Turner sees positives in sound defence
Michael Turner, Phil Bardsley, and Phil Jones protest to referee Lee Probert.
MICHAEL TURNER says he is delighted to be part of one of the meanest Premier League defences.
Sunderland notched a clean sheet at Blackburn last night to go with the goalless draw against Manchester United in their previous game earlier this month.
The second shut-out in a row means Sunderland have conceded less than a goal a game in eight matches against opposition of the calibre of Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United.
And although Turner was disappointed that Sunderland could not take all three points against a Rovers side which played the second half with ten men after the dismissal of defender Chris Samba, he said that the team can take heart from just how difficult they are proving to beat.
He said: “We would have loved to have won the game and I guess it was there for us after Samba was sent off just before half-time.
“But we have to look at the positives and the most positive thing is that we’ve got another clean sheet and we’ve got it against one of the most testing teams in the league – a team that really puts you under pressure from first minute to last.
“We could have won the game on the night – we had plenty of chances – it just wasn’t meant to be.
“But there’s always an upside if you can keep a clean sheet because it means you’re always leaving a game with another point.
“I actually enjoyed the game, despite the pressure they put us under at times.
“The rain made it it a bit of a lottery at times but it was great to be getting stuck in and competing and we’ve ended up with a point from another away game. We’ve got to be happy with that.”
Of course, what would have put the icing on the cake for Sunderland, is if they could have got that first away win of the season.
But Turner says Sunderland have to be philosophical about missing out again.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “We were on top, we created chances but we just couldn’t make the most of them.
“Sometimes you have nights like that – you have plenty of chances but you just can’t get one to count.
“The important thing when that happens is that you dig in and don’t get beat and we’ve managed to achieve that. We’ve added another point to the total and we move on.
“And we can be proud that defensively, we’ve got another clean sheet to our name.”
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
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Offshoremackem
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 05:56 PMIt is the wins that we need now, against 10 men we were woeful at times this was probably our best chance of an away win this season. Even SB says he thought the 10 men were better. Cattermole needs to step up and take ownership of midfield, to be put 2nd best behind henderson is not good. As for giving out 5 year contracts I am still not convinced that SB is the man, still playing people out of position. Lets see against Villa how good we are.
brians
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 05:24 PMconsidering where we were five years ago i'll more than settle for this. 6 games without loss remember that 15 point season. We are a patient lot by and large just lets get the manager and jordan signed up for next 5 years minimum.
brians
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 05:24 PMconsidering where we were five years ago i'll more than settle for this. 6 games without loss remember that 15 point season. We are a patient lot by and large just lets get the manager and jordan signed up for next 5 years minimum.
EDWINR
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 02:05 PMit was a hard game but the lads will come good soon with afew wins
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