Bob Bradley and David Moyes discuss the main talking points from Sunderland’s defeat at the Liberty Stadium.
OVERALL SUMMARY
BB: “Today we got a good response from what happened at Tottenham. We got very important efforts from a number of players. Angel and Leon personify what Swansea City has been about. Bringing them back into the team today in an important game at the Liberty, they put some fantastic work in.”
DM: “We were in good spirits and confident coming into the game, but we didn’t put that in to action. We didn’t really get to grips with the game, we struggled with crossing the ball and we had a number of opportunities in the first half but just didn’t make the most of them. We were on the back-foot after going behind and we just never really got back into the game.”
TURNING POINT
BB: “Sigurdsson has got a good idea of how he wants to handle things. He is cool in those situations and I think his set piece work it always is important."
DM: “Swansea deserved the victory in the end but it turned on a big decision for me. There was very little in the game, and these games are so important. Whoever gets the first goal it can make a big difference and I'm not convinced it is the right decision. It did turn the game.”
WINNING MENTALITY
BB: “Fernando has not been here that long, but he also has experience which has to be utilised. He brings the type of leadership on the field we want to see, and we absolutely believe that Fernando can be an important player for us. He has been a winner, and every manager will tell you that it’s great to have winners in your team.”
DM: “Well we know that [we won’t panic]. Sunderland have been here many times. We knew we were on a good run. I said on Friday that we probably need to go on a good run maybe two or three times this season, winning a few games, drawing a couple of games. This time we’ve won three out of four, and that was great for us. So we have to do that, you know, to make sure we keep ourselves in the Premier League.”
IMPROVEMENT
BB: “I only know one way to work, and that's to think about the team, engage the staff, engage the players. That [clean sheet] is essential. We've conceded too many goals, different kinds of goals on different days, but at the end just too many, so today I think the focus throughout was quite good and they we were rewarded. It is important also for Lukasz.”
DM: “We didn't play as well today as what we have done but nevertheless that is the way the league is. We've got to show it was [just a bad day at the office] and next time we play again we show what we can do. Look, we are improving. Six weeks ago you would have said we were written off but we are back in it. What matters is where we are come May but we are certainly back in with a fighting chance.”
FINAL SAY
BB: “That’s a nice bonus [being out of the bottom three], although there is still lots of work to do and we cannot get ahead of ourselves. While we are not out of trouble yet, it looks better than last week. Now the challenge for us is to keep on going.”
DM: “We’re back on the bottom but we’ve been there for most of it so it’s not something new to us. But we aren’t back at square one, because we’ve got ourselves back in with a fighting chance and a few weeks ago [when they had two points from their opening 10 games] we didn’t have that. So we will brush ourselves down, and get on with what’s next, which is a busy week.”
