Moyes focused on rekindling team spirit at Sunderland
(Reuters) - Sunderland manager David Moyes refused to be downbeat over their failure to sign a striker in January and will focus on improving team spirit following Tuesday's 0-0 home draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
With Victor Anichebe out for up to three months with a knee injury, Sunderland looked at several forwards and, according to British media reports, had three bids for unsettled Leicester City striker Leonardo Ulloa rejected on Tuesday.
"I wouldn't use the word frustrating, but we were trying to add to the squad if we could. We knew it would be a difficult few days to get what we wanted," Moyes said when asked whether it had been a frustrating deadline day.
"But it wasn't for the want of trying. Some players we couldn't get and some clubs chose not to sell us their players... What I now need to do is get a great team spirit here.
"We need to build that, get a toughness, and be rugged and a bit ugly at times. We're going to have to maintain that, especially against the much better teams at home."
Second-bottom Sunderland, who are five points away from the safety zone, travel to relegation rivals Crystal Palace on Saturday, trailing them by one place and three points.
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru)