Sbragia: Sunderland will not hit panic button
May 16 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
Sbragia said. “It has been a much happier week for us after Bolton and it’s up to us to try to capitalise on that now. We proved we can be difficult to beat at Bolton, now we have to take it to the next level against Portsmouth. It’s no use playing well for one game and then going five without playing well or getting a point.
“It would be a lot worse if we’d played Saturday, we’d lost and they’d won. Whatever happens we will have two days to address the situation – it wouldn’t be a shock to the system if we were in the bottom three. Things like that can happen. I would hope it doesn’t, but there’s a possibility.
“I won’t keep an eye on Saturday’s scores. I will probably be training most of the time that the results are coming in, so I’ll perhaps have a look at 5pm.”
Sunderland are set to retain the sole striker system that saw them turn in their best performance of the campaign at Bolton.
It was a fluent version of 4-5-1 which saw midfielders Grant Leadbitter and Kieran Richardson push forward in support of Kenwyne Jones – and Sbragia was delighted with the impact it had.
“We did change the formation and it helped us. It made us more difficult to beat,” he said.
“I don’t think, maybe until the last five or ten minutes of the game, that Bolton opened us up. Previous games, away from home, even home games, I thought we panicked on the ball.
“At Bolton at half-time we said ‘Well done’ and we just had to make sure we didn’t get caught with a sucker punch.”
Meanwhile, Sbragia insists he will have ‘no problems’ with Manchester United fielding a reserve side on the last day of the season against relegation rivals Hull.
United can clinch the title this morning by earning a point against Arsenal, a scenario which would surely encourage Sir Alex Ferguson to rest his top stars with one eye on the Champions League final, which takes place three days after the Red Devils’ final-day Premier League trip to the KC Stadium.
“I don’t think they’re that sort of club. I would hope by Monday we don’t have to rely on Man United anyway,” Sbragia said.
“Even if we had to rely on them I would not voice any concern, not at all. It’s up to United what they do. I just wish Chelsea were in the final – that would help us.
“I would never be critical of United and by that time I hope to be safe anyway.”
