Trust me to get the right players in for Sunderland – Martin O'Neill

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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.24.1.1/99660?ns=guardian&pageName=Trust+me+to+get+the+right+players+in+for+Sunderland+*+Martin+O%27Neill%3AArticle%3A1789490&ch=Football&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Sunderland+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CMartin+O%27Neill+%28football%29&c5=Football+World+Cup&c6=Louise+Taylor&c7=12-Aug-17&c8=1789490&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Football&c13=&c25=&c30=content&c42=Sport&h2=GU%2FSport%2FFootball%2FSunderland" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">• Sunderland manager admits his squad is weak in places<br />• 'I know what we need and I've been working on that every day'</p><p>Martin O'Neill has asked anxious Sunderland fans to "trust" him as he strives to make eagerly awaited transfer market breakthroughs. "We're still looking to strengthen," he said. "It's difficult but you just have to trust me. I know we can get players in."</p><p>So far this summer Sunderland's manager has signed free agents Carlos Cuéllar and Louis Saha but he accepts his squad is weak in places. "It's definitely not strong enough," said O'Neill, who is short of strikers but continues to seek quality rather than quantity. "Louis Saha coming in is fine but, at 34, there's only a certain amount of games you can expect him to play. Louis will help but it would be asking a lot of him if we felt that was where we were going to lay our hat.</p><p>"I want to try and get some quality in. I know what we need to do and I've been working on that every single day. I hope I'm not sitting here with a big red face on 2 September but I intend to get those players in; otherwise it will be a tough."</p><p>While Sunderland continue to haggle with Wolves over the long mooted transfer of the centre-forward Steven Fletcher, O'Neill also requires a new left-back, a midfielder imbued with the pace and creativity needed for the manager's preferred counter-attacking game and, possibly, cover at right-back, where Phil Bardsley will be missing for some weeks following an ankle operation.</p><p>"Bardo's the only real right-back we have," said O'Neill. "Then we need a proper left-back. I was also hoping to inject a bit more pace and trickery and add that to a striker."</p><p>Wes Brown's latest knee injury sidelines him for the trip to Arsenal. "I can understand why Wes thinks he's cursed," said Sunderland's manager, but James McClean, the Ireland left-winger, should have a key role at the Emirates.</p><p>"It's a big season for James," said O'Neill. "If teams are doing their homework and feel he's the main threat he's going to get more attention than before and they'll have some plan to stop him.</p><p>"He has to cope with that and add a bit more to his game. It's not just a matter of dropping his shoulder and going on the outside, he's going to have to start thinking of doing other things, bringing other players into play and just laying the occasional simple ball off. He needs to watch top-quality players in his position and how they cope.</p><p>"James has a mind of his own and it doesn't always tally with what we're all thinking, but the fantastic thing about him is his capacity for hard work. I could play full-back behind him."</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/sunderland">Sunderland</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/martin-o-neill">Martin O'Neill</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/louisetaylor">Louise Taylor</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" /><img width='1' height='1' src='http://guardian.co.uk.feedsportal.com/c/34708/f/639039/s/227d0fff/mf.gif' border='0'/><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/139263320828/u/49/f/639039/c/34708/s/227d0fff/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/139263320828/u/49/f/639039/c/34708/s/227d0fff/a2.img" border="0"/></a><img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/139263320828/u/49/f/639039/c/34708/s/227d0fff/a2t.img" border="0"/>
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