“We have a lot of games and they are all hard games, but we have to respond in the way we did today and I’m sure we will be fine”.
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Allardyce recalled him from Preston at the beginning of the month because he wanted to see him in action and, while there remains a chance he could return to Deepdale for the remainder of the season, Pickford is keen to stay at Sunderland and challenge senior keepers Vito Mannone and Costel Pantilimon.
“But I believe that the next step is to get (Tomas) Rosicky back, (Danny) Welbeck back, (Alexis) Sanchez back, (Jack) Wilshere back and maybe we will get one player in”.
“I just treated it as another game really”.
“It was nice. It’s been my dream to play for Sunderland in front of those fans”.
Pickford, 21, had previous loan spells with Darlington, Alfreton, Burton, Carlisle and Bradford prior to joining Preston in July and now has a total of 122 first-team appearances under his belt despite the game at the Emirates being his first in a Sunderland shirt.
“I am interested in the welfare of players, which is at great risk at this stage of the season and you have seen it with the amount of injuries that have occurred at this time”.
But Allardyce wants Pickford to put the pressure on fellow keepers Mannone and Costel Pantilimon for a starting spot – one of whom could leave the club before the end of the January transfer window.
I doubt I would think it was much fun if Arsenal had lost, but Sunderland came to the Emirates to have a go rather than park a bus and the game benefitted for it.
“I was able to deal with the nerves well”.
There was no resistance to the Gunners, as the cup holders went up a gear to avoid the replay which every Premier League side dreads at this competition.
Joel Campbell levelled the game in the first-half before Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud completed the comeback with the impressive Bellerin claiming two assists.
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“I said that in the press conference the other day”, the boss said in his post-match press conference when asked about the French right-back.
