John Mensah is glad to be busy in training this week even though Sunderland don't have a game.
Black Cats defender admits lethargy after last break
John Mensah is glad to be busy on the training ground this week even though Sunderland don't have a game at the weekend.
With the Blacks Cats out of the FA Cup, their next game is not till the visit of Liverpool a week on Sunday.
Last time they had a weekend break last month, manager Steve Bruce let his players have a breather overseas.
But Ghanaian defender Mensah admits the Black Cats were still on the beach as they returned to action with a dismal 2-0 defeat at Everton.
This time Bruce has had them in training every day this week, as well as arranging a practice match for Saturday morning, and Mensah has no complaints.
Holiday mode
"The manager has spoken a lot about the time off he gave us, which wasn't too good," he told the
Sunderland Echo. "When we came back, everyone was still in holiday mode and relaxing.
"We have to have it in our mind that we still have nine matches to play and we have to keep concentrating. It's for our benefit to keep working hard."
Mensah has started each of Sunderland's last four games after recovering from an ankle problem and just one more game would make it his longest run in the side this season so the injury-prone centre-back is eager to stay active.
"I want to keep playing so I'm a bit disappointed that there's two weeks without a game," he said.
"The more you play, the better you get. If you don't play a lot it's difficult and hard when you're coming back from injury.
No complications
"But I've had no complications with injury since coming back which has helped me. It's good that I showed some form at Arsenal and I hope I can continue playing."
The 28-year-old helped Sunderland to their 12th clean sheet of the season as they drew 0-0 at Arsenal last Saturday and he hopes it will revive their European hopes having lost their previous four.
"It's good that we restored some confidence by getting a point at Arsenal," Mensah added.
"It's hard when you're losing games but we all knew we could get back to how we were playing earlier in the season.
"We are determined to get our form back and get back to challenging for a European place, where we were before we started losing matches."
