Mannone offers Sunderland fans refund
Vito Mannone believes he and his team-mates should reimburse the Sunderland fans who travelled to watch their 8-0 hammering at Southampton.
The Italian goalkeeper, who has established himself as Sunderland’s first choice despite the summer arrival of Costel Pantilimon from Manchester City, endured an afternoon to forget as his side suffered humiliation at St Mary’s.
The Sunderland supporters continued to back their players until the final whistle and Mannone insisted he wanted to meet the costs of the 700-mile awayday for the 2,500 travelling fans.
His comments come at a time when the costs of following a top-flight team have come under increasing scrutiny.
“I will personally talk to the team to see if it is possible to pay for their tickets and their trip,” he said. “I really mean that we should pay their tickets and travel. I will do everything possible.
“We should do it because we didn’t put a foot in, we didn’t work hard. We started the game well, but after we conceded we threw in the towel and I include myself.
“It is difficult for us, but it’s very difficult for them as well. We will go through it during the week. We will have time. The Premier League is really difficult. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to react.
“They are special fans. We are really lucky to be at this club and have these fans. If it was me, I would probably not react in the same way.”
Not did Sunerland concede two own goals, but Mannone also fumbled a shot from Jack Cork for the third Southampton strike and gifted possession to Dusan Tadic, who tucked away the sixth.
Southampton took the lead when Sunderland defender Santiago Vergini volleyed past Mannone from the edge of his own box, with in-form Graziano Pelle and midfielder Cork putting the hosts in charge by half-time.
Sunderland fell apart after the interval as Liam Bridcutt failed to clear following Mannone’s save from Pelle, with the ball squirming over the line, and Pelle added a fifth before Tadic, Victor Wanyama and Sadio Mane piled on the misery.
Mannone insisted things must get better when Sunderland welcome his former club Arsenal to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
“We play Arsenal next week so at the end of the day, we lost 8-0 but we didn’t lose eight games 1-0. Let’s take it on the chin and go again because we have another 30 games,” he added. “We have to remember how embarrassed we felt and feel embarrassed for ourselves and take some anger from this game into the next one and produce a performance.
It was a low point for anyone and possibly the biggest embarrassment for the team since I’ve been here.
“It was a difficult afternoon, but we need to react. We have to do it for ourselves, for the club and for our great fans as well that came all that way.
“I take all the responsibility I can take for each goal. I will try to work on it and try to improve. Each one of us should do the same, to try to defend and be in a game properly as a unit. Each one of us knows there were mistakes on the field.”
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