Saturday’s trip to Brentford is on the horizon and on Thursday afternoon Simon Grayson addressed the media to preview the trip to Griffin Park.
Here were the talking points...
BRENTFORD CHALLENGE
SG: “It is a tough game, they are one of the teams that really handle the ball, dominate the ball and have a lot of possession. I watched the Derby game the other day and they had 76% possession and that is against a strong Derby team. It is a tough game no matter where we are going but we want to win matches wherever it is, doesn’t matter if it is home or away. Yes, we are desperate to win at home but ultimately we want to build off the last couple of performances to a certain degree and improve on them to try and get three points – whether it is home or away.”
BACK FROM THE TREATMENT ROOM
SG: “Last Monday it looked like we were going to be very strong and then we lost three centre backs. Unfortunately, Lamine (Kone) was ill, Ty Browning and Marc Wilson were injured. At the top end of the pitch we are in good spirits with the players we have got coming back. Lewis (Grabban) got 45 minutes last week and Josh Maja got some game time with the under-23s the other night. We have still got a couple of knocks from the weekend, Jonny Williams and Ty have got a tight hamstring. We will assess everyone to see where we are but it is nice to have the options available.”
CHASING THE THREE POINTS
SG: “If we get a real positive performance at home the crowd will certainly stay with us. There were times in the home game against QPR when the crowd stayed with us. We are away from home and we want to try and win the game and then we want to put to bed, when we go back to the Stadium of Light next week, (the record) and win a home game.”
WATMORE FACTOR!
SG: “We know what we need to do on the pitch to compact them to get the result on Saturday. Anybody in this division, if you lose a couple of key strikers it is going to have an impact on your football club and that has been the case. It is nice to have them back, Duncan has done his rehab this week in terms of the number of days that he trains. Lewis has got a full weeks training under his belt so there are many options available. At the top end of the pitch that is where you win games.”
WINNING FOOTBALL MATCHES
SG: “That is the bottom line. We need to win football matches. (We want to) improve the position we are in and improve the attendances and get people back enjoying successful football at the Stadium of Light and the connection with Sunderland. This is maybe something that has been happening over the last few years but what we’ve got to do and try to do is improve our performances to get people back through the gates.”
