Sunderland Reaction

Last updated : 29 August 2005 By Paul Farrington
Paul Jewell

Paul Jewell
"Whether it was deserved or not, it doesn't really matter because against Chelsea we didn't get what we deserved. Arguably we've had a little bit of fortune, but we will take it.

"It was all over after twelve seconds, but then we had to defend. We didn't play well, we were edgy, but it's a big, big hurdle that we've managed to get over. We've got our first ever win in the Premiership, and every Wiganer should be proud of that. We should take stock to see how far we've come, be proud, and enjoy the night.

"Sunderland were chasing the game from the off, but the crowd were fantastic, the noise was amazing. It really does help the players.

"We set ourselves high standards and we didn't play as well as we can do, and we've only had one real striker. Lee McCulloch had to have an injection in his knee so he could play, and Graham Kavanagh is still not fully fit. There were a lot of tired legs out there, but once we scored the goal, the opposition have to come and get at you, and credit to Sunderland, they did just that.

"The whole defence has been excellent, but it was hard to play with one up front and with Jimmy [Bullard] dropping off, it's not ideal, we are short of strikers since Nathan Ellington's left so we have to try and get the best out of the situation. But having Lee McCulloch gives us that extra physical presence, power and aerial strength.

"I'm jumping on a place tomorrow to watch a game and a couple of players, so I'm not going on holiday unfortunately, but hopefully by twelve o'clock on Wednesday night, we'll have a couple of new faces in."

Mick McCarthy

Mick McCarthy
"It [the start] could not have been any worse, you can't plan for those kind of events. It was lousy.

"We are two teams who will find it harder to score goals, because of the nature of the league - playing against better players. It does not help to give a team that is is going to be in opposition to us all season an easy start.

"The start was the difference between the two teams. I thought it [the penalty] was soft. I thought he [Breen] got a bit of the ball. We should not have put ourselves in that position.

"It's the way it's run for us over the four games. We have to try to change it over the next four games.

"I'm not going to talk about the performance because it would be similar to Liverpool and Manchester City.

"All I would say is from Charlton onwards I've been proud of the way my players have played and gone about it, their endeavour and effort.

"I don't think we have got our true reward for the way we have played [over the last three games].

"We have to believe in what we are doing and keep doing it and see if it turns around for us. The only way it will is if we keep believing.

"There's some away on international duty now and the rest of us will be in on Monday morning. We'll see the international players a week on Thursday when they come back.

"Is it a good time for the break? I don't know. We had it last season in the Championship when we had five points from six games and then we came back and had a great run.

"I'm proud of them individually and collectively, delighted with the effort.
"I'm not delighted we've got no points, of course I'm not; but we've played well and we've not had our just rewards."