The players have shown the standard they can play at.
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Moyes will now take his side on a bonding trip to NY ahead of their next league game, a trip to Moyes’s former side Everton, in a fortnight.
It is so much time that Puel could be forgiven for wondering what he should be doing.
Sunderland were bereft of ideas and found themselves under unrelenting pressure with Mannone beating away a stinging 63rd-minute Tadic drive after he was allowed time and space to cut inside.
“Sometimes one week to recover or work is very important”.
Newcastle should go all out in a battle with fierce rivals Sunderland for Southampton striker Sam Gallagher to help ensure their Premier League survival next season.
It gave Saints a chance to reflect and to focus on the future.
Puel was also asked about the club’s reported interest in Uruguay defender Martin Caceres, a free agent, and said: “For the moment it is hard for me to comment on this because he has not signed for Southampton”.
“I think the first goal for Southampton was important as well, if we had got it then it might have been different because they have lost quite a few games recently”, he continued.
“I didn’t think we deserved to be two goals down at half-time, that was a big thing”.
“We know we have a lot of tough games to come and today was a tough game”. I think it was his [Tadic’s] best game since the beginning of the season.
Sunderland (5-4-16) came into the match in good form following a 4-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace last week, but struggled to keep the ball and had no answer for Gabbiadini. Always it is Defoe for example.
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“We’re going to watch basketball and ice hockey and all go to Ground Zero so, culturally, I hope to educate the boys as well”. With midfield injuries we could see a full debut for January recruit Darron Gibson, which will be interesting to see his capabilities and whether he can match Rodwell’s recent performances.
