Cats stick to their own plans for derby

Jan 29 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

SUNDERLAND have refused a police request to travel to St James’s Park early on Sunday because Ricky Sbragia feels his side were beaten in the dressing room when they turned up at Newcastle two and a half hours before kick-off last season.

The Black Cats have been asked to leave Wearside at 10.45am for the 1.30pm kick off but Sbragia, aware of the unsettling effects of their preparation for last season’s game, says the squad will stick to their own plans, regardless of police advice.

A lethargic Sunderland conceded an early Michael Owen goal at St James’s Park last season and never managed to recover as they went down to a 2-0 defeat – a consequence of their long wait in the sweltering visitors’ changing room, Sbragia believes.

He is determined that preparation will be correct for a game that could see him become the first Sunderland manager for 40 years to lead his team to a league double over Newcastle.

“Last year if I can recall the game, we seemed to be in dressing room from two and half hours before game, absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “I though the preparation for that was poor, it appeared to have an affect on the game.

“I could smell at the time that this is not right at all – the players were twiddling their fingers, not knowing what to do. They were focussing on the game too early.

“You expend a lot of emotional energy because of the occasion and people were coming in and out all the time. It seemed to distract an awful lot from the game and I know I was looking at my watch thinking this is not right.

“It breaks the routine, that’s the

thing. Things are rushed. Their pre-match meal is rushed. The thing about that day I can remember is people sitting around, reading the programme, being very warm. It’s not the biggest of dressing rooms and there was a lot of people in there. From our point of view I thought it was wrong, completely wrong.

“This time we’ve said ‘this is the time we’re going to leave’, we’re not going to be forced to leave an hour early because of the crowd. We’ll try and take that pressure off them.

“They asked for this one to leave at about quarter to eleven.

“We think that’s a bit early, so we like to be there an hour and 15 beforehand and asked them to move that on another 45 minutes. We’re waiting for them to get back to us – but we’ve got to do what is right for the club.”

Sbragia is not allowing the hype and build-up to distract him ahead of the game, and will press home that point to his players – who suffered a dip in form after winning the Wear-Tyne derby earlier in the campaign.

He will have Kieran Richardson back to bolster Sunderland’s midfield and George McCartney should be fine despite only lasting 60 minutes on his Premier League return on Tuesday.

Paul McShane has a slight hamstring injury and Anton Ferdinand is also nursing an injury but the centre-back is expected to have recovered in time for Sunday’s game.

“We’ve got to go there and come away unbeaten, try and win it,” he said. “We went there last year, didn’t do much, were extremely poor and deserved to lose. Earlier this season, we did it in the right manner and spent a long time on working out how to beat Newcastle.”

Meanwhile, the club have announced contract extensions for five of their young players. Michael Liddle, Jack Colback, Michael Kay, Jordan Henderson and Jordan Cook have all signed long-term deals. Hendersdon joined Coventry City on a month’s loan this week.