Sunderland AFC news: What Tony Mowbray said about another injury setback and Norwich City
and live on Freeview channel 276
The Black Cats will be hoping to bounce back from last weekend’s 5-1 defeat by Stoke, their third consecutive victory in the Championship.
That result has left Sunderland six points behind Norwich, who occupy the final play-off position.
David Wagner’s side are also in fine form after taking 10 points from their last five games.
Here’s what was said at The Academy of Light as Mowbray spoke to the media:
RECAP: Tony Mowbray press conference
Key Events
- Sunderland face Norwich City at Carrow Road on Sunday (12pm kick-off).
- The Black Cats are looking to bounce back following last weekend’s 5-1 defeat by Stoke.
- Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray is set to spoke to the media earlier today.
Mowbray on injuries
“They are playing at a level that they haven’t played at for four years in League One, and this is a different league to League One.
“Some players have played 30-odd games consecutively and it becomes very difficult. Ross Stewart, did he play every game in League One? He’s picked up two injuries since I’ve been here.
“They were in-game and warm-up game injuries, they weren’t out on the grass here where we were pushing training too hard.
“Maybe their bodies are finding the extra intensity of playing in this league, the demands on the body is becoming really difficult.
“Without giving too much away, in training today there was a player who came off, a pretty important player for us, who came off with a muscle injury.
“It is frustrating because we want to try and be competitive and as the season is coming towards the crux, we have fallen away over the last few weeks, but if you can put back-to-back wins together you are right in the mix.”
Mowbray on Norwich
“I have watched Norwich and studied Norwich, they are a positional football team, that they build up slowly, put their players into attacking positions and they play forward into these attacking positions and ask questions of your defence.
“They are a good team and you have to find a way. They are all in-possession football teams, so when you have the ball you should be able to find the spaces and give them potential problems, as opposed to some teams in this league who are very out of possession teams and stop the opposition
“Potentially if we play well against these teams, the game should be open and hopefully we can come out on top in these games.”
More to come
That brings us to the end of the broadcast section of the press conference, but Mowbray has also spoken to the written press including our reporter Phil Smith.
You can find more from the Black Cats boss, as well as build-up to Sunday’s match over on the SAFC section of the Echo website.