Sunderland manager demands survival focus

Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill has demanded focus on the club's survival battle, despite stories from some newspapers that have suggested the Black Cats could now fight for European qualification this year.

O'Neill is more concerned about the club's Premier League status, and demanded focus from his players instead of worrying about European football.


O'Neill said: “Is it foolhardy to start looking up the table? Yes. As soon as you said 'foolhardy', I agreed with you. Absolutely.


“Then someone asked me about Europe. So I asked them if they had any idea what foolhardy means! It’s nonsense, nonsense.


"Imagine sitting here talking about that in the first days of February? Seriously. Don’t get carried away. Please.”