A Black Cats point of view

GazJohnson - from Vital Sunderland answers some questions ahead of the Pompey v Sunderland FA cup game tomorrow.

FA cup weekends always give us - fans and teams - a break from the league, but looking at your season as a whole for a minute are you happy with how it is going so far?
To start with I was over the moon! Sitting pretty in 7th after an amazing draw at Old Trafford and victories over Liverpool and Arsenal at home we could not have hoped for any more. Sadly after the victory over Liverpool we lost many players through injuries and suspensions and our small squad could not cope with those losses. It has now turned into a serious fight to stay away from the bottom three but we are all confident we can get back to normality in the next few weeks.

You had a 3rd round win over Barrow - 3-0 seems pretty 'comfortable', was that the case?
Yes it was easy but it a great effort by Barrow who had some decent chances before we took the lead in the 15th minute. We gave a run out to four youth or younger players and this was all good for their learning curve and also Campbell bagged a brace so all in all a good day for the club.

Is Steve Bruce a 'put out a full strength side' or a 'rest some with the league in mind' type of guy in the cups?
He classes the FA Cup as the priority this season as he always quotes 'win 6 games and you have won the Cup', if only it were that simple! He will bring back all the injured players such as Cattermole, Gordon, Turner from suspension so it will be a good team on Saturday for once.

We snuck through by the skin of our teeth against Coventry, who would you rather be playing at the weekend - them, or us or does it not really bother you?
I had a minibus booked by the 89th minute to go to the Ricoh Arena but soon had to cancel that day out to the Midlands thanks to Wright in the last minute! I cannot make the game due to travel costs and work commitments but I would much rather play Coventry even with all your current problems on and off field!

What were your expectations, or hopes for the FA cup when we got to round 3? Have they changed since?
I expect this to be a tough game but I still think this Cup will be won by one of the bigger teams this season.

Who is the real Sunderland danger man that Pompey need to watch?
Cattermole and Bent are always dangerous, Catts in more ways than one! He will hurt you if upset! Bent has scored 14 this season and if the chance falls he will bury it past you.

Do we have anyone that you particular fear facing?
At the moment, and particularly after watching the 3rd round I am not scared of Pompey at the moment as you looked awful at times. You are bottom of the league and facing a severe crisis in confidence so we have to use that to our advantage and pick up the win.

Go on, who's going to win and march into round 5 and a step closer to 'FA cup glory?'
Sunderland 1-0 and then our season can start from scratch!

Questions answered by GazJohnson from Vital Sunderland.

Look out for m answers on Vital Sunderland!

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