Blues boss Roy Keane has warned his players to focus on their upcoming league games and not to start dreaming about the cup ties against Arsenal and Chelsea. Town, now 18th in the Championship, travel to Coventry on New Year’s Day and Nottingham Forest are at Portman Road on Monday prior to the FA Cup third round game at Stamford Bridge which is followed by the two-legged Carling Cup semi-final with the Gunners.

Keane said: “They’re nice little things for the players to look forward to, but the danger is that if you starting thinking about those games, you’ll get an injury. We just have to focus on the next game.

“It’s an important period for the club — can we bring players in, can we keep players, can we give Arsenal a game, can we give Chelsea a game. On paper we should have no chance, particularly over two legs.

“There’s always a chance of a cup shock over one game, particularly if you’re at home and conditions are for you, and even then you mightn’t win.

“The downside is that the semi-finals are over two legs. You might catch one of the big boys on an off-night but over two legs is [very hard].

“It’s great for our players and for our supporters to travel down to these great stadiums to play against these teams and we’ll find a lot out about our players.”

Keane says key defender Gareth McAuley could be in contention for a return early in the new year after undergoing achilles surgery, but probably not in time for the cup ties: “Gareth’s making good progress and he’s chomping at the bit to get back. It certainly won’t be late January unless he has a setback in the next few weeks.

“We’re happy enough with Gareth’s progress but it might be harsh throwing him back in for the cup games. That might test his achilles straight away!

“If he’s back involved, that would be fantastic in terms of being in the training group with us. We might be forced to throw him back in if something happened to Tommy, Darren or Damo, but let’s not predict who might be fit over the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile, defender Mark Kennedy has revealed that midfielder Alan Quinn is making progress having been sidelined with a groin injury since pre-season. The 31-year-old, who recently spent time back in Ireland after a bereavement, was given an injection earlier this month, having picked up the problem in the friendly at Leiston in July.

Kennedy said: “It would be wrong of me to say where he is in his fitness, but he’s been [training] outside in the last few days, so fingers crossed he’s finally on the full road to recovery.”

Photo: Action Images

MaySixth added 09:49 - Dec 29 Bring on Coventry
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Blue92 added 09:54 - Dec 29 "Keane said: “They're nice little things for the players to look forward to, but the danger is that if you starting thinking about those games, you'll get an injury. We just have to focus on the next game." Keane comes out with some weird stuff. If you think about stuff, you get an injury? How does that work out? They're not exactly going to be daydreaming about the big cup ties when they're on the pitch in a league match. Unless he means if they think too much, their heads will explode? Hmm. Odd.

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TractorMatt added 10:08 - Dec 29 Come on Roy, show all those haters how you got Sunderland from rock bottom to promotion! COYB!!!
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jas0999 added 10:16 - Dec 29 The Chelsea / Arsenal games are 'nice to have's' in my opinion. We need to focus on the league - firstly to move away from the relegation zone and hopefully to at least push for the play-offs (it is a long way off mind!!). I suspect we have very little chance in both cup games - but we can all dream!
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Mark added 11:01 - Dec 29 Odd comments indeed about thinking causing injuries. I saw Holloway yesterday bumping up his players again, yet here Keane seems to be writing off his team's chances in the Arsenal and Chelsea matches. We all know they are extremely tough and it is right to focus on the league games, but I just wish Roy would be more positive. Remember recently he said that the gap between us and the play-offs will only get bigger, imagine what that did for the team's self-belief!

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bobble added 11:22 - Dec 29 hes just an idiot who hasnt got a clue who shoots his mouth off........don't over analyse it in fact your better off if you don't read the crap he says and just be yourself man .................. sack him
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Pessimistic added 11:32 - Dec 29 What Roy means is quite simple. When players start backing out of 50/50 balls because they are fearful they might get injured then they normally do! It is a mental thing. When you go carfully trying to avoid injury you invariably get one!
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nobrain added 11:35 - Dec 29 Hmmm.... ....and I thought "Jimspeak" was difficult to follow! To paraphrase the wonderful Eric Morecambe... "I've heard all those words before, but not necessarily in that order"
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bluelady added 11:47 - Dec 29 Bobble think you described yourself down to t!!! "Hes just am idiot who hasn't got a clue and shouts his mouth off!!!!!
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bluelady added 11:48 - Dec 29 Just a question does anyone know what time the players normally train please?
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blue_em_away added 12:25 - Dec 29 bluelady added 11:47 - Dec 29 Bobble think you described yourself down to t!!! "Hes just am idiot who hasn't got a clue and shouts his mouth off!!!!! Well said :-D
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TheBlueStig added 13:55 - Dec 29 I think I speak on behalf of MOST town fans when I say that if it wasen't for the two cup ties against premier league teams then I think Keane would be sitting at home picking at the Christmas Turkey..
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arc added 14:52 - Dec 29 Alan Quinn?? Alan Quinn??? Oy.
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blueherts added 15:15 - Dec 29 Bout 10.30am till 1 ish - Blue lady
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dirtydingusmagee added 15:19 - Dec 29 bobble,do you never tire of shooting yourself in the foot ?
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stinkiusminkius added 20:28 - Dec 29 I thought bobble had the m
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stinkiusminkius added 20:32 - Dec 29 I thought bobble had the most relevant comment on here. Keanes interviews are full of contradictions and the more you look at them, the more clueless he appears to be - he's a man frantically scrabbling for answers. It makes good press and keeps him in the public eye (ultimately keeping him his job) but I think it's quite embarrassing for our club.
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Blueknight85 added 01:01 - Dec 30 "Focus on job in hand" is exactly what i said to his wife last night. Fact
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bobble added 10:07 - Dec 31 my feet have no holes
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