Ipswich manager Paul Cook has spoken about tomorrow's game at the Stadium of Light, and expects a great game between "two heavyweights".
BIG GAME?
"I don’t call it a ‘big game’ if I'm honest with you because that sort of mentality is how you win and lose games. If you turn up at Accrington and Cheltenham and you don’t feel it’s a big game then you lose. If you turn up at Portsmouth and Wycombe and you think it’s a big game then you win."
PREMIER LEAGUE
“The reality is, this is just a game. It’s a different type of game, of course it is. We’re going to the Stadium of Light, which is, without doubt, a Premier League stadium, and Sunderland are, without a shadow of a doubt, a Premier League club."
MENTALITY
“But the mentality and your attitude towards a game can’t change week to week."
BLIP
"Sunderland have had a frighteningly good start, they’re having a tiny little blip at the minute and those blips go away quickly when you’ve got a quality manager in Lee (Johnson) and you’ve got quality players on the pitch. Those problems will self fix."
OPTIMISM
“But we approach a very difficult game with great optimism. As our supporters know, there is no parking buses. We are going to take the game to Sunderland. Let’s see what it brings."
SAFC/ROTHERHAM
"Ah, we’ll get six points, don’t you worry about that! We’ll be fine! Listen, I’ve got good relationships with both managers. They’ve both got very strong teams. Rotherham will take care of itself when it comes around on Tuesday. It will probably be a totally different game to the Sunderland one on Saturday, but we’ll only really speak about the Sunderland one at the minute. It’s one hurdle at a time."
HEAVYWEIGHTS
“We can all go on about the fixtures being just another game, which they are, but the reality of it is we’re going to have two heavyweights meeting each other on Saturday in a fantastic football game and we’re all excited by it."
GREAT GAME
“We know the cliches can go out that it’s only three points, which is valid, but it’s still a great game isn’t it?"
PROBLEMS
“They’ve got some very good players. Lee is a very experienced manager, he’s got good staff, they’re a great club and they’ve got fantastic players so the problems will be there for us from 3 o’clock until quarter-to-five. But we hope we’ll cause Sunderland a lot of problems similar to the problems they'll cause us. There’ll be two teams on the pitch trying to win the game tomorrow, that's for sure.”
