Sunderland midfielder Alex Pritchard has urged his team to ‘stand up and be counted’ ahead of their return to League One action against Ipswich Town this weekend.
Sunderland have now lost their last four games in all competitions, and their last three in League One.
It’s thrust the Black Cats out of the top-six and into 7th, and with it, manager Lee Johnson is coming under some serious scrutiny from the fans.
His side welcome Ipswich Town this weekend. The Tractor Boys have had an inconsistent season themselves but have slowly crawled up into 9th-place of the table ahead of this weekend, and so it’ll be another huge test for Sunderland.
Speaking to The Northern Echo ahead of the game, Pritchard had this to say:
“Look we need to get a win, we need to get a win from somewhere and hopefully it’s against Ipswich in the league.
“We need to get back to winning ways and give something for the fans to cheer about and get us back in a good environment again.”
Sunderland have started the season in blistering form. They looked like they were on their way to top two finish at least, but with their form have derailed it now seems like they could be facing yet another season in the third tier of English football.
“Obviously it’s a difficult moment and we all know it but you can’t just be negative and need to be positive,” Pritchard continued.
“We are a good team and have some fantastic players in that dressing room, we know that but we need to show it. Ipswich at home is massive for us.
“We just have to stand up and be counted for really to a man.
“For them to come here we have to make this a fortress again, it’s as simple as that and with the crowd behind us we can.”
Paul Cook’s Ipswich side have now lost just one of their last 11 in all competitions. They endured a torrid start to the campaign, coming after a mass summer overhaul of their playing squad, but it seems like the side are starting to gel.
So a club in Ipswich on the up and one in Sunderland who can’t buy a win at the moment – it should make for a feisty encounter at the Stadium of Light this weekend, with a win able to get the Black Cats back into the top-six and back on a positive path.
The game kicks off at 3pm on Saturday.
