SAFC is a happier club...

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport...-place-under-poyet-says-seb-larsson-1-6280945

SEB LARSSON insists the Sunderland dressing room is a much happier place under Gus Poyet, despite the Black Cats slipping back to the Premier League’s basement.

Sunderland once again prop up the top flight table after a fifth successive away defeat last weekend was coupled by Crystal Palace recording only a second victory of the campaign at Hull City.

Yet midfielder Larsson insists head coach Poyet has injected the belief into Sunderland’s players that there is route out of the relegation zone after the Black Cats have taken six points from the Uruguayan’s five league games at the helm.

Poyet inherited a squad of players whose confidence had hit rock bottom under predecessor Paolo Di Canio and could boast just a solitary point from the opening eight games.

“Over the last month, the spirits have really, really been lifted,” said Larsson (pictured, right).

“It’s a good place to be around.

“I know where we are in the league and we’re not kidding ourselves. But it’s a much better place to be now.

“I think we all see light at the end of the tunnel for the season. We can all see a way out of trouble and we’re quite confident we can do that.

“We’re closer to safety now than we were a few weeks ago, which is easy to forget.

“I definitely see a lot more positives now and a much brighter season ahead than I did a month or two ago.”

If Sunderland are to avoid the drop, they need to find a solution to their travel sickness after taking just one point on the road all season.

Poyet’s three away games have all boasted a freakish element, with Sunderland conceding two own goals at Swansea, seeing two men sent off at Hull and then Wes Brown bafflingly dismissed at Stoke last Saturday.

But Larsson realises the excuses count for nothing when the Black Cats keep returning to Wearside with nothing to show for their efforts.

“The three away games we’ve had under the new manager have been unbelievable,” said the Swedish international.

“But we’re not going to blame anything on bad luck, we’re just going to keep fighting hard.

“It’s down to us as a team and the performances, which I do think have gone up significantly over the last few weeks.

“It’s now about converting those into results.

“We’ve had a couple of decent ones at home, but we’ve got to do that away from home too.

“We can’t put ourselves in the position where we’re fighting an uphill battle all the time away from home.”

Brown will at least be available for Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa after the former England international’s red card was overturned by the FA’s disciplinary panel earlier this week.

Larsson added: “Everyone knows it wasn’t a red card, but anyone can make mistakes and obviously the referee has made one.

“But we’re happy the red card has been overturned, which we were very confident would be the case.

“It made it tough on the day and probably ruined our chances of getting any points from that particular game.

“But it’s in the past, we’ve got Wes available again and we move on.”

 

The supporters are not frigging happy though are we ?. Stop the talking and get out there and get that win on Saturday.

 

We get fined if we don't fulfil our media commitments. We rely on that TV money. They need to keep talking and start playing.

 

Well lets hope we get a fair game on Sat, I have confidence that we can get something at Villa if there are not more freak incidents.

 

I wish they would just refrain from making these comments and just do their talking on the pitch..

 

TBH I am a much happier supporter under Poyet too. We were always going to be 2 steps forward 1 back with what he inherited but I am absolutely convinced we will stop up under his leadership.

Also, surely it bodes far better for the club if the players are looking forward to work every day, isn't it?

 

Me anarl.

We might actually have dropped on the right man, by default, after a few false starts with the likes of Keane, Bruce, MON etc.
For some reason they've all felt it necessary to have a go at the club since leaving ........... that sickens me TBH.

These people were highly paid, well received and backed with more money than the club had ever spent before.
Yet they all took the club to the brink of relegation

Absolutely nothing I've seen from Poyet has given me any concern.

He had the most lukewarm reception I've seen since Wilkinson but he may turn out to be the best of the lot

 

Could you imagine If we had took a chance on an inexperienced Poyet instead of an inexpirienced Keane? Wow, the club would look and feel completely different.

 

I think Keane was important for us. Bruce was to in his way, but his reign fizzled out. MON we could have done without, didnt really do anything for the club.

edit: I'm ignoring Bruce's attitude since he left the club in the above

I'm glad we didnt take on Poyet too soon, I think his experience at Brighton is important. Imagine if he had taken over from Bruce, had a **** 1st season, got sacked then moved to another club and took them into the top ten?

 

Agree totally about Bruce, MoN and PDC constantly griping on in the press. I am sick to death of having to read it from them all. Keane did briefly but has not mentioned us since.

I had a fancy for him after O'Neill left but I guess the £2m compo at the time put Short off. I think if he had inherited straight after MoN and had put together a new squad over the summer we'd be in a far, far better place.

He has all the passion, enthusiasm and drive of PDC with none of the worry or tension he brought. You are right about the lukewarm reception but also in your assessment we may well have just unearthed the genuine article here. He talks with intelligence; has a great game plan and can change tactically during the game to make a difference and I've not seen that in a manager at SAFC.............. well, ever. He has an A game; B game and C game.

I love the style we now try to play with and the keep ball mentality. Its not going to happen overnight but in 5 or 6 games its already taking hold and looking good. I just have no doubts at all of any kind that we will not get out of this by May and with such a long way to go, lots of points to play for and at least 8 teams in the relegation stakes, I cant wait for each game now. He does need to get to grips with the discipline and pray for much better officials for our games.