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WE WON’T BE COMPLACENT

 

Win every personal battle, handle the occasion and be disciplined

 

Hi

 

It's derby day on Sunday and the importance of this match is not lost on me or any of our players.  Quite simply it is one of the most important days of the season.

 

We travel to the Stadium of Light at the weekend delighted to have our first win under our belts and looking to make it back-to-back victories. Needless to say it was imperative that we won last week and whilst we all said beforehand that we would have taken a scrappy one-nil win, the bonus for everyone at the club and, in particular, you the supporters, was that it was an exciting, entertaining game with some fantastic periods of play and of course terrific goals.

 

It was great to finally send everyone home happy and smiling after what has been a difficult start to the season.

 

Just as we refused to over-react to the defeat at Manchester City the week before, we have not over-reacted to the victory against Norwich.  It was a step in the right direction, but that is all.  No one is complacent. We have to ensure we deliver a consistency of high level performance not just over a number of games but also within games.

 

Gini took most of the plaudits after the game, and rightly so, but there were good performances all over the pitch which pleased myself and the coaching staff.  However there were still areas we identified that need to be worked on and that's what we've been concentrating on this week on the training pitch.  We have to keep working hard and focussing one hundred percent on getting our preparation spot on for Sunday.

 

I don't need reminding that we have lost the last five derbies and for everyone associated with the club that is simply unbearable.  It wasn't so long ago that we won five in row and we are desperately keen and hugely motivated to turn the tide and bring the points back to Tyneside.  The atmosphere is always incredible and I think unique to the North East and we have to go there, stand up and be counted.

 

There’s no question that our players understand what it means to win the derby.  A number of the squad have a great deal of experience of this particular game, but don’t forget that Mitro, Gini and Daryl have also played in huge derbies for their former clubs and the enormity of the occasion is not lost on any of them.

 

My message to the players is simple.  Win every personal battle, handle the occasion and be disciplined.  If we can do all that and put one or two of our chances away then we can come away with the positive result we all crave.

 

Sam Allardyce is a manager I've come up against in the past when he was with Bolton and I have huge respect for him. He gets the job done with a minimum of fuss and if you want to come out on top against one of Sam’s sides every part of your preparation and strategy has to be perfect. It's his first home game with Sunderland and the crowd and players will be fired up. If we at least match that, I am confident the quality within this group will prevail.

 

Enjoy the game on Sunday and I sincerely hope that come 2pm on Sunday afternoon, we’ve given you a performance and result to be really proud of.

 

Steve

 

:morph:

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I'd go with not saying anything rather than this shite.

 

Me too, but then again we've also been hammering them for not communicating.

 

I never get this. Who gives a fuck as long as they listen to fans to some degree through their action. If they are going to 'communicate' and still be cunts about it so whats the point?

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I'd go with not saying anything rather than this shite.

 

Me too, but then again we've also been hammering them for not communicating.

 

I never get this. Who gives a fuck as long as they listen to fans to some degree through their action. If they are going to 'communicate' and still be cunts about it so whats the point?

 

Agree, I made this exact point. Just saying some people want communication.

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"No one is complacent"

 

Talking about complacency after just the one win in nine :lol:

 

Aye, thank fuck for that. I was really worried about us lording it around the park like arrogant wankers of Arsene's Undefeated team.

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Is that real?

 

Why wouldnt it be?

 

Thought it might be a fake.  It's totally unnecessary, btw.

 

Treat it like any other game, man.

Agreed.

 

But it's not like any other game?? It is without a doubt one of the most important games of our season.

 

No harm in sending this out IMO, I quite like these emails the club are sending.

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Nowt wrong at all, given that the players haven't turned up the last few times I hope they've seen it as well. We have to start well and quiet the crowd, last season especially their fans made a hell of a difference. I know a lad who has a ST there and their usual atmosphere is as poor as ours (he sometimes comes to our games) but it was jump in last year. It's a shame we're now up in the rafters.

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Mentally we've approached this game in the wrong manner ever since the 5-1. Maybe it's better to play it down instead of being either scared, intimidated or too wound up for it.

 

You need to tell the likes of Tiote to not make any challenges and make a massive deal out of it when he's kicked to bits. Tell Mitrovic to keep his limbs to himself and again play up their fouls. Same goes fo Colback, play himself as a victim.

 

Cattermole, Larrson , oshea have been doing this for several years now and have got the better of us by kicking lumps out of our players for us lot to react and lose our heads.

 

Just calm the fuck down and play the ref, once they lose that advantage then we can start playing football.

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It's obvious the letter is just for the benefit of the supporters, there would be hell to pay if he came out and said it's just another match and tried to play it down to the supporters (See Gullit). I don't see a lot wrong in what's been said, it only becomes a problem if that's what's being said to the players, fwiw I don't think it is.

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