Moyes: I’m just being realistic

Manager David Moyes has insisted he is not being defeatist by admitting Sunderland are engaged in yet another Premier League relegation struggle just two games into the new season.

The Black Cats manager’s comments after Sunday’s 2-1 derby defeat by Middlesbrough were met with dismay by some supporters, who had hoped for better this season following four successive and ultimately successful struggles to preserve the club’s topflight status.

Moyes has high hopes of improving on that record and steering Sunderland into calmer waters, but he knows there is no quick fix. He said: “I tell it pretty straight. The truth of it is, does it need me to say it? The club has just avoided relegation in the last four years or so.

“I don’t want that to happen, I want to have a team which gets us up the league. But it can’t happen overnight, and I have reit- erated that. I can’t change it overnight.

“There were no new players at all until I came in two or three weeks ago, so there was a period there when nothing happened.

“We need to make changes to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. We have got to make sure that we’re not near the bottom, but I’m also a realist as well.”

Moyes could be forgiven for feeling tomorrow’s EFL Cup tie against League One Shrewsbury was not a major priority, although that will not be the case. The Scot said: “We take every game as it comes. We know that upsets can happen and we have got to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

David Moyes