Sam Allardyce needed to be told that his side are competing for silverware at Carrow Road on Saturday but Sunderland’s manager is now desperate to win the Friendship Trophy at Norwich City’s expense.
A cup once dubbed “the most pointless in football” has been contested between the two teams since Norwich beat Sunderland in the 1985 Milk Cup final in front of two reassuringly friendly sets of fans but Saturday’s East Anglian welcome is likely to be rather less warm than usual.
This time the pair are locked in a battle with Newcastle United to avoid joining Aston Villa in the Championship next season. Considering 17th-placed Norwich are four points ahead of them, Sunderland – 18th but with a game in hand – cannot afford to lose.
“I’ve never come across anything quite like the Friendship Trophy before,” said Allardyce. “But, no, it’s not pointless. We want to win the game and, yeah, we want to win that trophy. If we do I’ll put champagne in it on the way home. Don’t worry about that.”
He is certainly not underestimating the fixture’s importance. “The Championship play-off final is called the richest game in the world,” he said. “Well this game is getting up there with it by the fact of what you could lose rather than what you might gain. I wouldn’t say the winner takes all but the pressure is on us more than Norwich. If we win, we’ll be a point behind them but lose and it would be seven points behind which, even with a game in hand, would be a big task with five games to go.”
Sunderland’s most glaring recent problem has been their habit of drawing games they should win with Allardyce rueing his team’s inability to keep clean sheets. Only once in their past 18 league games – in a 0-0 home draw with West Brom – have they not conceded a goal.
“When you’re in our position at this late stage of the season it’s rare to score more than one goal so clean sheets are still my big focus with the players,” he said. “The more clean sheets they keep between now and the end of the season, the better chance they give themselves to survive because, if they don’t concede, one goal be enough to win them three points.”
