Continuity man Sbragia won’t do any tinkering

Jan 3 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

FA Cup third round day is full of traditions like giantkilling acts and, more recently, Sunderland defeats. Stuart Rayner reports on how the Black Cats plan to buck the trend.

TODAY is the day when for fans of clubs in the top two divisions, their interest in the FA Cup starts. But in recent years it has also become the point in the football calendar when Sunderland’s involvement in it ends.

Not since 2006 have the Black Cats won a match in the world’s most glamorous domestic cup competition. Then, goals from Danny Collins, Dean Whitehead and Anthony Le Tallec took them past non-league Northwich Victoria. It was yet another false dawn, the precursor to being dumped out by League One Brentford.

Last year Wigan Athletic were gifted a virtual bye into round four by Roy Keane’s decision to field a much-weakened side at home to the Latics. They were humiliated 3-0.

As the financial rewards in the Premier League have become greater, it has become fashionable for managers in all divisions to play down the cup competitions.

With Sunderland embroiled in another relegation battle, the temptation for Ricky Sbragia to do likewise at home to Bolton Wanderers today is obvious. It is one he will resist, however. “I remember we played Wigan last year, changed the team and it backfired on us,” said the Scot, a recent addition to Keane’s Stadium of Light coaching staff at the time.

“I don’t think we had the squad to do that. The big thing for me is continuity. We need to keep playing the same team, week in, week out. That may change regarding injuries and suspensions but I just want some continuity between the defence, midfield and forward line. And if we can get through, it breeds that winning mentality.”

Winning, though, will be easier said than done. Of all the teams the Black Cats could have faced, Bolton are the one Sbragia least needs warning about.

The Scot spent two years on the backroom staff at the Reebok Stadium, and it is because of Gary Megson’s side he is managing Sunderland now. The Trotters’ last trip to Wearside was five weeks ago and they returned home with a 4-1 victory.

It was like taking sweets from a particularly weak baby. The Black Cats scored first through Djibril Cissé but Matty Taylor’s equaliser seven minutes later laid bare their mental frailties.

Those deficiencies appear to have been corrected by Sbragia’s arrival but there were other areas for concern last week when Sunderland gifted Everton three points by giving away dangerously-placed free-kicks. If David Moyes’ men are handy at set plays, Bolton are masters – something their former coach is acutely aware of.

“I probably know about 90% of the players,” Sbragia reflects. “They play a system which suits them and do it extremely well. They play in your half of the pitch as often as possible, they work an awful lot on set plays so it’s important we don’t give them away like we did last week, and they play a lot of good football. They probably don’t get enough credit for what they do.

“Set pieces are a big concern for us. We’ve probably conceded 12 this season but we’ve been working at it. We’ve been doing an awful lot on that and the attacking side – we’ve not scored an awful lot from set plays.

“Bolton will be looking to score from set plays. Basically what they do is keep the ball alive. They just hope you’re going to switch off defensively and that’s when they punish you.

“The game won’t change tomorrow (from November’s meeting). We know how Bolton are going to play, we have to do better. We made some errors, they punished us. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen because if it does, no ifs or buts about it, we’ll be out the Cup.

“We started extremely well against Bolton (in November), went one up, and for some reason we just went onto the back foot again. We let Bolton come into it and they scored from a throw-in.

“Then we conceded a second. Anton (Ferdinand) made a mistake just after half time, it was 3-1 and from my point of view the game was finished then. We did crumble. In the second half we didn’t play particularly well and maybe didn’t play with our brains.”

As well as the physical demands of fronting up to Kevin Davies and co, Bolton’s 4-5-1 formation poses tactical questions.

“We have to play a system we feel can beat Bolton,” Sbragia says. “In the league game the system was working quite well for the first 15 minutes until we lost our shape completely.

“We have to play basically in their half as much as they’re going to try and play in ours and make sure we don’t give anything silly away in terms of set plays. A change of formation might be a thought for us.”

So long as it brings a change of FA Cup fortune, the fans will be quite happy.