Larsson was one of the key men in Sunderlandâs successful Great Escape at the end of last term and, after signing a new contract in the summer, he has carried that form into the current campaign. And Poyet is a big fan of the former Arsenal and Birmingham man. âWeâve got players in here that are going to do things all the time,â said Poyet, whose side will face Liverpool at Anfield tomorrow. âFor a manager, thatâs perfect. âYou know that Seb is going to run the most, in terms of distances, going and coming back, and then going again. âWhen Seb is good on the ball, his delivery is great and he gets crosses into the box, then on his day, heâs close to the perfect midfielder. âYou cannot be at that level all the time, with that amount of effort. âBut the things we learned a lot last year from our last five incredible games is that to win in the Premier League, you need legs. âUnless you are incredibly gifted technically, where every single one doesnât give the ball away, you need legs. âYou need to run and cover the ground. Seb has got that. âIt was a great option to keep Seb in the summer. âIt wasnât easy, but we got him.â Sunderland face a third test in the space of eight days when they head to Merseyside tomorrow. And Poyet must decide whether to stick with the core of players - including Larsson - who started the Chelsea and Man City games. And he has options in central midfield, with Liam Bridcutt and Jordi Gomez both pushing for a place. Poyet said: âI know a bit better when you need to change Seb or you need to change Lee [Cattermole] because you need legs. âDepending on who is the other midfielder, you need to compensate. âLee, Seb and Jack Colback gave us so much in the midfield last season because the three of them have plenty of legs. âYou donât just look at legs. You donât buy legs, you buy football players. âBut itâs something you need to be aware of because when you only bring in those technically gifted players and youâve got four or five, youâre going to suffer if youâre not in control.â Poyet will have to make one defensive change tomorrow, with on-loan Sebastian Coates unable to face his parent club, which means Wes Brown will return at the heart of defence after being rested against City. Winger Adam Johnson also missed out against City with a knock, but is expected to be back in contention at Anfield.
I've been legless on many occasions and have even attempted to play football once or twice in that condition..
Gus Poyet faces a selection dilemma ahead of Saturday’s trip to Liverpool, after revealing that Steven Fletcher suffered a minor knock in Wednesday’s defeat to Manchester City. The Black Cats’ top scorer has found the net four times in the Barclays Premier League since the start of the campaign, whilst forging an impressive partnership with fellow striker Connor Wickham. Speaking to safc.com Poyet stated that the Scotland international will travel to Anfield, but the limits of his participation are yet to be determined. “Seb Coates is unavailable and Fletch had a knock that didn’t let him train with us, but he is going to be with us so it is a big decision to see if we start him or if we give a chance to another player. “There are some players that are doing well and they have been knocking on the door and heavy legs give you that chance, so it is not something that is going to be crazy but of course there are going to be a few options.” “I think we learnt a lot from the game on Wednesday,” continued Poyet. “It was a little bit more difficult than we were expecting, especially conceding straight away and with a few heavy legs. “We were also tired mentally so it was difficult to cope with that concentration, the level of their quality and tactically having three games in four days was quite tough.”
