All change as Sbragia turns tables on Bolton

WHEN Ricky Sbragia was confirmed as Sunderland’s new permanent manager over the Christmas period, he immediately insisted he would not be afraid to embrace change. Just one week later, and he has already been as good as his word.

A subtle change in manmanagement style has been accompanied by a willingness to alter both formations and starting line-ups, and on Saturday, the outcome was a stark change in result.

Little more than a month after Roy Keane’s Black Cats crashed to a 4-1 defeat to Bolton in the Irishman’s final game in charge, Sbragia’s Sunderland ran out deserved 2-1 winners over the Trotters to book their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

In more than two-and-a-half years at the Stadium of Light, Keane failed to win a single match in the competition.

One week into his own permanent reign, and Sbragia has already surpassed his predecessor in that regard.

“We changed it around a little bit,” said the Sunderland boss. “And I felt the team we sent out was one that could see us through.

“I was reminded on Friday that we hadn’t qualified for the fourth round for three years, so I’m glad we’ve put that right. The FA Cup is a fantastic competition, and it would be nice to think we could go on a bit of a run now.”

Keane never managed that, of course, and while it would be wrong to constantly compare Sbragia to his illustrious predecessor, it is questionable whether Sunderland would have won Saturday’s game had last month’s upheaval not occurred.

The personnel employed would surely have been different, with Keane having lost faith in Pascal Chimbonda, El-Hadji Diouf and Carlos Edwards, all players who played important roles in Sbragia’s cup success.

Diouf won the f r e e - k i c k that led to S u n d e r - l a n d ’ s o p e n i n g goal – K i e r a n R i c h a r d - son’s delivery from the left e n a b l i n g K e n w y n e Jones to angle a header past Jussi Jaaskelainen – while Edwards delivered the cross for Djibril Cisse to double the hosts’ lead with a swivelled volley.

Neither player started any of Keane’s final five games in charge – Edw a r d s s p e n t most of the first half of the season on loan at Wolves – but their return has provided genuine width, something lacking in the league match btween the two.

“Diouf was excellent, absolutely excellent,” said Sbragia.

“And I thought Pascal and Carlos were great as well.

“The last time we played Bolton, we tried to play through our midfield too much. Bolton try to drag balls into midfield and guide players through the middle, because that’s where their strength is.

“So we tried to go down the sides much more.”

The ploy worked a treat, with Sunderland responding to a tepid first half with a 25- minute spell at the start of the second that was just about as good as anything they have produced at the Stadium of Light this season.

With Richardson, pictured left, adopting a more advanced role at the heart of midfield, Sunderland would already have been ahead by the time they scored had Ricardo Gardner not cleared Jones’ header off the line.

Their dominance was confirmed when Edwards rattled a 20-yard drive off the crossbar, and with Jones and Cisse becoming increasingly influential, Bolton’s defenders struggled to cope.

In the eight games Jones and Cisse have started together since Jones’ return from injury, they have shared ten goals. A similar return for the rest of the season will more than see Sunderland safe.

“The more they play together, the better they’ll be as a pair,” said Sbragia. “It’s not a case that after seven or eight games they’re going to have that – it might be 15 or 20, or it might even be a year or so. But what we’re seeing now is extremely pleasing. I thought they won us the game.”

They did, but not before Bolton threatened an unlikely comeback when substitute Ebi Smolarek’s shot deflected off an unwitting Nyron Nosworthy and looped over a helpless Marton Fulop.

The visitors threw men forward at will in the final ten minutes, but a spirited Sunderland withstood Bolton’s increasingly frantic attacking.