Patrick van Aanholt says Sunderland’s main focus for Wednesday’s friendly with Doncaster is fitness, and not the result.
The Black Cats’ displays have been somewhat mixed so far in pre-season, with wins against Darlington and Toronto masking disappointing showings against Sacramento Republic and Pachuca.
Perhaps most worrying is their lack of goals, with the Wearsiders averaging just a strike a game in their recent trip to North America against opposition they would have expected to have performed much better against.
Having returned to the UK, they are now preparing for their final tune-ups against League One Doncaster on Wednesday and then Bundesliga side Hannover on Saturday afternoon.
Van Aanholt missed much of the trip to the USA and Canada but boss Dick Advocaat will be keen to see him get some minutes under his belt, with him likely to play a key role in Sunderland’s fight against the drop.
The Dutchman is adamant his side are not solely thinking about winning in South Yorkshire, insisting that fitness remains their main focus ahead of the new season.
“The Doncaster friendly will be a tough game but, like the head coach said to us, it is not about the result,” he said. “So the main focus will be building our fitness and making sure our shape is right ahead of next weekend.”
Sunderland begin the new campaign away at Leicester on August 8, a game they are 3.50 to win, with the draw 3.20 and the Foxes 2.15.
Having largely escaped relegation last term due to the late intervention of boss Advocaat, they are once again being tipped for a season of struggling and are currently priced at 2.88 to go down.
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