SAM’S HOPING COMPLACEN DOESN’T SEE CATS COME UNSTUCK
ALLARDYCE: I’LL KNOW WITHIN 10 MINUTES IF SUNDERLAND ARE UP FOR IT AGAINST THE TOFFEES
Sam Allardyce believes he will know within the opening 10 minutes of tomorrow’s survival opportunity if complacency has set in amongst his Sunderland players.
Sunderland can see the finish line in the Premier League relegation scrap, with only two points required from the final two games to beat the drop and propel both Newcastle and Norwich City into the Championship.
But Allardyce’s concern is that complacency could become Sunderland’s biggest threat to sealing their safety against Everton tomorrow night after the Black Cats moved into such a strong position through their stunning weekend victory over Chelsea.
There was no hint of any players taking anything for granted during their postmatch interviews on Saturday night, as they spoke repeatedly of finishing the job against an out-of-form Everton side, who have won just one of their last nine games.
Yet after Sunderland produced such a tireless physical effort to beat Chelsea, Allardyce says it will be immediately apparent if they have let their standards slip.
“They talk about it, but I’ll be glad to see it on the field,” said Allardyce, who only has Billy Jones as an injury worry, with centre-half Lamine Kone available to face the Toffees.
“I’ll know in the first five or 10 minutes whether they’re going to be that committed or not, or whether they allow the size of the game to cause them any problems.
“Now it’s a case of a win will get us safe, there’s no greater pressure, other than you must win the last game of the season to stay up.
“We have to deal with that and then there’s this air of ‘surely we’ll beat Everton after beating Chelsea’.
“That’s not the case. We’ve got to perform at the highest level because Everton will come having been criticised for their performance against Leicester.
“Roberto (Martinez, Everton manager) will have them really fired up to give a performance and we have to be very careful about an Everton side who have a better away record than home one.
“Because we switched off defensively at Everton, we ended up losing 6-2 there, so they can hurt us with the quality of players they’ve got in the front line.
“We have to master those abilities first and then hit the weaknesses they have.”
Allardyce admits the manner and magnitude of Sunderland’s victory over Chelsea was still sinking in when the Black Cats squad gathered at the Academy of Light on Sunday.
But he was able to reflect on the determination shown by his players to record a first home win since February, as Sunderland produced their biggest physical output of the campaign.
“We had a relaxing day on Sunday and reflected a bit on how the game panned out,” added Allardyce.
“I suppose on Sunday