Dick Advocaat: Sunderland's new signings will need time to settle
Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat has warned Black Cats fans not to expect miracles when they go in search of their first Barclays Premier League win of the season against Tottenham at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
Advocaat pronounced himself satisfied with his late transfer window business, which saw a return to the club for striker Fabio Borini as well as the signings of Ola Toivonen and United States international DeMarcus Yedlin.
But he insists it will take time for his newly strengthened squad to hit top form as they continue to play catch-up in terms of fitness following the testing start to their new campaign.
Advocaat said: "I think we have a better squad than last year but the problem is they came in a bit late so it is still going to take a bit of time to fix the squad in all positions.
"The majority of the players we brought in were not playing for their clubs so physical-wise they are behind a lot of players and teams. They need game fitness so that is a little bit of a problem.
"The most important thing is that we stay away from relegation. We are very pleased that we have improved the squad and when it all comes together I am sure we will have a better side."
Borini is in line for his second debut on Sunday after being named in Advocaat's squad and he could team up with Jeremain Lens, who has pronounced himself fit again following a niggling knee injury.
But fellow new boy Yedlin is ineligible to play against his parent club and Advocaat is also still without Adam Matthews, Adam Johnson and Jordi Gomez.
Advocaat is certainly cutting a happier figure around the Stadium of Light since the spate of transfer activity, but he is fully aware the early-season woe has still not dissipated.
He added: "We all know that as quickly as possible we have to work out how to get the right balance in the squad, then we can go forward. If we don't do that, we are well aware there will be a problem."
Son Heung-min is in line to make his Tottenham debut. The South Korea forward has yet to feature for Spurs since his big-money move from Bayer Leverkusen but scored a hat-trick for his country against Laos and now looks set to start at the Stadium of Light.
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino said the game could come too soon for fellow new recruit Clinton N'Jie while Christian Eriksen (knee) and Mousa Dembele (foot) are out.
Pochettino insists his Tottenham side are performing well enough to be winning games - even though they remain without a victory.
Spurs have drawn their last three Premier League games having started the season with defeat at Manchester United, with Harry Kane yet to score a goal so far.
However, they travel to the Stadium of Light with Kane having scored twice on international duty with England.
Pochettino believes Spurs having been slowly improving and they now need to top that off with a first win of the campaign.
"It is important," he said of the need to take three points off Sunderland.
"Always when Tottenham play it is important to win. We need to start to win the games because our performances have been good but in football it is all about the results.
"I think against Everton we competed much better than we did against Leicester and Stoke City. I think that we improve our level of focus during the game and now we need to follow in the same way. We have the quality to win the game."
Source: PAR
