Southampton V Sunderland at St. Mary's Stadium: LIVE

05 March 2016 09:12
Southampton V Sunderland - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.

Saints boss Ronald Koeman looking for positive response to defeats

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is demanding an immediate response from his side to their disappointing midweek loss at Bournemouth as they look to keep alive their European aspirations.

Koeman was far from impressed with his side's performance in the 2-0 defeat to the Cherries, which came after a 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea, and says the players need a change of mentality and attitude for this weekend's visit of Sunderland.

Saints fans will be optimistic of their side picking up three points against the relegation-battling Black Cats and Koeman says they need to have a "good game", irrespective of the fact they have lost strikers Charlie Austin and Shane Long to injury.

Koeman said: "We know we have good competition between the strikers and we need to give a good reaction after what happened last Tuesday.

"Normally I like to defend my players, I am enjoying my role as the manager of this club, but sometimes you need to say what you think at that moment.

"The start of the (Bournemouth) game was not good and if you start like that you cause yourself problems.

"They are not stupid, they know they were not good on Tuesday.

"You have to change your mentality, you have to change your attitude. We need a good game this Saturday.

"The Premier League is really a tough competition, if you are not 100 per cent prepared then you do not win.

"You need to keep your attitude level up and then your individual qualities but every game you need to be giving 110 per cent."

The back-to-back losses left Southampton in ninth place in the table, seven points adrift of Manchester United in fifth.

Southampton thrashed Sunderland 8-0 in last season's corresponding fixture at St Mary's, but while Koeman enjoys the memories of a match in which the Black Cats scored two own goals, he does not believe there will be a repeat showing on Saturday.

He said: "It is not important now because it happened once. It is a great memory but I do not think too much about last season because then you will be surprised on Saturday.

"They will fight for their life because their manager has a lot of experience and they are difficult to beat. You have to prepare yourself for that.

"It was one of the big results because it is not a normal Premier League result but if they score one or two own goals, then thank you."

Meanwhile, Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has put a difficult few days behind him and warned his players to strap themselves in for a white-knuckle ride as the race for survival comes to a head.

Allardyce spent much of Thursday's pre-match press conference facing questions over what he and the club knew about Adam Johnson's child sex offences, following their sacked former midfielder's conviction for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl having earlier admitted two charges.

But as Johnson prepared himself for a lengthy spell behind bars and the club kept its own counsel amid a growing tide of criticism over its decision to allow the 28-year-old to continue his career while protesting his innocence over the allegations, Allardyce turned his attention back to the trip to Southampton and a desperate scrap for points.

Sunderland climbed out of the relegation zone on goal difference on Tuesday evening when substitute Fabio Borini's remarkable late strike secured a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, but they remain deep in trouble and needing, in their manager's estimation, five wins or the equivalent from their final 10 games to stay up.

Allardyce said: "That would be great. It would be our best run of the season, putting together five wins in 10 games. It could be four wins, three draws, however we can get to 38 points, which is certainly, I think, going to be enough this year.

"I hope we can achieve it. If we can go on a miraculous run and achieve more, that would make life even more pleasurable for us coming towards the last few games.

"But I certainly think we are all going to be getting ready to bite our nails again. I think it is going to go right to the wire, so we will need to be biting our nails.

"I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like that is going to be the case and if that's the case, if we can hold our nerve, I certainly think we have got the talent to get out of trouble."

Skipper John O'Shea (calf) is expected to be fit for the trip but Lee Cattermole, who was left with concussion and stitches after a clash of heads with Palace's Jordon Mutch, will not, and nor will fellow midfielder Jeremain Lens (hernia).

Source: PAR