Nolan's ten card knockout

3:20pm Monday 5th January 2009

WANDERERS will go into daunting games against Arsenal and Manchester United without skipper Kevin Nolan, who picked up his 10th booking of the season against Sunderland.

The midfielder has received a yellow card in each of his last three appearances and will now serve a two-match ban.

“I haven’t really had time to let it sink in but I know I’m going to be killing myself later on about it,” he explained, after the 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.

“To be honest, I can’t believe I have got 10 cards this season. A lot of them have been harsh.

“I’m going to miss out on two massive games but hopefully the boys can do the business.”

Nolan believes a bit of self-belief was the major difference between the two sides at the Stadium of Light.

“Confidence is a massive factor in this day and age,” he said. “We gave them a hiding here a few weeks ago and although the scoreline didn’t perhaps reflect the game, when we scored a couple, their heads went down.

“The same happened in reverse today. We gave them two cheap goals and that’s the disappointing thing from our point of view.

“It has been the story of the last few games for us. We went to Liverpool, top of the league, and just about hung on for 30-odd minutes until we gave away what I thought was a very soft goal.

“Then against Wigan, I think we did enough to get something out of the game. We had enough chances, we just didn’t put them away.

“We went to Sunderland hoping the cup might give us something a bit different. It’s the second season running that we have gone out in the third round and it’s very disappointing.”

Nolan did have some words of encouragement for two old acquaintances in the Sunderland ranks.

He credits new Black Cats boss Ricky Sbragia with the wave of optimism currently around Wearside at present.

“I worked with him for a long time at Bolton and if there is one thing he gives you, it is confidence and belief in your own ability,” he said.

“You can see that with the Sunderland lads, he has turned the club around over the last five or six weeks.”

Sbragia was a surprise appointment to take over from Roy Keane, in the wake of Wanderers’ 4-1 win at the Stadium of Light in December.

But Nolan thinks he can make the most of his opportunity “He was our reserve team manager and did the job at Manchester United for a long time so he has worked with good players. It won’t frighten him,” he said.

“He deserves a go after what he did as caretaker manager and I’m delighted for him. He’s a lovely man and someone I really respect.”

Another old friend, El-Hadji Diouf, was singled out by Nolan as the man to lead Sunderland forward.

“I thought he played really well today,” he said. “I don’t want to say too much because he’ll get a bigger head than he has already got.

“We’re all still in touch with him and delighted to see him playing again.

“He’s had a tough time with his wife’s health, so we have heard, so we wish her all the best.

“I hope he goes on and becomes a success at Sunderland, as he was at Bolton.”