Former Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has claimed that his former side must be 'very happy' with where they are in the Championship table and anything more should be seen as 'extra'.
The Black Cats currently occupy 11th in the league, but were all the way up to fourth at one point around Christmas. Now after three consecutive losses, they've fallen out of the play-offs.
However, in recent weeks, they've been hampered by injuries and have played lengthy periods of the season with either one or no out-and-out strikers available to them - impressive considering only four other teams have managed to score more goals than them.
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And although current boss Tony Mowbray has climbed just one league spot since taking over from Alex Neil back in August, Poyet believes that fans would be happy with his tenure so far, and would be even happier if they made the play-offs.
"I think it will be a plus if Sunderland make it to the play-offs," the former Uruguayan international told Neuecasinos24.com. "If I am not mistaken, Sunderland’s goal this season was to settle in the Championship and not to take any risks and to avoid being in a position to fight relegation, to settle and then see what happens.
"They had a very good run of games in January, they put themselves in the play-offs and now of course they’ve had a few bad games, but the Championship changes dramatically week in, week out.
"I think they need to be very happy with where they are. The players need to realise, whatever they get extra from here is spectacular. They need to enjoy the games with the support from fans in the stands and prepare for what could be a key season next season."
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