Cana demands Cats response

Cana: Rallying call

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Lorik Cana hopes Sunderland can put the defeat by Birmingham behind them when they take on Aston Villa in the Carling Cup.

The Black Cats went down 2-1 to Premier League rivals Birmingham in the Premier League on Saturday and the captain wants them to bounce back against Villa on Tuesday.

Sunderland had come into the game at St Andrew's on the back of a draw against Manchester United and a win against Liverpool, but the midfielder denied that complacency had set in.

"I don't think that was the case," he told the Sunderland Echo. "Everyone knows his duty, everyone knows the potential and quality of our team.

"We have to start games well. Birmingham put a lot of pressure on us and did well, but we did not try to play the football we can.

"We must learn about that and change the mentality and keep our level for many games, not just one or two.

"It is not the first time this season we have dipped like this.

"We must learn from that for the future because it is going to be a hard season if we cannot change what is not good in our team."

Sunderland take on Villa at the Stadium of Light looking to get back to winning ways, before playing West Ham in the league at the weekend.

And Cana has called on all of his team-mates to give their all for the cause and take responsibility for a poor result on Saturday.

"The Premier League is a hard league and we have to be 100 per cent concentrated and 100 per cent committed; we all know that."