“Not many players in our team have played a lot of Premier League games, so it will give them confidence”.
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Steven Pienaar made his debut for Sunderland as they were defeated 2-1 by Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Sunday.
Two games and two defeats into the campaign, the Black Cats are pointless after Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat by derby rivals Middlesbrough, and the Scot was pulling no punches as he assessed his injury-hit squad’s prospects.
A 1 – 1 draw is the most likely result with William Hill and Bet365 both offering odds of 11/2.
Stuani’s opener came after just 13 minutes and it was quite a strike, with the striker arrowing home a fierce right-footed effort.
He said: “We were always confident behind closed doors that we had the squad”.
“I am especially pleased for our fans, because we have been waiting six or seven years to live another derby and we have won the game”.
Full-back Patrick van Aanholt reduced the deficit but Sunderland slipped to a second defeat from two games, leaving Moyes to issue a sobering assessment of what the remaining 36 fixtures will bring.
He said: “Calmness in front of goal when we got the chance [was key]”.
The players who came in today because of injuries did a really good job.
The last thing you want to do with a young player is place them straight into the frying pan, so to speak, but I feel that Lynden Gooch coped tremendously when asked to play in the centre of midfield in the second half yesterday.
Cape Town – David Moyes says his Sunderland side are down to the “bare bones” and need to strengthen before the end of the transfer window.
‘Fans would be right (if they feared relegation) because that’s what we’ve had here for four years, ‘ he said.
“It’s an important competition where, from my experience, we started to play well”.
“But no excuse because we go out and we try to win and I thought the boys did try to win and I thought they really went to try and score in the second half and we were a bit unlucky we didn’t get an equaliser”.
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Having carried the ball into the Sunderland half in one of the visitors’ first ventures into opposition territory, Stuani stunned the hosts by picking out the top corner of Vito Mannone’s goal in spectacular fashion.
