Poyet seeks much-needed spark

Gus Poyet has acknowledged his Sunderland side need to rediscover their form swiftly in order to secure Premier League survival.

The Uruguayan initially oversaw an improvement in results after succeeding Paolo Di Canio at the Stadium of Light in October and believed a significant corner had been turned when Sunderland won 3-0 at rivals Newcastle United on February 1.

However, the club have since picked up just one point from six top-flight matches and prop up the Premier League table ahead of Monday’s trip to Tottenham.

Although Sunderland have games in hand on their rivals, after reaching the League Cup final and the last eight of the FA Cup, Poyet is aware the Stadium of Light outfit require an immediate upturn in fortunes.

“I thought that day at Newcastle that we’d clicked,” Poyet is quoted as saying in The Guardian. “I was wrong. I thought that’s it, yes, now everything’s going to work out fine. What’s happened since indicates I was wrong.

“In January we were winning so many important games (in the league and cups) and it was bringing the players together. Now we need a shock to get us going again.”

Poyet also revealed he was distinctly unimpressed by Sunderland’s performance when they exited the FA Cup at the hands of Hull City last month.

A much-changed Sunderland side lost 3-0 at the KC Stadium and Poyet said: “Hull confirmed many things about the team for me. It told me a lot about certain players.

“You can have a little doubt about a player and then you see them in a game like that and you say ‘yes, I was right’.”