The talk of football

What they're saying about this weekend's games

Juande Ramos

Tottenham manager, on his managerial opponent today, Sunderland's Roy Keane

Players like Roy Keane are essential in any team. I loved him as a player. He had such personality and energy which he brought to the group and sadly those players are disappearing little by little. You can never say there won't be a player like him again, but it's just very difficult to find one with such a strong character and personality. I don't know why it's the case that there are no longer players like him, it's something a footballer carries inside himself. It's not something you can teach, it's something you have naturally.

Paul Jewell

Derby County manager, on playing for pride at Pride Park

As at most clubs, if teams go down their players' wages drastically go down – that's part of the deal. So they are playing to say to me 'next year, if we are in the Championship I'm good enough to be part of the group to take this team somewhere near the top of the league'. If they don't show me that before the end of the season, I'll look to move them on. There's nothing set in stone. It's up to them to say 'yes, I'm quite prepared to buy into what you're doing here' or 'to be fair, it's not for me'. Maybe some players might find it difficult, a bit too hard what we're asking them to do, we're finding out as we go along.

Steve Coppell

Reading manager, on Cristiano Ronaldo and of today's opponents, Manchester United

He has broken the mould for wide players. I played there and I used to think one in six was a good rate of scoring, but I look at his record and it is almost one in one at the moment. And it is not as if he just stands up there and doesn't track back, or go with runners. He creates, he scores and he does the donkey work. And look at the size of him – he is a freak for the position almost. You could sign seven other players and they would not have the same effect as he would. So he is value for money.

Arsène Wenger

Arsenal manager, on the return of Kevin Keegan

I am surprised and pleased. Surprised first of all that he has come back to Newcastle, because don't forget that one week ago everybody looked so convinced that Harry Redknapp would be the next manager of Newcastle. Second, that he has come back into the job, because he left it giving the feeling that he would not necessarily come back. Keegan has a positive attitude, he loves football and his teams try to play.

Sven Goran Eriksson

Manchester City manager

I hope to stay here many years – and passing football is the way we are going to play. When I buy new players they will be players who play in that style, who want to pass the ball. It was important to me that we played good football, or at least tried to do so against West Ham [last Wednesday]. We showed the right intentions and sometimes even tried to play too much – there was one point where I am sure Richard Dunne thought he was Maradona.