Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat insists no repeat of Southampton thrashing
Friday 1 May 2015 18:17, UK
Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat has promised there will be no repeat of last October’s 8-0 drubbing at Southampton when the two sides meet at the Stadium of Light this weekend.
Three own goals and a Graziano Pelle double saw Sunderland humiliated in the reverse fixture at St Mary’s earlier in the season.
And Advocaat, whose team sit in the relegation zone with five games to play, revealed he sat through a re-run of the defeat to ensure Sunderland don’t make the same mistakes on Saturday.
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"I don't think it's a good idea to discuss that game again,” he said.
“I saw the game two days ago - we gave the goals away really, really easily and definitely that will not happen tomorrow.
"Own goals, some mistakes from the goalie, some mistakes from the defence, I didn't think you could make that many mistakes in one game.
"By the way, it was quite a lucky day for Southampton, the way we gave the goals away - that will definitely not happen on Saturday."
Sunderland have a game in hand against the other relegation threatened teams around them, but Advocaat has a points target in mind which he thinks will ensure they avoid the drop.
"We know what we have to do,” he said. “If we get the six, seven points, then I'm sure we will stay up. There's no sense in looking so much at other teams.
"It helps sometimes when they lose, but we still have to do it by ourselves."
Advocaat admits Saturday’s game will be special as he is reunited with Southampton boss Ronald Koeman, who was a mainstay of his Dutch side when the 67-year-old was national team manager.
"I knew him quite well already as a player when he was in the national team and I was team manager,” Advocaat added.
"He was a brilliant player and he's a very good coach and he has proved that in the past with several clubs in Holland and also Valencia and Benfica and now he's doing it with Southampton. I'm not surprised about that.
"He was a midfielder and passer like (Pep) Guardiola, but he had a great touch from the back. He was a little bit of an underrated player because he was a world-class footballer.
"He was more or less the playmaker from the back. He started the passes from the back and, if you see that kind of situation then, you know that kind of person will become a coach."
