Tony Mowbray confirms whether or not play-off talk is banned within the Sunderland squad

Are the Sunderland players allowed to talk about their Championship play-off ambitions?

Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray says he is happy for his players to talk about a play-off push, as long as it helps focus them on the task of achieving it.

The Wearsiders go into the home game against Bristol City this weekend in fifth place in the Championship table and hoping to cement their credentials even more.

Often in these scenarios a head coach will ban all talk within a squad of what they are attempting to achieve until they have actually done it, but that’s not the case at Sunderland.

Asked if the squad talk about achieving a play-offs spot, Mowbray said: “At the moment it does get mentioned.

“Let's keep accumulating points and enjoy looking at the table come five o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, without great expectation except within themselves, within the group.

“Keep pushing on. Keep enjoying the scenario. But they do know that every game is a difficult game for us.”

Mowbray has spoken about his fears that Sunderland could become susceptible to overconfidence given the run of form they find themselves it, but he also doesn’t want to stop the optimism that the play-off race is creating.

Part of that, though, is that he simply believes players produce more when they have a target to focus on.

“I think footballers generally perform better when they have a goal to shoot for,” he said. “That might be to stay out the bottom three, it might be to stay in the top two or it might be to target play-offs.

“I think ultimately the players on the pitch do the job or don't do the job, and that's why I keep going on about squad depth and quality.”

---

Read more Sunderland news

• Ten players you probably forgot played for Sunderland in League One
• Former Sunderland defender earns fresh start at Wycombe Wanderers
• Charlie Methven Charlton takeover off with former Sunderland owner blasted over his conduct
• Tony Mowbray: 'I don’t want to keep repeating this but the Sunderland fans are amazing'
• FEATURE: 15 random former Sunderland players you probably didn't know still work in football
• Former fan favourite back at Sunderland to help develop new hero
• Best Sunderland defensive partnerships: How do Dan Ballard and Danny Batth compare?