O'Shea: we need points and quick
Sunderland defender John O'Shea has insisted that playing well counts for nothing if the team do not turn those performances into victories.
The Black Cats are yet to win a game this season and as a result sit at the bottom of the Premier League table.
The North-East outfit were praised for their performance against Liverpool last Sunday, but still succumbed to a 3-1 defeat under temporary boss Kevin Ball's first league game in charge
O'Shea told the Sunderland Echo: "The positives don't count for anything,"
"Believe me, anyone in the dressing room would rather play terrible and win the games 1-0.
"We have to get away from moral victories when we have done okay or done this and done that. We have to stand up and take responsibility, make sure we get clean sheets and go ahead in games."
“We did that in the second half against Liverpool, but we need to be doing that from the start.
“The sooner we get the win on the board the better, and why not against United?
“We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be tough.
“But we have to start somewhere.”
“When you come into a game against Liverpool, you don’t want to give them a 2-0 head start,” added O’Shea.
“We need to start getting our noses in front.
“When you’ve got teams of the counter-attacking ability of Liverpool and Arsenal, it’s going to put you under so much pressure.
“Obviously, it paid off for them with a minute to go when we had to go for extra bodies up front.
“They were able to counter and score again.”