Tony Mowbray was happy with Sunderland's performance in their resounding 3-1 win over Norwich City this afternoon.
EARLY START WAS IMPORTANT
"For the majority of the game I think we grasped it by the throat really. Quite early on we wanted to start fast, obviously the game at Stoke in both halves we started pretty slowly and paid the price. It was important to start fast here at home, get the fans believing that they’re there following a good team full of young players who care about the club and want to do well. A lot of the performance echoed that today."
GENERAL THOUGHTS
"A team with the quality that Norwich have got, they’re going to have a good period, and when they went 3-1 down they really pushed on and asked some questions. There were some great blocks and defending at the death to see the game out. I’ve just said to them, the vast majority we were pretty dominant and asked lots of questions of them. It just would have been nice for either Naz to score or big Hemir when he came on. There were opportunities and came close but it wasn’t quite to be, but hopefully a goal for one of our strikers is just around the corner."
RUSYN
"He worked really hard and just brings a different dimension. Still, he’s not struggling with the language but he’s only been here a couple of months and young Timo (Tuterov), who has been here a lot longer, is sitting in on the meetings and translating to him and passing on the information. It’s not ideal, but he’s a good kid, he’s worked hard and just needs something to break for him to score and celebrate and feel the love of the fans. As Hemir does and Mason, they need to feel that. But three points were important on the back of the mini-run we’ve had, which within that were some pretty good performances. Particularly at Leicester for the majority of the game, the first half against Middlesbrough before the sending off was really strong as well. But back on our horse, three points, move on and keep going."
MATURE PERFORMANCE
"I thought they showed great maturity to be honest, and it felt like (their goal) was the first time Norwich had been in our half never mind our goal. Pierre switched off from a ball thinking the flag was going to go up. The guy who wasn’t offside burst onto the scene and took him by surprise, cut it back and they scored. I think the pattern of the game didn’t change, we were still pretty dominant and trying to break them down and eventually we did."
CLARKE ON NINE
"He’s a wonderful footballer, how fast his feet are and how fast he dances past people with hanging legs in, he’s a very talented boy. I think it was Jack who nicked it and won the penalty himself before dispatching it. He’s having a great season, as he did last year. He has to keep going, keep grounded and work as hard as we’re asking him to work. He’s doing that. As I said before, it would be nice for one of the main strikers down the middle to score but as long as Jack keeps scoring, he’s almost in double figures and we’re not a third of the way through the season yet so it’s great for him.”
SWANSEA ON SATURDAY
"It’s good that there’s not another mid-week game, the three days turn around so fast. Asking the same players to go to the well all the time. It’s good for us. Swansea’s always a test. They’re a good football team and I think they won today so they’ll be flying high and the challenge is there for us. But we’ll go there, try and be on the front foot and dominate and see how we get on. I think we’ve got Birmingham City after that, the Rooney effect will be in that game of course, but we are looking forward to the next two games off the back of a lift that we all needed really. We didn’t feel injustice, but we felt we’d been desperately unlucky to lose those three games. Now it’s good to get three points, push on and hopefully finish really strong before the next international break."
