Young and Bouma nearing return and O'Neill on Curtis

Morning all, this is another quick one today, mostly because there isn't anything but also because I slept in and really couldn't afford to do that this morning of all days. I blame the wife for letting that happen and I'll reward her later.

The reserves drew with Wolves last night and Craig Gardner got the equaliser but the real news is that our two full backs are nearing return.

Luke Young and Wilfred Bouma both played ninety minutes last night and while we know this is something that Bouma has done in the past, the club are not going to let him come back too early this time.

If both came through with no concerns it is starting to look a little congested in our defensive department. We have a centre back keeping a right back out of the starting eleven, that will no doubt be given to the one coming back and that centre back will be back to the bench while we already have a left back sitting on the bench when this one comes back from injury.

I'm all for cover and I think it really is fair to say that defensively, Martin O'Neill has it covered.

Before I go, Martin O'Neill has spoken about the Curtis Davies situation.

Martin O'Neill
I do not deny that there is a stipulation in his contract. He is due a re-negotiation after he plays 60 games. I did not know that until the agent reminded me. That was not the reason I did not play him against Fulham. I would have thought the contract issue was private information, but if the agent and the player chose to reveal the details, that is up to them.

Now, Martin O'Neill seems to be getting a little annoyed quite a lot at the moment. Reo-Coker looks off and while Davies didn't have to go public with this, his agent wouldn't have done so without his client knowing and there would have been a reason.

But Curtis is a big player that is only going to get better and he needs to be kept happy otherwise he might go out and start robbing and what good would he be to us locked up in jail? If we are going to have a defensive squad capable of winning the league then they have to all be paid as a team that is doing that, otherwise he can go and earn more money elsewhere.