Recruiting Ruiter priority as wobbly Steele buckles
clairir as he threatened ed to burst t h r o u g h for number four but there were far more mistakes than good moments, oments, and they will stick in the memory.
The Ivorian started the half by trying to find touch but could not make cleanan contact into the wind and, despitespite being only 15 yards in from the touchline,uchline, his kick failed to make it out for a throw-in. He got the ball out of the areaa when a cross came in from the right a minute later, but the ball had come off his heel in a completely different direction n to the one he was aiming in.
Grayson had seen enough and John O’Shea Shea was sent to warm-up.
Two more goals were added after the change.ange.
It t says a lot for what Grayson thinks of Papy py Djilobodji – Davis Moyes’ second most ost expensive signing for Sunderland – thathat the central defender never made it on to the field in the final dress rehearsalhearsal before the proper stuff starts on Friday. Surely, though, Kone simply cannotnnot be part of those plans. Not just for his sake, but for those around him. SIMON Grayson remains hopeful Sunderland can land Dutch goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter, after watching new addition Jason Steele endure a miserable debut.
Midweek-buy Steele was culpable for a couple of goals as the Black Cats were thrashed 5-0 by Celtic at the Stadium of Light in their final pre-season friendly.
Former Utrecht stopper Ruiter had been on trial with the Wearsiders and had impressed in the previous two friendlies at Bradford City and Scunthorpe United, but over the last 48 hours, reports have emerged of interest in the 30-year-old from Burnley and he was not at Sunderland’s game today.
But Grayson said Ruiter had merely returned home to Holland for a few days, and confirmed he has offered the player a contract and believes a deal can be struck.
“He was always going back to Holland, he had some issues to sort out over there, but we are talking to his agent and hopefully we might be able to conclude a deal,” said Grayson.
Steele had a debut to forget, and if Ruiter does join the Black Cats this week, there is every chance he could start the season opener against Derby County on Friday night.
Steele was not the only player who was well below par against the Scottish champions, however, with Lamine Kone also coming under fire for a series of blunders.
And while on paper the starting XI looked to be the strongest available to Grayson, he said it does not necessarily give an indication of the side he will name against Derby.
When asked if this was likely to be his team for the opener, he said: “Not after today it’s not!
“I said all along this game would not be a rehearsal for the game on Friday.
“People can play themselves into the team, but they can play themselves out of it as well.
“We’ll sit down in the morning with the group and go through what we need to do better.
“It’s an eye-opener to myself, because just when you think you are progressing OK, this comes along.
“It’s a big week for us in terms of preparation.
“We also said this wasn’t something that was going to happen overnight. It wasn’t going to be a quick fix, there have been a lot of things that have gone wrong and we need to put them right.
“But ultimately we need to do whatever we have to in order to get some cohesion and get a result on Friday.
“We’ll regroup tomorrow morning, we’ll work hard all week, and hopefully you’ll see a different animal on Friday night.”
James Vaughan saw a penalty saved in the first half, his second failure from the spot in pre-season having done the same in the defeat at St Johnstone a fortnight ago.
And asked if the striker would be on penalty duty when the Sunderland’s James Vaughan during the Celtic game yesterday season gets under way, Grayson grimaced and said: “Probably not!”
On the game in general, Grayson added: “It was not ideal. It was eyeopener for everybody.
“We didn’t work hard enough as a team, we made too many errors, too many bad decisions, and when you make bad decisions against a strong team like Celtic, they are going to punish you.
“But you can’t make those decisions at any level or you will get punished.
“It’s a wake-up call to all of us. It was one of those days where anything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and hopefully that won’t happen again.”