Gary Rowell: 'You even saw players smiling at times!'
To beat any team in the Premier League 4-0 is a fine achievement.
I don't care if they're bottom, top or middle of the league, to beat a top flight outfit these days by four clear goals takes some doing.
And maybe a measure of Sunderland's victory is that only Manchester United have prevailed against Albion by such a big scoreline.
I'm not saying for a second that Sunderland played like Manchester United but what you do have to take into consideration about the weekend's game was how much was riding on it, how much pressure was on the Sunderland.
Can you imagine if we hadn't won that game? Can you imagine if Albion had won and been on the same points total as us this morning?
For a start off, Niall Quinn would have been under incredible pressure to make an appointment this week.
With Ricky Sbragia having done such a fine job, one of the spin-offs is that he's taken some of the pressure off the chairman and I'm sure Quinny is going to be grateful for that.
It reduces the risk of appointing in haste and regretting at leisure.
I spent time during the Albion game watching the body language of the players and it was excellent – you even saw players smiling at times, although that's always a lot easier to do when you're 4-0 up!
When you are a caretaker manager, all you want is for the players to play for you – which is not sometimes as straightforward and obvious as it sounds.
Sometimes a caretaker manager can be appointed and players don't take them seriously. They know that person is only there temporarily and there's a danger they will let their standards slip, either purposely or unwittingly.
That hasn't happened with Ricky. The players have fought and expressed themselves in the last couple of games and that must be a great feeling for him.
It's also a credit to them that they have responded to him in the way that they have.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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