Gus Poyet: “Lee was great – I’m so glad we managed to keep hold of him in the transfer window – and the great thing now is that I have a dilemma with Liam Bridcutt!
“I know that Liam cannot play in the final against Manchester City because he is cup-tied, so I have to think about Lee – and that might influence my thoughts in terms of the Arsenal game.
“Craig Gardner got a great goal, Fabio Borini enjoyed the chance to play up front, Emanuele Giaccherini played well, Santiago Vergini looks increasingly comfortable – I could go on.
“That’s all good for us because with so many games coming up, we need all the players to come to the party.
“We need players who can be key players for us to be on their best form.
“And we need those who can play a part to also give us their best.
“That was one of the reasons why I was pleased that Ondrej Celustka got a full 90 minutes under his belt – he needed them because he has to be ready.
“And Andrea Dossena too – if anything happens to Marcos Alonso, it will be Andrea who comes in – so to get some match practice into him was also a big help.”
PLEASE VOTE ....
Gus Poyet insists he would take Premier League survival over cup glory despite seeing his team edge closer to a second big day at Wembley.
Gus Poyet: "Me, I would prefer to stay in the Premier League.
"Apparently to be more famous, it's better to win the cup.
"I don't want any more people knowing me, I think they know me enough, so I would prefer to stay in the Premier League.
"I am not looking for a statue, that's for sure.
"It's a personal feeling. I can't answer for anybody else, it's me. I would be devastated if we go down, so it's me.
"Now at the same time, I have to say if we win the cup, I am going to be jumping up and down and I am going to be wanting to come back here and celebrate with the fans, that's true.
"We will see, we will see what happens."
PLEASE VOTE ....
Obviously we want to win a cup AND be playing Premier League football ... but if you were put on the spot ... which would YOU choose?
PLEASE VOTE: http://www.sunderland-mad.co.uk/interactive/voting_polls.asp