will push on.
"I said to our centre halves that John Hartson bullied them a bit and I think they know that. But we have had to shuffle the pack at the back quite a bit because of injuries and suspension and we have not had a settled back four. We need to get that sorted out and have a settled back four.
United, however, still managed to created a number of scoring chances in the game and played much better after the break when new signings, Tore Andre Flo and Armando Sa were brought on as substitutes along with Shaun Derry.
"From an attacking point of view we created enough chances to have made it 3-3 or 4-3 so that is definitely a positive to take from the game," said Wisey. "We were better in the second half and I cannot argue with our performance in that second period. It was our first half display that let us down."We have gradually improved over the last four or five weeks and we have been very unfortunate in a few games but the lads have stuck at it," he added.
Blades sign Kilgallon from Leeds
Sheffield United have bought 23-year-old defender Matthew Kilgallon from Leeds United for £1.75m.
The England Under-21 international has signed a three-and-half year contract in a deal which could increase to £2m.
"Playing in the Premiership is what I've always wanted to do." Kilgallon told BBC Radio Sheffield.
While Blades boss Neil Warnock said: "We offered more in the summer, so it's a good piece of business. Sometimes you are rewarded for patience."
Kilgallon was a product of the Leeds United Academy and played 95 times for the Elland Road outfit and also had a loan spell at West Ham.
And the defender added: "This is a big opportunity for me in the Premiership. I'm here now and I'm really excited about it.
"I've played well in the Championship, but now this is a step up, so I have got to prove myself.
"I played a few games in the Premiership when I was younger and I did OK, but now I have to show what I can do all over again.
"I'm 23 today, and now I want to establish myself as a good, young defender in the Premiership. I want to do as well as I can."
And Warnock said that his new signing - the first of the January transfer window for the Blades - would relish the challenge of making a first-team place his own.
"He is the type of boy that fits into the squad. He is a nice lad, but not too nice on the pitch, which is what we want," added the Blades boss.
"I think we'll bring the best out of him. He'll enjoy playing with us, and the squad will enjoy having him around.
"He gives us a bit more quality, and that's what we are trying to do. We're trying to improve the squad. "He still knows he has a job on his hands to establish himself at this level, but that's a great challenge for somebody like him."
BBC 7/1/07
West Brom 3-1 Leeds
West Brom produced a clinical display to ease into round four of the FA Cup and leave Leeds to concentrate solely on their Championship survival battle.
The visitors were the masters of their own downfall early on, failing to deal with Neil Clement's corner and allowing Paul McShane to fire in the opener.
And John Hartson made it 2-0 inside 15 minutes from Russell Hoult's long punt.
Kevin Phillips rolled in late on to make it three, before Paul Robinson sliced into his own net in injury time.
· West Brom boss Tony Mowbray:"We can create and score goals, but we can also be pretty open and we probably conceded too many opportunities in the second half.
"But the target before the kick-off was to get into the hat for the next round and we've achieved that, so I'm happy.
"We're doing our best (to bring players in). But it's difficult in January - teams who are trying to bring players in are finding it's a seller's market."
· Leeds manager Dennis Wise:"We had opportunities to score but we didn't defend as well as they did; they finished off chances, and unfortunately we didn't.
"I think we're gradually improving and I can't argue with the way they performed in the second half, but the first-half display let us down. "Overall, I'm disappointed with the way we defended. We had chances to make it 3-3 or 4-3 but we never got close enough to them with our defending. You can't defend the way we did - and they know it."
Leedsunited.com 8/1/07
WISEY'S VIEW ON CUP EXIT
United's FA Cup exit has left manager Dennis Wise to concentrate solely on the vital task of moving
the club out of the relegation zone and up the Championship table.
West Bromwich Albion eased into the fourth round of the competition with a 3-1 victory over United at the Hawthorns, a success built largely on a first half display when they took advantage of some slack defensive work and scored twice inside the first 15 minutes.
"Overall I was disappointed at the way we performed in the defensive department," said the United boss.
"We didn't start right I talked to a couple of the players and they know they didn't perform on the day. They lost their battles and that can't happen. They have to win their battles and if they do we will push on.
"I said to our centre halves that John Hartson bullied them a bit and I think they know that. But we have had to shuffle the pack at the back quite a bit because of injuries and suspension and we have not had a settled back four. We need to get that sorted out and have a settled back four.
United, however, still managed to created a number of scoring chances in the game and played much better after the break when new signings, Tore Andre Flo and Armando Sa were brought on as substitutes along with Shaun Derry.
"From an attacking point of view we created enough chances to have made it 3-3 or 4-3 so that is definitely a positive to take from the game," said Wisey. "We were better in the second half and I cannot argue with our performance in that second period. It was our first half display that let us down."We have gradually improved over the last four or five weeks and we have been very unfortunate in a few games but the lads have stuck at it," he added.
