US chill is cool for Cats
SUNDERLAND manager David Moyes has revealed the reason why Sunderland are heading to New York.
The Black Cats fly out for a five-day bonding trip to the Big Apple after today’s clash against Southampton despite plunging Stateside temperatures.
Moyes said: “New York might be one of the few places colder than Sunderland right now, but the psychology is that when we come back, we’ll think the weather is like Dubai.
“Of course, we all like the sunshine – apart from us ginger lads. I’ve taken teams to New York before and it works, so I’m hoping it will again. You’d be surprised at how many of the lads haven’t been there.
“If you treat players right and give them the best you can, then you can expect the best back from them every week.”
Sunderland remain bottom of the Premier League but pulled to within two points of safety with a 4-0 win at relegation rivals Crystal Palace last Saturday after being told of their New York break.
Moyes has not ruled out taking his squad on further team-building exercises if his players come up with the goods against Saints. “We’ll train every day and will do quite a bit of running in Central Park. I’ll encourage the lads to do plenty of sight-seeing.
“We’ll take in the ice hockey and basketball and we’ll go to Ground Zero so there will be a bit of education involved as well. The big thing for me is to get a team spirit so they look after each other on the pitch. They do that by building relationships off it.”
Southampton manager Claude Puel has urged his players to forget about their EFL Cup final against Manchester United at the end of the month and focus on avoiding equalling the club’s worst top-flight run of seven defeats in eight games.
Puel is concerned the Wembley date could prove a distraction. “I don’t think anything about the final,” said Puel. “We have time to prepare for that game, so it’s just to stay focused about this game against Sunderland.
“Our fans, the squad, the staff, all deserve other things, not our last result, the 3-1 defeat by West Ham.” P W D L F A PTS 59 CHELSEA 24 19 2 3 51 17 50 TOTTENHAM 24 14 8 2 46 16 49 MAN CITY 24 15 4 5 49 29 47 ARSENAL 24 14 5 5 52 28 46 LIVERPOOL 24 13 7 4 52 30 45 MAN UTD 24 12 9 3 36 21 40 EVERTON 24 11 7 6 40 27 36 WEST BROM 24 10 6 8 32 29 31 WEST HAM 24 9 4 11 32 41 30 WATFORD 24 8 6 10 29 40 29 STOKE 24 7 8 9 29 36 29 BURNLEY 24 9 2 13 26 35 27 SOTON 24 7 6 11 24 31 26 BOURNEMOUTH 24 7 5 12 35 47 21 MIDDLESBORO 24 4 9 11 19 27 21 LEICESTER 24 5 6 13 24 41 21 SWANSEA 24 6 3 15 29 54 20 HULL 24 5 5 14 22 47 19 C PALACE 24 5 4 15 32 45 19 SUNDERLAND 24 5 4 15 24 42 absolutely focused. The hype and speculation regarding Leicester is just going to focus us even more.
“These types of games can change things quickly – it’s a six-point fixture, definitely. We will not play each other again this season and that makes it even more important.”
Clement’s impact has been recognised with the Manager of the Month award for January. Swansea have won three of their four League games since Clement arrived, although he was not officially in charge when Alan Curtis masterminded their 2-1 win over Palace.
But after bagging the accolade, won by Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte this term, Clement only wants to be judged at the season’s end.
“Mauricio Pochettino had a very good record in January so I was a little bit surprised,” he said. “I am pleased the impact has been recognised though.
“I will be judged at the end of May, that’s what I’m very conscious of. It’s nice at this point but it won’t mean a thing if at the end we haven’t achieved our objective.”
While Swansea appear to have rediscovered their mojo, Leicester are getting increasingly desperate in the search for theirs, with boss Ranieri saying Riyad Mahrez may hold the key.
The Algerian scored a hattrick in Leicester’s 3-0 win at the Liberty and also struck in the 4-0 thrashing towards the end of their glorious title year.
But those four goals amount to one more than he has scored in the league so far in a season and Ranieri says he just wants his old player back.
Ranieri said: “Riyad is getting better. When he plays well our