George Burley has leapt to the defence of summer signing Finidi George. A number of supporters and some pundits have singled the Nigerian out for some stick as he has failed to reproduce his for against Derby in any of Town's other matches.

Burley urged fans to get off his back: "Because Finidi did so well on his home debut against Derby, when he scored twice and played magnificently, everybody seems to expect him to perform like that, and be a matchwinner, every week. It doesn’t work like that, but Finidi is still our joint top scorer with three goals. To be fair to him, that is not a bad return and he has also played a part in several other goals."

The age old problem of players settling tnot the faster English game is also an issue according to Burley: "There’s no doubt he has found the pace of the game in this country a lot more demanding than he was used to in Spain and Holland, where he played before."

Burley also confirmed the widespread rumours suggesting that Finidi had lost a lot of weight since moving to Portman Road: "He is working very hard in training — his weight dropped by six pounds in his first fortnight with us — and there’s no doubt the football he has played so far has taken a lot out of him."

The Town manager urged patience with his new signing: "It always takes new players time to adjust, but in Finidi’s case he made an impressive start and that immediately increased people’s expectations of him."

Youngster Chris Hogg, signed from York in the summer, is expected to be in the England U17 line-up this evening when they meet Spain in a friendly at Ashton Gate.

Meanwhile Dean Bowditch has been called up to the England U16 squad for their game with Northern Ireland at Rushden and Diamonds' Nene Park ground on October 12th.

Photo: Action Images

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