Gus Poyet is resigned to working within Sunderland’s strict financial parameters and European-style management structure but has, albeit subtly, made it clear that his squad is not as strong as he would have liked.
“I accept it and I get on with it,” said Sunderland’s manager, who hopes his team will atone for last weekend’s 8-0 reverse at Southampton with a home win against Arsenal on Saturday. “That means I’m not going to tell you I’m happy or not happy. I’m OK, I get on with it because that’s where we are. We get on with it.”
Poyet feels his club ended the summer transfer window with a small squad, which has been further weakened by injuries. This week they have added the 34-year-old former Napoli full-back Anthony Réveillère but remain without Emmanuel Giaccherini, Ricardo Álvarez, Sebastián Coates and Billy Jones. “When everybody is OK, it doesn’t look bad,” Poyet said. “Unfortunately now we have four important injuries to players who are important to the team and we are suffering, especially at the back.
“I knew it. I’m not trying to criticise someone or the club, I just said we are short so that when things happen it doesn’t look like I’m just making excuses for what’s happened. I said it before. I was just being honest. It wasn’t cajoling. I wanted seven defenders and we started the season with six. I didn’t make the decision to have six, but that’s life – and now we have seven.
“We were looking for certain players, we were looking for Fabio Borini but he didn’t come. We looked for a player like him, we signed Ricky Álvarez. But is Ricky Álvarez a substitute for Fabio? No, he has never scored more than 10 goals a season. Is he going to start scoring because I’m some sort of managerial genius? No. As a player he can play in that position, but he’s not the same player as Fabio Borini. I’m not going to lie. We didn’t sign a replacement for Borini.”
