If and when they get their chance, they need to take it.......... MARTIN OâNeill says he hopes to give young forwards Connor Wickham and Ji Dong-won more of a run-out in Sunderlandâs remaining games this season. But he says theyâll have to earn their minutes on the pitch â rather than being allowed to play for playingâs sake. He told the Echo: âIâm aware that players like Connor and Ji will be disappointed not to have had more time on the pitch. âAnd now that weâve passed the 40-point mark thereâs maybe the opportunity to use the squad more. âBut we still want to finish this season very strongly and theyâll have to merit their inclusion. âIt would be nice during the course of the next seven matches if some of the younger lads get more of a chance to set them up for the summer, but thatâs the challenge for them. âIf things had been different this season, we might have sent them out on loan purely to get them four or five full games or so, in order that they can come back sharper and fitter. âBut that hasnât been an option for us because weâve not got the biggest squad and we havenât been able to let too many go out.â Since his disappointing run-out in the FA Cup game against Middlesbrough in mid-January, £8million summer signing Wickham has made only two late substitute appearances. Ji has also had only limited opportunities since scoring the winner in the 1-0 win over Manchester City on New Yearâs Day â involved in only five games, all as substitute, all with less than quarter-of -an-hour remaining. Now that the Black Cats are guaranteed Premier League safety in all but statistics alone, the manager can afford to see more of them and other fringe players. But he has already shown himself prepared to include in the starting 11 those he sees as ready for the job. Untried James McClean has established himself as a first-team regular under the new manager, Jack Colback has maintained his progress while frozen-out Matt Kilgallon has come in from the cold. OâNeill said: âItâs great when players come into the side and prove theyâre worthy of staying it, and thatâs what Iâd like to see happen. âYou have to be careful as a manager. âIf you play an experimental team, or players who are coming through or trying to show they can play a part then thatâs fine, but it still counts as a statistical loss if you get beat â thereâs no mitigation in there, thereâs no explanation that you lost the game but you were looking at your players at the time. âI make no apology for saying that we want to finish this season as strongly as possible â we want to get the maximum number of points possible. âI hope that Iâm able to involve the squad members, particularly the young lads, but they must show their worth when they get their chance. I hope that will prove to be the case.â
21 Points to play for - lets see if we can get at least 12 eh? That'd be a good return for me to finish with 53 points is an improvement on last season and should see us around 7th or 8th - win 3 of the 4 home games and 1 of the away games and then if we can pick up a draw or 2 then it'd be an excellent return - we HAVE to be due a win at Everton!!! Edit: We have Spurs, Wolves, Bolton and Man U at home and Everton, Villa & Fulham away Wolves, Bolton, Villa and Fulham are all very winnable games Wouldn't be upset if the end of the season looked: DLWWWWL Would love to beat Everton at Goodison - with a dodgy penalty and an offside goal to watch Moyes whinge about it!!
Maximum points can alter positions, the higher the position, the more money the club recieves. so until its mathamatically shown we can climb no higer, or be overtaken by lower clubs, we should [ IMO ] we should play our strongest team,and leave the unprovan players until the pre season friendlys.
A win at Everton is nailed on. They have the semi a week later and three points compared to that is not worth giving more than routine effort.
