Now i'm all in favour of Ji, no particular reason, just a hunch. But he has to take his chance, and quickly. STEPHANE Sessegnon admits Sunderland need to swiftly integrate Ji Dong-won into their line-up â if Connor Wickham faces a significant spell on the sidelines. Initial tests on Wickham have been positive after Sunderland had feared the worst when the 18-year-old was stretchered off in last weekendâs defeat at Manchester United. The damage to the £8million strikerâs knee is not as serious as first thought, although Sunderland will not discover the full extent of the injury until the end of the week at the earliest. Black Cats boss Steve Bruce said: âInitial scans are encouraging, but hopefully we will know more by the end of the week.â But Wickham remains a major doubt for Fulhamâs trip to the Stadium of Light in 10 days time, with Ji in line to make his first Premier League start against the Cottagers. South Korean hitman Ji replaced Wickham just five minutes into the Old Trafford encounter and worked tirelessly alongside Nicklas Bendtner. But Sunderland still failed to force Manchester United stopper Anders Lindegaard into a meaningful save and Sessegnon knows Bruceâs men must find more attacking fluency against a Fulham side lying just a place below them in the table. Sessegnon (pictured inset, below) told the Echo: âI hope Connor can make a swift recovery and the injury isnât too bad. âHe has given us something different, because we needed more goals in the side. âHe played well in the two games before Man United and got his first goal against Aston Villa. âWe had to change it a bit when Connor went off injured last weekend and it affected us before we got used to it. âJi came on, played well and worked hard, but weâve got to get used to how he plays.â Fulham is the first of four games against sides lying in the bottom half of the Premier League table, with Sunderland needing to put a sequence of results together after a modest start to the campaign. While none of Sunderlandâs five defeats have been by more than a one-goal margin, Sessegnon admits the Black Cats need wins, rather than close shaves. âWe canât have any more hard luck stories, without picking up points,â added the Benin international. âThese games are important because we need to get into a winning mentality. Itâs time that we started playing to our maximum and putting some results together. âThere are no easy games in the Premier League. âWeâve got to approach the next four in the same manner as we did the game at Man United. âBut we need to take some points and climb the table. âThe league is progressing now and we need to get back into the top half
Good lad Sess, I have no doubt all will be fine providing we stick, it looks like we are, to 4-4-2 or even dare I say 4-3-3
Wickhams injury is unfortunate but as they say it opens the door for someone else. i hope Bruce doeant go negative and use sess as a makeweight. Our best chance of winning these upcoming games is to play with atleast 2 strikers, i hope to see Ji next to Bendtner until Wickham is fit atleast. who knows Jim might score some goals and keep wickham out of the side even when fit.
