Former Celt faces up to relegation battle
The former Celtic boss took charge of Sunderland almost a year ago and quickly dragged them away from the relegation dogfight.
With just two wins from 14 matches Sunderland are just a point clear of the bottom three with O’Neill facing upto the reality of the current position.
“Until you get the requisite number of points on the board I don’t think that you can ever think anything else,” he admitted after being asked about the prospect of relegation.
“You need the points, it really is as simple as that. We haven’t at the minute got enough points on the board and we have to rectify that.
“Our position in the league at the minute, with a couple of teams all tight together, would suggest just that (we are in a fight).
“It is a battle for us and we have to pull through – it was a battle last year and so from that viewpoint I’m hoping the experience they have got will stand them in good stead this season.”
Discussing today’s 2-1 defeat at Norwich O’Neill added: “To dominate the way we did in the second half is encouraging, there is no doubt about that.
“I said to the players at the end that if we perform like we did in the second half we will be fine, we are certainly not good enough to gift goals to teams and be able to turn that around, the top sides are able to do that but we are certainly not a top side.”
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