Faith essential if wins are to come
STRIKER LOOKS TO RALLY WEARSIDE AS CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM RETURNS TO CATS
FAITH can be a hard thing to pin down and very difficult to manufacture - but Sunderland could really do with some right now.
A new manager is like a pre-season – a fresh start, an opportunity to re-energise and a chance for optimism.
By appointing a manager who reached the semi-finals of the last major international tournament in Welshman Chris Coleman, the Black Cats have created a condition where faith can flourish.
With so little time to prepare – Coleman said he spent about 20 minutes working on football ahead of it – Tuesday’s trip to Aston Villa was a bit of a free hit.
It does mean they need something positive at Burton Albion this afternoon.
Quite apart from the fact victory would take them above the Brewers, to go into Coleman’s first home game on the back of consecutive defeats would dampen the mood against Reading and changing that would be massive.
The Stadium of Light can be such a weapon for Sunderland, but in its demoralised state it is some time since it has really been able to work in their favour.
Simon Grayson never led the Wearsiders to victory there but acknowledged this week: “A couple of good results, back-to-back, and the confidence can transfer back to the players and the supporters and it becomes a difficult place to play for the opposition, rather than the home team.”
Lewis Grabban, the secondhighest scorer in this season’s Championship despite playing for the bottom club, is equally confident it can change quickly.
Even 16 league games without a win has not dampened his faith.
“It is frustrating but you have to have a bit more faith,” says Grabban, who scored his 10th goal of the campaign in vain.
“We are reaching the halfway point of the season but a couple of wins and you are out of it (the relegation zone). It is that simple.
“It is about getting that win but also performing well.
“The better we perform the closer we will get to those wins.
“At the moment we just need to raise our level of performance and that will take care of the rest.”
As to how that faith can be created, Grabban is not sure it can.
“You just have to have that belief,” he says, matter-of-factly.
“If you have it then you have it but if you don’t then you give up.
“We are not giving up and we are waiting for things to change and for us to do the right things.”
He is doing his bit, if perhaps sub-consciously. When Grabban hooked the ball home to pull Tuesday’s score back to 2-1 – the final score – his first reaction was to run over to James Vaughan, who had nodded the ball down to him, to congratulate him.
Where the goals have come freely for Grabban, Vaughan has only scored one for his new club.
He needs all the encouragement he can get - but it was such a natural reaction, it never even registered with Grabban.
He insisted: “I cannot really remember what happened after the goal.
“We are a team so everyone is important, not just the one that scores the goal. The whole team.
“There is always responsibility on the forward. He has to try and score goals and that is what the forward players are there for.
“Once we get going and we get a bit of luck other people will chip in. There are people who are more than capable of doing that.”