David Moyes says Sunderland will always come first – after clauses were inserted into Lamine Kone’s new deal to protect the club.
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The Wearside outfit are ahead of the Premier League’s bottom side Stoke only on goal difference after failing to win any of their first four games.
“I wanted somewhere that excited me and this is really exciting, though not in the way I hoped”.
Record £13m signing Didier Ndong is set to make his full debut in central midfield, but recent free agent arrival Victor Anichebe won’t be risked due to the former West Brom forward suffering from a thigh strain.
“I knew his conditioning was down but I felt he could improve as we went on and I think he is looking better since he came back from global duty and maybe he needed that extra time”.
“It is a building job, we are up against it undoubtedly”.
“But we have got a great chance to prove ourselves and we have got a great chance to show what we can do”.
Indeed, Sunderland have not beaten Tottenham at all since 2010 and have lost 13 of their 15 Premier League visits. Speaking at his news conference on Friday, he said: “The players have to lift their levels”.
“They need to show that this is not their level because maybe soon people might say it’s got nothing to do with the managers here, maybe it’s got something to do with the players”.
And with another fight on the cards, Kilbane – signed by then Everton boss Moyes FROM Sunderland in 2003 – has told Short to give him time to fix the damage.
Moyes, who admitted the defender’s situation had proved a distraction, said: “In truth, it took an terrible lot of focus away from both me and the chief executive, Martin Bain, during the transfer window. He looks as if he’s got real potential to go on and become a first-class goalkeeper”.
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“The players have to lift their levels for us to be competitive”. We are in a part of the season where we can’t sign players so we have to get on the training ground and get on with it. It was important that he came through this game well because he played well at Southampton, but let one slip and maybe if another one had gone in, we would have had to look at him a bit closer. But he played well and has everything to become a first-class keeper. He had a contract promised for him and the club were always going to uphold that.
