Djibril Cissé

By The Black Cats
January 23 2009

Ricky Sbragia says Sunderland are not disrespecting the FA Cup despite having to make changes for tomorrow's fourth-round tie with Blackburn Rovers. Sbragia has said that he will use some of his fringe players as the Black Cats look to book a place in the last 16 of the competition.

But the Sunderland manager is determined to take the club as far as he can in his first season as a Barclays Premier League boss.

Sbragia will utilise his resources, with Sunderland facing a crucial league game against Fulham three days after Rovers' visit to the Stadium of Light.

"The league game on Tuesday complicates things," admitted Sbragia.

"If we had a week between games then I would have no hesitation in putting out my strongest side tomorrow.

"But with the fixture list as it stands, it's a fact of life that the league has to be our priority - because that's what we'll be judged on at the end of the season.

"Some of the teams in our division are playing games next Wednesday and that's to their advantage because it gives players an extra 24 hours recovery time.

"We have to be careful how we manage things but we will take the game seriously, it's want we desperately want to win."

Sbragia added: "I'll be giving a chance to players who might have been unlucky not to start games recently, players who might argue that they should have been in the first team anyway, it's their chance to impress."

(Source: SAFC.com)