Bardsley: These are teams we must beat

Sep 21 2009 by Steve Brown, The Journal

PHIL BARDSLEY has warned Sunderland they must eliminate the inconsistency that, even at such an early stage, threatens already to define their Premier League season.

Having spent in the region of £30m overhauling the squad he inherited in the summer, Steve Bruce unwittingly or otherwise sent out a message that suggested the Black Cats mean to put the days of struggle, of yo-yoing between the top flight and the Championship, behind them.

Indeed, such is the mediocrity that makes up much of the Premier League that armed with new recruits of a different calibre now, some have been tempted to reason that Sunderland could challenge for a place in the upper reaches of mid-table.

Convincing home wins against the likes of Blackburn Rovers and Hull City, and an away victory at Bolton Wanderers added authority to those claims.

Defeat at home to Chelsea – expected, acceptable even – barely eroded them.

But losing at Stoke City, and on Saturday at Burnley, threatens to derail all progress made.

These are destinations that, if Bruce is to elevate his new club to permanent new heights, must be vacated with at least a point in the bag.

Instead, whether poor – as at the Britannia Stadium – or dominant, if only for a half, at Turf Moor, Sunderland continue to leave such places empty-handed and, Bardsley insists, that must change.

“These are the places we’ve got to come to and get something,” he said. “The manager said before the match that games like this can

define your season, and have a big say in where you want to be. We’ve got to start putting some wins together. We’ve been a bit up and down so far this season.

“When we have done well we’ve been hard to deal with for some teams.

“Now we need to get that over the full 90 minutes, rather than just one half. It’s no good playing for one half. If we do that then I’m sure we’ll start going in the right direction.

“But this defeat is difficult to take because we fully controlled the game, for the first half especially. I thought we dominated the first half, but in the second half I don’t think we really got going.

“As soon as they scored we were chasing the game and we got caught by the sucker-punch for the third goal.

“It’s disappointing, especially when we were so dominant (in the first half).

“We felt confident going into the second half that we could get the three points, but we just didn’t start.

“It’s that consistency thing we need. If we want to rise up the league and get into the top 10, we’ve got to be coming to places like Burnley and getting the points.”

And Bardsley admitted: “The dressing room was pretty quiet afterwards, it’s difficult to take a defeat and that one was particularly hard to take.

“It’s how we react now.”