Source: Northern_Echo
Black Cats loan star is staying focused
NEDUM Onuoha refused to get carried away with Sunderland's recent strong performances against the cream of the Premier League crop.[LNB] The Black Cats face Manchester United on Saturday, after last week's 2-2 draw against Liverpool followed a point seven days earlier against Arsenal and a win in August against Onuoha's parent club Manchester City.[LNB] But defender Onuoha, on a season-long loan from Eastlands, would have been a lot happier had Sunderland departed Anfield with three points.[LNB] He said: "It was a good result, but it could have been better. A lot of us were disappointed to not come away with three points because I think we had a few things go against us. [Liverpool's second] was a sloppy goal to concede, but a point at Anfield isn't the worst thing in the world, I suppose.[LNB] "It would be fantastic to keep the run going against United. It's important we concentrate on winning, not putting so much emphasis on the fact it's against a big side.''[LNB] Less was said about Sunderland's overall performance and more was said about the refereeing performance of Stuart Attwell, who allowed Dirk Kuyt's controversial first-half goal to stand.[LNB] But Onuoha is confident that his team-mates are more than capable of mixing it with the big boys, regardless of the coverage their performances yield.[LNB] "I think the general consensus [in the media] is that we played well against Liverpool and I think I would agree with that, there were times when we felt really comfortable in the game,'' he said.[LNB] "Against Arsenal I think a lot of people weren't paying attention to the game and that Arsenal should have won the game, but the players felt comfortable and felt that they should have got more than one point."[LNB] The 23-year-old is a close friend of Fraizer Campbell, and kept an eye out for the Black Cats' results ahead of his loan move to the Stadium of Light in the summer, and the former England Under-21 defender admitted he has made no plans after his loan spell expires at the end of the season.[LNB] He said: "I've never been the type of person to look too far ahead, but we'll just have to see how the year progresses. It's outstanding here. I forgot how good it feels to play football. You get paid to play football so it's good to go and do it.[LNB] "I don't know whether it was an uncertain situation at Man City, because if I was still there and made the squad, I think the manager's ambition would be to rotate it as much as possible, so nobody's guaranteed anything in fact the one thing you are guaranteed is that you'll not play every game this season.''[LNB] He added: "It's decent. I'm playing every week in a team which is a very hard-working team, a very genuine team. I'm looking around and I'm seeing how much we're improving, playing against sides and not being played off the park. That does make a difference."[LNB] Onuoha is guaranteed a frosty reception from the travelling United fans on Saturday, due to his City roots.[LNB] But as far as Onuoha is concerned, his priorities at the present time are red and white and the same goes for on-loan striker Danny Welbeck, who is unavailable on Saturday against his parent club.[LNB] He said: "There's no rivalry between me and Danny as long as there's a Sunderland crest on our chests, so we're doing alright.[LNB] "It's not bad playing against United at all... When I say 'not bad' it's always a hard game, but you always like to test yourself against the best and for years they have proven to be the most successful team. Playing against them whenever possible is always a good thing."[LNB] And Onuoha, who returned to the right-back position following Michael Turner's recall on Saturday, hopes that there will be no repeat of the freak goal which gave Liverpool the lead.[LNB] He said: "It was just confusion. When you see Torres running towards the goal, no-one in the team was running back because they were thinking 'what's going on here', and then the referee looked like he was going to give it, and went to the linesman.[LNB] "I thought the linesman wasn't going to give it, but lo and behold he didn't say anything either. So maybe the two of them didn't see what happened. But it's happened and that's it.[LNB] "To be honest, in fairness to the referee, if he was looking at the ball at the time I think he probably would have pulled the game back, but because he's only seen Torres running towards the goal, he's probably not seen what went before that."[LNB] [LNB]
