Sunderland looked set for a relegation scrap when they started the season with just two wins in their opening 13 Premier League games under Steve Bruce. But his replacement Martin O'Neill has overseen a remarkable turnaround in fortunes at the Wearside club.
Sebastian Larsson believes the bags of enthusiasm the manager has brought to the team has paid huge dividends.
"He has come in with loads of enthusiasm for the game and confidence.
"You can't just go in in the middle of the season and change everything. He has done it very cleverly. He puts his points across and gradually gets it in to us and everyone can see how enthusiastic he is.
"The main thing is that he has restored a lot of confidence in us and I think that has shown on the pitch.
"It has been a brilliant start under him. We have climbed the league, we have won a tricky cup tie and confidence is high.
"It's exactly what we wanted and hopefully we can keep that going now." "We were lacking in confidence before and we got that early win against Blackburn under the new manager and we have just improved from there," Larsson said.
