Sam Allardyce has revealed that Sunderland’s players are in high spirits ahead of their pre-season trip to Austria.
The Black Cats will travel overseas on Thursday for an intense 10-day training camp, with Allardyce and his coaching staff aiming to build endurance and fitness ahead of the new campaign.
Following their return, Sunderland will face Hartlepool United and Rotherham United in domestic friendlies before travelling to France and Austria for further pre-season outings.
Speaking to safc.com, Allardyce praised his players for their positivity before hailing his backroom staff for planning a pre-season which will allow the Lads to hit the ground running.
“The lads seem to be in good spirits and they’ve been through their usual pre-season tests,” said the Sunderland manager. “They also had their own programmes while they were away from the club so that we can move straight into football practices as well as fitness work.
“It’s fitness and football sessions at the moment so they’re quite long, but they seem to be coping pretty well and it’s about lifting their endurance in order to have the tenacity to cope with what will be another physical and hopefully exciting season.”
He continued: “The people behind the scenes have put together a very good schedule and they’ve worked very hard, so all I had to do when I looked at it was say 'okay, that looks fantastic'.
“This football club has faltered in the first five games which has ultimately resulted in fighting relegation battles, so the focus is on the first five games and trying to achieve as many wins as possible in the early stages.
“No one will be turning round saying this is Sunderland and this is the norm, so I’ve passed that message onto the players from the first day and said this is what we’re aiming for lads.”