Two games into the season and Mannone has already played behind three different central defensive partners; Kone and Kaboul at Manchester City and then O’Shea/Papy Djilobodji and then Djilobodji/Jack Rodwell in yesterday’s defeat to Middlesbrough.
Advertisement
“Work together, follow the manager and we won’t have a long time, there is another game on Wednesday and we need to win that to build our confidence, to go into Southampton with confidence”.
“He needs to get used to everyone and it will take time, it is like an engine, you need some oil to get going but he will be a good player for us”. We have got two players in almost every position, so you have got to be on your toes and play well.
“I thought Steven Pienaar was terrific in the second half”, added Moyes.
“The club this summer has been working really well behind the scenes because we have had nearly all the squad since we arrived to start pre-season”.
“I’m in the camp where I don’t think he should have said that”, he told Sky Sports Now.
“We should be more experienced, on the pitch, to deal with it and deal with the loss of John O’Shea, losing him had an impact on the game, especially with the situation we have at the moment with the centre-backs”.
“We have seen enough at Manchester City and against Middlesbrough some positive things. It’s easily said, but it’s not that easy and the prices, as you can imagine, are a bit more than they have been in the past”.
Asked what his response would be to fans who fear another survival scrap, Moyes said: “Well, they would probably be right because that’s where they’ve been every other year for the last four years, so why would it suddenly change?”
“Somebody will come into help us and maintain a high level and high standard to get the points we need”.
Jeremain Lens was brought on at half-time as Moyes looked to mastermind a comeback on his home debut, and his team responded with a stirring second-half rally.
“But again, I didn’t think we deserved to go in 2-0 down, I didn’t even think we deserved to go in 1-0 down, but that’s football”.
Another august, another defeat – is anyone really surprised that Sunderland are in the state we find ourselves in?
Advertisement
Moyes added: “O’Shea popped his groin, we think”. When the game was still 0-0 he did alright, making a number of decent tackles in the period where there was very little pressure on us to dig in. “We’ll have to assess that and see how it is”.
