POYET: FANS LIVING IN THE PAST

GUS POYET has accused Sunderland’s supporters of pining for Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn and the ‘kick-and-rush’ football of Peter Reid’s team. The Black Cats finished seventh in consecutive seasons at the turn of the millennium with Phillips and Quinn forming one of the Premier League’s most feared strike partnerships. But on Saturday Poyet’s side were booed off at half-time and at the end of a sour stalemate with Fulham, in which Jermain Defoe made his home debut and Jack Rodwell was sent off. But the Uruguayan had some harsh words for the club’s followers. ‘I understand the booing at the end and at half-time probably, but during the game when a team-mate passes the ball, I don’t,’ he said. ‘My message to them is patience. And I am sorry I can’t bring Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips back. I think they (the fans) are still living in the past. You cannot live in the past... you have to remember how Peter Reid left the club (sacked in 2002). They forgot very quickly about what Peter achieved, and that is very unfair.’ Poyet says the high-tempo playing style employed by Reid is now redundant in the modern game. ‘I think it was kick and rush,’ he said. ‘It is a way of playing and I respect it. I suffered myself here, 4-0 at half-time, but I don’t think too many teams in the Premier League play it now.’ Sunderland fans may argue that ‘kick and rush’ is better than the dross served up at the Stadium of Light this season, where they have won just once in the league. And Poyet is concerned about the disconnect with those in the stands. ‘Yes, it worries me,’ he said. ‘But it is up to me to find a solution to connect with the fans through better play, whatever that system is, whether through passing or going long.’ Fulham keeper Marcus Bettinelli, 22, was man of the match as he thwarted Defoe three times in the second half, and manager Kit Symons said: ‘Marcus has been doing that for a number of weeks now, so we almost expect it of him. ‘He’s been brilliant and he’s a young English keeper we’re delighted to have.’

SUPER STAT: Jermain Defoe had scored on his debut for every previous club, but has now gone almost three hours without a goal for Sunderland.