Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet admits he is dreading the
prospect of telling players they have missed out on his League Cup final squad.
The Uruguayan is preparing his charges to contest the final
of the first domestic trophy of the English season on Sunday, with Sunderland
playing the role of underdogs against Manchester City at Wembley.
Long-term injury absentee Keiren Westwood and the
cup-tied Liam Bridcutt are the only certain absentees, meaning Poyet will have
some tough selection decisions to make ahead of the game.
And he believes naming the squad ranks among the most
difficult calls of his career.
"Leaving players out, that's the worst," Poyet
told the Shields Gazette. "I read a great interview with (Real Madrid head
coach) Carlo Ancelotti the other day talking about pressure - pressure of the
fans, games, club and press.
"But the worst for him was the players. To tell an
important player that they have not made the bench.
"It's tough to tell a player he's not playing, but
to tell him he's not made the bench, is hard.
"It doesn't matter how honest you are or how clear
the decision is, at the end of the day, the player is not in the matchday
squad. That's the worst part for me."
Poyet is hopeful that, if required, Sunderland's
substitutes can make the difference against City, and will draw on his own
experience of coming off the bench to net the winner in Chelsea's 1998 UEFA
Super Cup final victory over Real Madrid.
"It's happened to me (being left out)," he
added. "I scored plenty of goals in my career, but for some reason, I
couldn't score in cup finals.
"I played two in Spain, one in Paris with Zaragoza
against Arsenal, and one with Uruguay.
"Then I came here and played a Charity Shield, but I
couldn't score. I was scoring fine in semi-finals, but you start thinking what
is wrong with you?
"Then Mr (Gianluca) Vialli left me on the bench in
the Super Cup. I was fuming. Then I went on in the 70th minute and scored the
winning goal. What's better?"
Culled from Soccerway
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