Striker’s Grabban on to a little bit of hope
LEWIS: WE CAN TURN OUR SEASON AROUND
LEWIS Grabban insists there is still time for Sunderland to turn their season around - and cites his experience at Bournemouth as proof.
The Black Cats have endured an awful start to the season, just a solitary win in their opening 12 league games leaving them in the bottom three of the Championship.
Grabban says it is a similar situation to the one he encountered in his first season at Bournemouth in 2012-13, when the Cherries won only one of their first 11 games in League One.
That season Bournemouth turned the corner and went on to lose only one of their next 22 matches in a campaign which ended in automatic promotion.
The striker, who is on a seasonlong loan with the Wearsiders from the Vitality Stadium, said: “Most of my career has been in teams which have been challenging for promotion, but there is one time when I was in the relegation zone. It was only for a short time and it was just after I joined Bournemouth in League One.
“It was a similar situation – we were in the bottom three after 11 or 12 games – but then we ended up going on a massive run, we did not lose for 21 games.
“By the end of that, we were second in the league, so that just shows it is possible to turn things around.
“It is just getting to that tipping point where things change.
“At that time, it was just about cementing a style we were going to play, week in, week out and sticking to it.
“That was the key at Bournemouth. That is what we did and everyone knew their jobs. That kicked us on.
“It was similar to here – we had a good set of players there too and the majority of them are still at the club in the Premier League. It is possible.”
Sunderland’s season began with two draws and a victory at Norwich City, Grabban scoring three goals in those games, before a home defeat against Leeds slowed their momentum and then a 3-0 reverse at Barnsley in the next game was the point where things turned sour.
Just as Sunderland’s season quickly took a turn for the worse, Grabban says a win at his old club Brentford this weekend could be the catalyst for another change in fortunes.
The 29-year-old, who spent three loan spells with the Bees in 2010 and 2011 when he was with Millwall, added: ““I think the gaffer has made that point a few times - it only takes one game to turn it around.
“The Barnsley game was a bit of a shock but maybe also a reality check that you can be beaten by teams people think are maybe lesser than yourselves.
“You have to take every game as it is and not underestimate people, maybe we did that game.
“If you go on a run people can forget how bad things were at the start of the season.
“That has probably happened every season, there is a team whch is underachieving but then kicks on at some point and is able to maintain that high level.”
Sunderland are next to bottom of the table, three points behind fourth-bottom Birmingham City.
Grabban admits the club’s position accurately reflects their results but, with 36 games still to play, he is confident the Wearsiders will not be looking over their shoulders in the latter stages of the season.
He said: “You cannot say it is a false position, we are where we are in the table.
“If we do the right things and play to our ability we should not be where we are - but so far we have not done that.
“I am not worried about relegation or anything like that – I don’t think that is going to be an issue.”