Sam Allardyce boosted by wife's fan feedback from Twitter after Sunderland arrival
Wednesday 14 October 2015 13:07, UK
New Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has revealed his wife has been monitoring Twitter to gauge the response to his appointment on Wearside, and the reaction has been positive.
Allardyce, who played for the Black Cats in the Eighties, recently replaced Dick Advocaat at the Stadium of Light with the club joint-bottom of the Premier League.
However, Allardyce, who endured criticism from his own fans during his time in charge of West Ham, says his wife has been checking social media and assures him the Sunderland supporters are fully behind his appointment in the northeast.
"There has been a magnificent response from the Sunderland fans, which has encouraged me a great deal," Allardyce said.
"So as much as I do not like looking at social media, as you probably all well know my wife does and she keeps me hugely informed. And certainly on this occasion the positive feedback that we have had about me trying to come to be successful for Sunderland FC and for the fans."
Meanwhile, when it comes to keeping Sunderland in the Premier League this season, Allardyce is well aware he is must firstly sort out the club's porous defence.
The 60-year-old will get to work with his players in earnest later this week when Sunderland's remaining internationals return from duty with their respective countries ahead of Saturday's trip to West Brom.
Eight league games to date have brought just three points, but more worryingly for Allardyce, 18 goals against, and that is a failing he will seek to address immediately.
Asked how tough the challenge ahead of him is likely to be, he said: "Well, I don't really know that until I've actually got amongst all the players and find out their various strengths and weaknesses as individuals and as a team.
"There's obviously one thing that I need to put right as quickly as possible, and that's not concede 18 goals in the next eight games.
"It's obviously something that we have to address immediately and make sure that as a team we become more resilient."
The Black Cats' last game was a case in point as they allowed a 2-0 lead over West Ham at the Stadium of Light to slip and drew 2-2.
That at least showed Allardyce that the squad he inherited from Dick Advocaat - who later voiced the opinion that it simply was not good enough - has goals in it.
His work in the transfer market will begin almost immediately, with a host of free agents having already been linked with the club, including former Villa defender Ron Vlaar, and it seems likely that reinforcements at the back will be his priority now and when the January transfer window opens.
He added: "We seem to have some goals in the camp. Steven Fletcher seems to be scoring quite regularly, we all know Jermain Defoe can score and we have got Fabio Borini, so we can score hopefully a few goals from set plays. So if we can keep that going, then sort the defensive side out, then we should be okay.
"January brings another challenge. What player can we get, where can we get him from and more importantly, is he good enough? That's going to be a task that we need to start planning for now, we need to start finding out about now.
"But in the meantime, that wouldn't be my first priority, my first priority is to try to get this time winning."
