Cats urged to show talent

May 23 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

RICKY Sbragia acknowledges that his team have let themselves down at times this season – but the Sunderland boss retains the belief that their quality will belatedly shine through this weekend.

For all the millions spent trying to consolidate the Black Cats in the Premier League by signing established top-flight talent, the club finds itself once again locked in a sapping relegation battle.

And even more galling for Niall Quinn and major shareholder Ellis Short, Sunderland are actually worse off than they were before Roy Keane’s misguided summer spending spree.

Black Cats fans will be scratching their heads at the fact that it has come to this, and Sbragia admits he himself is “annoyed” and angry that the team have surrendered so many opportunities to secure their safety.

But he is banking on the pedigree of his players, which has not been in evidence much this season, finally coming to the fore against Chelsea tomorrow after three months of struggle.

Clearly the dressing-room chemistry has not been right this season but Sbragia dismisses talk that there are too many ‘individuals’ in the squad – and has called for all of his players to accept their responsibilities during the final game of the campaign.

“We are all in it together. You can’t play with one big name – we are 11

players, we bond as a team and lose as a team and win as a team and that’s it. Sometimes this season you have wanted more quality to come through and that has not happened often enough for my liking.

“When I took over we did really well and gelled really well, but maybe it was the right time to play teams like Hull and West Brom.

“What has happened to us has happened over 38 games – we’ve just not been consistent enough. We’ve had many chances to get out of this position and not taken it.