Cissé not punished until boss gets facts

Apr 3 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

DJIBRIL Cissé will not be punished for his late-night antics when Ricky Sbragia names his team for tomorrow, because the Sunderland manager is waiting to discover the full facts.

Sbragia has spoken to the Frenchman about the incident which saw him arrested outside a Newcastle lapdancing bar in the early hours of Monday morning.

The Black Cats’ boss is privately seething that Cissé put himself in the position but, conscious of the player’s denial of any wrong-doing, is reserving judgement until hearing the full story.

“We’ll deal with the Djib situation when we get the relevant information,” he promised. “There is a code of discipline at the club which he knows about. We’ll keep it in-house. He’s in the squad for Saturday and I spoke to him after training.

“I wasn’t here when the story broke (he was in Europe scouting potential signings) but I got a phone call about it and then saw it in the papers – it didn’t make nice reading. But we’ll deal with it. I’ve spoken to him and we will wait until we get all the information. There’s always two sides to every story.”

Sbragia revealed he broached the issue in a softly-softly manner, chatting to his colourful player about it on the Scot’s more natural habitat of the training pitch, rather than summoning him to the manager’s office.

“I spoke to him yesterday and did a little bit of extra work with him after training, then pulled him to one side,” he explained. “I didn’t want a meeting where it’s like going to see the headmaster with me on one side of the desk and him on the other all fearful. I spoke to him on the training ground and said, ‘This is the situation.’ But until we know the full facts we’re in limbo.”

Cissé’s arrest was particularly badly timed because it seems Sbragia was planning not to start his strike partner, Kenwyne Jones, in tomorrow’s game at West Ham United.

Jones played the full 90 minutes of Trinidad and Tobago’s 3-0 defeat to the United States in Nashville, Tennessee in midweek. Club-mate Carlos Edwards also played for the entire World Cup qualifier, which Dwight Yorke attended despite being suspended.

The match kicked off at 1am yesterday UK time, and the pair will not meet up again with their Sunderland colleagues until 2pm today.

Jones and Cissé have both been in poor form recently. The latter was dropped against Manchester City in the Black Cats’ previous game, but it may be Jones on the bench in east London. Both strikers have gone five games without finding the net for the Wearsiders.

Add in his very audible frustration at Sunderland’s failure to open negotiations over a new contract, and this has been a difficult few weeks for Cissé, on loan from Marseilles until the end of the season.

The 27-year-old made an impressive start at the Stadium of Light, the burden of playing as a lone striker while Jones convalesced after a serious knee injury apparently sitting comfortably on his shoulders.

As the goals have dried up – he has one in the Premier League in 2009 – the former Liverpool forward has cut an increasingly frustrated figure from a distance, though Sbragia’s first-hand impression has been rather different.

“Funnily enough, the last two weeks have probably been his best training sessions for us,” he said. “Yesterday he looked really bubbly – maybe it’s the sunny weather! But, don’t get me wrong, what has happened will be playing on his mind and I’ve got to try to get him focused on the game, put it to the back of his mind and deal with the issue when it arises.

“It’s not good reading for Sunderland Football Club but we have to deal with it and, if necessary, go through a disciplinary process at the club.”