Boss: Without January signings, we’d be down already

CHRIS Coleman has defended his January signings claiming Sunderland ‘had to take gambles’ – also saying the Black Cats would be relegated already had new faces not been brought in.

The Black Cats boss had no budget to work with but still brought in five players – four on loan and one on a free transfer – in an attempt to strengthen a squad that was low on numbers and even lower on quality.

But the new men have failed to halt the slide towards League One – nor make any discernible impact – since arriving.

On-loan Middlesbrough striker Ashley Fletcher is yet to score and has been booed at times, and on-loan Cardiff goalkeeper Lee Camp’s displays have come under scrutiny although he did perform well when he came on as a substitute in the defeat at QPR.

Chelsea’s Jake Clarke-Salter and Liverpool’s Ovie Ejaria have not set the world alight either.

Short-term signing Kazenga LuaLua has spent most of his time on Wearside out with injury.

But Coleman says he had to gamble, and insisted that the players he brought to the club want to play for Sunderland – unlike Lewis Grabban and James Vaughan, who left in January.

“We’ve had to take gambles, that’s the situation we were in,” he said.

“If you don’t have any money to spend, you don’t have a big choice. We needed to bring players in who wanted to play.

“There were one or two here that didn’t want to be with us any longer, they didn’t want to play for Sunderland.

“We have struggled to get Kaz LuaLua fit, he missed today with an ankle problem, Fletcher hasn’t been playing at Boro and he is having a tough time now and is under a bit of pressure, and Lee Camp hasn’t played for a long time at Cardiff.

“But at least they are here, because if they weren’t then we would be done already.

“Alright, we are struggling for results but had we not got four or five in [in January] I don’t know where we would be – we would be even further away.”