Steven Fletcher has lifted the lid on how the Sunderland players are feeling after another disappointing defeat at the hands of Manchester United last weekend. He has spoke about how Advocaat has used calmness on the training ground to assure the players that things will improve and this elusive victory will come soon.
Advocaat used this week’s training sessions to relax the anxious players and allow they to play with some more freedom and not get overwhelmed by the massive game approaching on Saturday against West Ham.
This could be a smart move by the Dutch coach, but even he must admit he surely finds it hard to remain calm with a bunch of players who simply aren’t good enough week in, week out.
Steven Fletcher, a main culprit for being part of the club but not showing his passion on the pitch told the Sunderland Echo today: “We always have a talk before training at the start of the week and he just said we need to relax.
“We can’t let it get to us on the pitch.
“You can see that ability in training, but we need to take into the weekend as well.
“We need to start winning games, everybody realises that.
“If we don’t do that, then we’ll find ourselves falling away.
“But the boys are still upbeat about the place and we need to stay that way.
“If we can get a win before the international break, it would be good for us to go away and have that under our belts.”
Fletcher,who was recently called up by Scotland,will be hopeful that Advocaat will change his system to accommodate another striker as rumours gather momentum that we may see a 4-4-2 to break the curse of the past seven league games.
Fletcher added: ““Hopefully I can get in the starting eleven and get my season underway.
“Everyone’s saying we need to get that win, and hopefully it can come this weekend.”
Everyone knows how huge the game is on Saturday and how well West Ham have been performing away from home but with an expected crowd of over 42,500 expected, the players need to give the fans something to shout about or even offer some hope for another long season ahead.
