Gary Rowell: 'Sunderland players lack character and confidence'
There's a list as long as my arm of things that are wrong with the Sunderland team at the moment and, for me, a lack of character and a lack of confidence are the two at the very top.
Both those things in combination have created a third problem for Sunderland in recent games – the fact that whenever we concede a goal these days, it's effectively game over.
When we went a goal down to West Ham, when we went a goal down to West Brom and, on Saturday, when we went a goal down to Everton: we never looked like coming back.
And it's simply not good enough.
Against Manchester United, once you concede, you know you're up against it but that's not the case with the vast majority of opponents in the Premier League.
And when Everton scored on Saturday, there was still virtually the whole of the second-half still to go.
You are allowed to come back and score a goal you know!
But there was no conviction or sense of self-belief in the side once they let that opening goal in – no conviction among the players that they would get back on level terms.
And I think that sort of fragile temperament is one of the things that Ricky Sbragia really needs to tackle as a priority.
For me, I think he has to look to see which players in his squad are the hungriest and pick them, because that's what it's about right now: desire and determination.
The skillful players just aren't doing it for Sunderland and they haven't been doing it for weeks, so look at the players who want it badly, who have something to prove or have the heart for the fight.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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