Premier League: Sunderland boss Gus Poyet looking for response against Arsenal
Friday 24 October 2014 13:46, UK
Gus Poyet admits he is going to have to come up with 'something different' if Sunderland are to overcome the shock of last weekend and get past Arsenal on Saturday.
Seven days after the calamitous 8-0 defeat at Southampton - a reverse which the dubious goals panel has now ruled included three own goals - Poyet is looking for a positive response.
The improvement needs to be dramatic. I am calm now. It was a difficult weekend
He said: "It's going to be great on Saturday. I would love to be playing on Saturday.
"It's the perfect game to go in there and put in the biggest effort you can put in on a football pitch and show that whatever happened happened and that's it, and now we are moving on.
"I don't want reactions because that means you have done something bad. I prefer not to react but I do really trust the players, so I am really looking forward to the game. That's the main thing for me."
As to the prospect of facing Arsenal, he added: "I prefer it. Why? Because 25 per cent of the performance from last week and it's going to be a disaster. The improvement needs to be dramatic.
"I am calm now. It was a difficult weekend, like everybody knows, and Monday and Tuesday, we were still talking about the (Southampton) game. Then from Wednesday on, I tried to concentrate on Arsenal.
"I can forget about everything I have done before and do what I want here, pick the team that I want. It doesn't matter, I don't think anyone can really disagree.
"Without going crazy, of course, I am going to think in particular about this game, trying - which is difficult - to forget about what happened last weekend.
"It's a tough game because they have got a style that maybe doesn't go very well with us, and we need to make sure that we do something different to previous games."
