Black Cats may blood kids
Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy admits he may have nothing to lose by pitching more of his younger players into action this season.
The Black Cats remain eight points adrift at the foot of the Barclays Premiership following last night’s 2-0 defeat at Blackburn and appear doomed to relegation.
But McCarthy still took positives from another disappointing evening and was particularly pleased with the performances of midfielders Grant Leadbitter, 19, and Martin Woods, the 20-year-old substitute.
“I thought Grant was fine,” McCarthy said of Chester-le-Street-born Leadbitter, who started in a five-man midfield.
“He is a clever footballer. He’s got good technique. I thought he played well and I’m pleased with him.
“We may soon be getting the stage when we see what players we’ve got and see how they’re going to perform, not only for now but perhaps for next season.
“Woody came on too. I think Woody, whenever he’s been involved, has done well, so they may well get their opportunity.”
McCarthy’s 4-5-1 formation left just striker Kevin Kyle up front but Sunderland competed well until Craig Bellamy wrapped up the game with his second goal after 63 minutes.
Kyle, Liam Lawrence and substitute Jon Stead were all unlucky not to turn in dangerous crosses and Nyro Nosworthy also squandered a good opportunity.
McCarthy felt the system he employed worked well and he will consider using it again when the Wearsiders return to Premiership action at fellow strugglers Birmingham in nine days’ time.
“I thought we played better with that formation,” said the former Republic of Ireland manager.
“We created enough chances. It’s not like we’ve been scoring loads of goals with two centre forwards on the pitch, is it?”
The outlook for Blackburn is very different, with the win elevating them to seventh in the table and putting them firmly in European contention.
They have now overtaken Bolton, Wigan and Manchester City and are just a point behind fifth-placed Arsenal, their next opponents – again at home – on February 25.
Rovers’ 4-3 win over Manchester United earlier this month put them in the running for a UEFA Cup place but, with the Gunners faltering, a shot at the Champions League may not be beyond them.
Manager Mark Hughes said: “I think you should always try to set targets that are realistic.
“I think we have set ones that up to this point we have hit. After the United game we revised our targets to try to push ourselves even more but we lost the next two games.
“But we are back on track now. We’ve got a break of a few days now to try to recover a bit because it’s been a really intense period.
“We will come back for Arsenal and there is no reason we can’t beat them at Ewood like we did United.
“We have got really important games now, every time we play, so there could be exciting times between now and the end of the year.”
