McAllister Considers Attacking Options

Last updated : 16 August 2002 By Rob Cooper
Sky Blues boss Gary McAllister is yet to decide who will start up front against Reading tomorrow.

McAllister, who won the UEFA Cup with Liverpool just over a year ago, has Julian Joachim, Jay Bothroyd and £5 million signing Lee Hughes all available to him.

In the previous two matches the Sky Blues boss opted to field Joachim and Bothroyd up front but now Hughes is back from injury.

Looking ahead to Saturday's game McAllister told ccfc.co.uk: "(Lee) Hughes cam back in midweek and he also played in a friendly match against Villa reserves, which did him a lot of good.

"We have got a lot of good strikers at the club, but having said that we are pretty strong in all areas. One of the most comforting things for me on tuesday was looking at our bench compared to Brighton's. With no disrespect to them we had far more experience and far more strength in depth.

"With only two games gone teams are still searching for form and understanding. I have not decided what is best for us. I might look at playing three up front, you never know.

"Julian Joachim's pace means that he could play up front alone, as he proved against Brighton when we were down to ten men. One of my aims is to get Julian back into the sort of form that he was in two or three years ago.

"I wouldn't go as far as saying that he was in contention for an England place but he was certainly amongst a group of strikers whose names were banded about. I want to see him back at this level."