Sunderland manager David Moyes has defended his decision to take the Premier League strugglers on a team-bonding trip to New York next week.
The league's basement side will head to the Big Apple after their home game with Southampton on Saturday for a four-night trip which Moyes believes will lead to a more unified performance back on the pitch.
"I've done it before. It's something different. I know it works. For the players, it's something to look forward to," he told reporters today. "I told them last week and I hope I get the same positive response as I did against Crystal Palace when I told them we were going to New York. If they can give me that again this week, then I'll be more than happy and I might even fix up something else.
"I don't know what I'm going to top it with, but look, we will go there and we'll train every day. We'll train differently, but sometimes at this time of the year, they need a little bit of a break as well and going to a training camp is not always the best idea.
"We will do other things - we are going to watch basketball, a few are going to the ice hockey. There'll be some, I'm sure, who will go to Ground Zero where some of them have never been. The big thing for me is for us to get a team spirit where they look after each other on the pitch, but they begin to build relationships off it as well, so I am trying to help do both."
Sunderland's relegation rivals Crystal Palace will be taking a break in Dubai next month, while Middlesbrough have spent the week in southern Spain.
Neil Wilkes
