Rock-bottom Sunderland set to play Wes Brown in Newcastle derby after 21 months out
Rock-bottom Sunderland set to play Wes Brown in Newcastle derby after 21 months out
Black Cats hope injury-ravaged former England international and Premier League title winner can fix their leaky defence
Two years of hurt: Wes Brown's last Sunderland appearance was in January 2012
Robert Cianflone
Gus Poyet is poised to take a massive gamble by recalling forgotten man Wes Brown for Sunday's crunch derby against Newcastle.
Sunderland
and former England defender Brown has not played a first-team match for
21 months but has fought back from repeated injury setbacks to be fit
for the North-East derby.
Poyet has wiped the slate clean for all his
players since succeeding the sacked Paolo Di Canio, and admits he is
crying out for some defence-steadying experience to prevent a
morale-sapping eighth defeat in the season's first nine league matches. The Black Cats
are searching for their first win of the season and while throwing
former England international Brown into a game of such intensity might
be a risk, Poyet may reason he couldn't do much to worsen a defence that
has leaked 20 goals in the eight league matches so far.
Brown, a
former title winner at Manchester United, has come through a training
ground friendly and a U21s match in the past week, along with other
misfits including Cabral, Modibo Diakite and Connor Wickham.
Poyet said: "Wes is fit and he's
been training with us all week and he played in a behind closed doors
friendly we had on Tuesday. It's a decision we need to make.
"Whether
somebody's fit enough to play 90 minutes or not or how many players
there are in that situation you can't take a chance.
"But you can't have too many on the pitch that can't play 90 minutes. Golden Brown? Ex-England defender "could be everything you need" claims Poyet
Reuters
"Depending on that, we will make a decision on it.
"He
could be everything that you need in the Premier League. He's
experienced he's played at the highest level, at one of the best teams
in the world, and he knows the game well.
"Hopefully we can see him very soon on the pitch."
Skipper John O'Shea admits Sunderland, beaten 4-0 at Swansea on Saturday in Poyet's first match in charge, are staring at a relegation season unless they toughen up.
"We
were under no illusions before the game about the position we're in in
the league. When you're letting teams score that many goals against you,
it's going to be a long, hard season.
"We know where we are in
the league and we know what we have to do - we have to win matches.
There's only ourselves whose going to help us.
"The manager has
come in and we have to show him why he wanted to take this job and how
we can get out of this position. There's no better way of doing that
than against Newcastle.
"We have to make sure we keep our heads up. They go down too easily at the minute.
"When
you see the way the team played in the first half, to what we did in
the second half, heads dropped too easily after the first goal went in.
"We need to be stronger mentally." Cat-astrophe: O'Shea knows what's coming unless Sunderland improve
Michael Steele
There is some good news for Sunderland - Newcastle
are facing defensive problems of their own, with captain Fabricio
Coloccini out for at least a couple of weeks.
However, Steven Taylor is likely to return from injury and go straight into the line-up at the Stadium of Light.
Boss
Alan Pardew said: "Paul Dummet is ready and he showed me that against
Liverpool, but I think Steven with one leg will tell me he is okay for
the derby.
"I will make the call on Thursday."
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