Dropped Reveillere puts Sunderland first

After featuring in Dick Advocaat’s opening game in charge at West Ham, Reveillere has been dropped to the bench for Sunderland’s last two outings, with summer signing Billy Jones preferred in the right-back slot.

Advocaat has opted for the more attack-minded Jones due to Sunderland’s chronic problems going forwards, with only Aston Villa netting fewer times than the Black Cats this season.

But former France international Reveillere – who as SportMail revealed last week is likely to sign a new one-year deal at Sunderland this summer – has been around the block long enough to know the merits of biding his time for a chance.

And with Sunderland’s Premier League existence so precarious, the 35-year-old says the Black Cats need to boast a collective front now more than ever.

Reveillere told SportMail: “It’s football. I’m not going to lose my head over it.

“It’s happened to me before in my career when I’ve experienced similar situations.

“The most important thing is the team, so you just have to keep training until you are needed, whether that’s through the manager’s decision or an injury.

“At the moment, you can’t think about yourself, the most important thing above all is the team and keeping Sunderland in the Premier League.

“There’s a good atmosphere in the dressing room.

“Wins aren’t easy, but we’ve trained well and hard, and we’re ready to battle for another win at Stoke on Saturday.”

Reveillere watched from the bench as his team-mates imploded against Crystal Palace 12 days ago, as the feel-good factor from the Wear-Tyne derby immediately evaporated.

There has been plenty of time to reflect in the Sunderland camp at the depths the Black Cats reached in a 14-minute second half capitulation against Palace, with no Premier League last weekend.

But head coach Advocaat has used the fortnight’s break from competitive action to work with his squad, with Sunderland playing a behind-closed-doors game against SPL outfit Hamilton last week.

“It was hard after Crystal Palace, like all defeats,” added Reveillere.

“We wanted to do well at home after the defeat to Newcastle, so it was tough to take.

“We wanted to get a good result for the supporters because they again came in their numbers.

“We’ve had a long break without playing since, but that’s football and we have to look towards the next match and fight for a good result.

“We’ve been working hard to get rid of the errors and work better together.

“Now we have to take that into the next match.

“It was good to try a few things in the friendly last week, but now we have to do that in the Premier League.”