Byline: ALAN NIXON
CLARKE CARLISLE has found out that the Premier League's superstars are not as big as he thought they were...in size anyway.
Burnley defender Carlisle has waited a playing lifetime to take on the best in the game and admitted he was intimidated by them until he actually stood next to them.
The far-travelled centrehalf stands at 6ft 3in and confessed that he thought he would be looking up at the top-flight elite before he came face-to-face with them.
Carlisle laughed: 'I had only really seen some of these guys on TV and I was shocked when I played against the likes of Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen. They're only little!
'These players are just not as big as I imagined. It's only when you see them that you realise 'I'm bigger than you.' 'It is all very psychological until you come up against them. You think they have an aura about them.
'I was shocked when I realised, but you soon find out that their football 'presence' is still vast all the same. I only watched these guys on Match of the Day before - just to see the goals.'
He goes to Liverpool today for the very first time. And that comes on the back of facing Manchester United, Everton and Chelsea in a crash course of learning.
He said: 'The other surprise is that the game is not that fast all of the time.
'It can be slow, slow a lot of the time and then in a few seconds they go from leftback to right wing to the back of your net in the blink of an eye.
'Your concentration levels have to be so high.
'The top five sides keep the ball for fun.''
CAPTION(S):
BURNING AMBITION Carlisle has big hopes
