TORE ANDRE FLO, Sunderland's £8.2m flop, was last night given the backing of Norway assistant coach Harald Aabrekk.

Flo, the club's record signing, has not scored this year and spurned two glorious chances to hit the target at Fulham on Saturday.

But Aabrekk, who was at Loftus Road to see his countryman in action for the struggling Wearsiders, believes the striker has been given a raw deal and is getting back to his best.

Aabrekk said: "I feel very sorry for Tore Andre Flo. He played well against Fulham and won a lot of aerial challenges.

"I will tell the national coach that he did well and that he is improving. He missed our game with Greece last month with an ankle injury, and he has only just returned to full training.

"But you could see he's feeling the benefit of that in his performance at Fulham.

"It's clear that he's in a blind alley because he's gone such a long time without a goal.

"But we must remember that it's not all his fault. At Rangers, the problem was his club couldn't beat Celtic.

"And Sunderland have both their feet in a relegation battle, and that doesn't suit his style of play."

* Alfie Haaland will have four months of intensive physio before being given a last chance to salvage his Manchester City career.

The Norwegian was recently informed that he was being put 'on notice' after an injury-plagued two years threatened to bring his career to an end. But City have now challenged Haaland to prove them wrong.