Source: Eurosport
Black Cats must maul Tigers - Ricky
Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia has conceded Saturday's Premier League clash at home to Hull is a must-win game.The Black Cats sit perilously close to the relegation zone after four straight defeats in the Premier League and remain locked in a bitter relegation fight with North-East rivals Newcastle and Middlesbrough, who are both two points behind Sbragia's team.But the Scot has told his players they will stay up if they can consistently reproduce the form shown against Manchester United last weekend.The Wearsiders face a massive game at home to fellow strugglers Hull on Saturday before travelling to West Brom seven days later."It's a must-win situation," said Sbragia. "We know how big this game is for us. Hull will make it difficult for us bit I feel we have enough to get something from it."We were encouraged by last week's performance. We did a lot of good things - we worked hard and showed better commitment. As a unit and as a team we did well throughout the game, so with a bit of luck we might have got something from it. I thought the crowd was fantastic, so on the day I was happy with everything except the result."We now have to do it against Hull, it can't be just a one-off. We hope to continue from where we left off last week, and come out with a result."In general we need to keep together, be focused, committed, and show the desire we did last week, we've got to be all of those things against Hull."We can't afford to lose it, it's as simple as that. If other results go our way then it could be different, but we're not looking at that on Saturday. We've taken a lot from our previous game and we have to carry that through."While Sunderland have won just one of their last nine matches, the Tigers have picked up maximum points only once in 17 games.Contemplating the meeting, Sbragia said: "It'll be very tense and edgy early doors. We don't know how Hull are going to set up, but we know roughly how we're going to approach it and we need to make sure that we don't concede early on and try to get an early goal ourselves."We have two big games coming up, and we have another four big games after that, but as far as we're concerned we're focusing on the Hull game, and we know the importance of it."Hull had a great start to the season, but they've obviously slipped down, and three points either way can settle your Premier League safety. It's one of those games that you definitely can't afford to lose, but it would be even better to win."Sbragia enjoyed back-to-back wins over Hull and West Brom when he was caretaker boss in December before being handed the job permanently, and admits he would love to get the same outcome in the next fortnight."In general we did really well against Hull," he said. "Our front two caused them problems and we're hoping to do that on Saturday. When we got our chances, we took them and on the day we were clinical."We got off to a great start back then and it would be nice to repeat it. We scored eight goals, conceded just the one, and it would be nice to come out with those stats after the next two games, but they're completely different now."We know how hard it's going to be but we can only give our all and that's all I'm asking from my players."[LNB]
