New Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce takes his new side to the Hawthorns tomorrow in his first game in charge, as the Black Cats look to register their first win of the new campaign at the ninth time of asking. Sunderland currently sit 19th in the table, with neighbours Newcastle the only team below the Wearsiders, and Allardyce is aware of the task at hand just one week before the first Tyne-Wear derby of the season.
“Every game is enormous for us. We will have to be consistent, we will have to be resilient, we will have to be mentally tough in terms of believing in ourselves to try to get ourselves out of this position because in all honesty, winning three games on the trot is going to be very difficult for us,” Allardyce said.
“But it would be three games winning on the trot before we would even consider ourselves being able to start to feel a little bit safe. Even if we win the game at West Brom, it’s a nice start, it’s a good start, but we are still in that position.”
‘Looking forward to the Newcastle derby will be a lot easier, a lot better for me, if the lads can go out and get a result at West Brom.’
The 60-year old is already looking forward to his first match as home manager at the Stadium of Light, with Allardyce already feeling the love on Wearside before a ball has been kicked.
‘I will feel very proud. For whatever has happened here, there have been 40,000 fans turning up at home – I think it’s the seventh-highest attendance in the league and in all fairness, they haven’t had too much to cheer about.’
‘But they keep wanting to turn up and they keep wanting to support the team, and obviously I have got to try to make sure they go home happy from now on, make sure they come and look forward to the next game because they have seen us win.’
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