Asamoah Gyan was delighted to return to the scoresheet in Sunderland’s 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers and admitted he hoped he had given manager Steve Bruce a selection headache.
“I’m really happy because I haven’t scored for a while,” Gyan told reporters after the match.
“As an attacker if you play two or three games and you’re not scoring it’s a bit frustrating.
“My game is a bit better, the coach has been talking about my play after each game and he thinks the performance is better, the goal was coming. So we just had to keep our composure and make sure we do our best to win games.”
Talking through his goal, the striker admitted he was thinking about passing the ball to a team-mate before going for the bottom corner with a curling drive.
“When Jordan [Henderson] gave me the ball I was just trying to tease the defender and I saw [David] Meyler going through and I wanted to pass the ball through but I had to be myself,” he added.
“Sometimes as an attacker you have to be yourself. You have to take responsibility so I said ‘hey, why not? We are up two, I have to be myself’ so I decided to shoot and I got it.
“I know I have that quality of curling the ball wide so I wanted to try my luck and I got it, so it’s really one of those things.”
Gyan also revealed that his team-mate Darren Bent was relieved to end his recent goal drought but admitted he was also hoping his own performance had given his manager something to think about.
“[Bent] is really happy, I could see him after the game. As an attacker if you score, finally, you find a bit [of] relief. If I’m in his shoes I would feel the same way,” he said.
“It’s really really important for the team, it will give the coach a headache now. All of us are doing well and it’s really better for the team, individuals and the whole of Sunderland. We are doing so well and I hope it continues. “
The Ghanaian international, who previously played for Udinese and Rennes before joining Sunderland, admitted he wasn’t used to playing games so regularly over the Christmas period as he usually has a break in winter.
“Honestly, I’m not used to playing a game every two days. I was even alone during Christmas, my family wasn’t here, every Christmas I’ve been going to Ghana,” explained Gyan.
“So it’s like something strange to me. I’m now in England so I’ll get used to it.”
Asked if he thought he was pushing for a place in Sunderland’s starting line-up against Aston Villa, the striker said he prefers to see the team winning.
“I don’t really know for now, what matters is we’re winning most of the games. I’m here to make sure Sunderland go places and it doesn’t matter if I’m on the bench or not,” he said.
“I just keep focused and make sure Sunderland win, that’s all.”
Gyan celebrated his goal with his trademark dance and said he hoped Bolo Zenden would join him in doing so in the future.
“Bolo [Zenden] is a very sympathetic guy, he’s very cool. We do [dance], sometimes, in the dressing room,” explained Gyan. “I saw Anton [Ferdinand] is really better so I had to call him because you’ll see when I scored I was calling Anton.
“Bolo was a bit shy because of what happened at Stamford Bridge, he’s a bit shy, but I think maybe next time he will dance.”
Looking back to Sunderland’s previous home defeat against Blackpool, Gyan reflected that Sunderland were just unlucky on the day.
“I would say it wasn’t our day because we created a lot of chances. That was the most important thing. We did all we could, everybody understood that luck wasn’t on our side,” he added.
“Sometimes in football you need a bit of luck, I would say 10 per cent counts in a game – of luck. We did everything against Blackpool. I seemed a bit surprised after the game but I’m professional footballer, I do understand the game so we had to just keep our heads up and keep on going.”