Anton Ferdinand: Our form is still solid

Mar 2 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

ANTON Ferdinand has argued people are focusing on the wrong statistics as he looked to relieve some of the pressure on struggling Sunderland.

Although the Black Cats have failed to win a league game since November, Ferdinand (left) pointed out they have only lost only one – at Arsenal – of their last five games

That is more consistent than many in the bottom half of the table, although it has done little to improve their league position – they remain three points clear of the relegation places.

But Ferdinand, who has made a solid return to the side against Arsenal and Fulham after a prolonged spell in the treatment room, says things are not as bad as they seem.

“People keep trotting out the line about how long it is since we won a game,” said Ferdinand. “But we’ve only lost one of our last five matches. I don’t think there’s many teams in the bottom half of the table that could say that. Sometimes, the most important thing is you don’t lose because that keeps the points total ticking over.

“Once we get that win that we need and deserve, because we’re working hard enough for it, I’m sure we’ll be okay.”

Despite Ferdinand’s defiance, it is arguably better to lose one

game and win one rather than drew three. The lack of a winning feeling is having an adverse effect on confidence – and performances.

But the 25-year-old – who appears to have been given a second chance by Bruce after it looked as though he would be sold in January before his ankle injury – still feels Sunderland have enough to pull away from trouble as he denied the players were living in fear of the drop.

He said: “It would be naive to say that were not in a relegation scrap. The league is so tight that a couple of results either way can make a massive amount of difference.

“If we win a couple of games, we could easily be back in the top ten. We just have to concentrate on ourselves, not worry about what’s going on below or above us, and make sure we win as many games as we can.

“No one is mentioning the R word around here, and we don’t want to start having to talk about it.

“We don’t want to go through what we put the fans through last year. We want to be home and dry before the final two or three games.”

Sunderland’s ability to do that will depend largely on their next three games, all at home, to Bolton, Manchester City and Birmingham.

Ferdinand is predicting plenty more gruelling games following the goalless draw with Fulham.

He said: “I’d like to think we’ve learned something from last year. I think we’re better off this year than at the same period of last season, so we must have learned something.

“We have to take every bit of experience that we gained last year and bring it into this season, and make sure were not in this fight.

“I think it is probably inevitable that there’s going to be some more tight games. Everything is so close at the bottom of the table that a goal here or there can make a huge amount of difference.

“Some games are open, some games aren’t, and the more important the match towards the end of the season, the more you expect a tight and scrappy affair.

“Sunday’s game obviously wasn’t the most open of games, and there weren’t many chances either, but I don’t think that’s going to be an anomaly. We gained a point and at this stage of the season, that could be very important.”

Despite all their problems, Ferdinand is still convinced that Sunderland have a far better side than their form would suggest.

He added: “We were just lacking a bit of quality in the final third (against Fulham). That wasn’t the case at the start of the season – Benty and Kenwyne were scoring for fun. We need to get back to that.

“We can’t seem to get everything to come together at the moment. If were resilient at the back, were not scoring goals, and if we’re scoring goals, we’re giving things away at the other end. We need to get the complete package and the sooner we do that, the better we will be.”