Merson gives McCarthy some food for thought

But McCarthy revealed he will not be making any extra plans to deal with the highly-talented former England man.

Merson turned his back on a chance to return to Premiership football in the summer with Portsmouth and he has proved an astute signing by Saddlers manager Colin Lee.

The 35-year-old has scored six goals in 13 appearances for his new club and he will be part of the Walsall team at the Stadium of Light this afternoon hoping to earn their first away win of the season.

However, McCarthy insists he will not be focusing too much on the creative talents of Merson, who has 21 caps for England to his name.

"He makes Walsall tick," said McCarthy, who once played against a young Merson while he was at Arsenal. "But I will not decide my tactics by knowing what the opposition are like.

"We didn't do it for Robert Earnshaw when we played Cardiff on Tuesday night and we did not do it at Sheffield United, who were top of the league. So why should we do it now?

"I think it's a team effort. We will respect Merson and be wary of him.

"But if we were to set up and decide how to deal with a player in one of our home games, I think it would put the players in the wrong frame of mind."

Magical Merson cost Middlesbrough £5m from Arsenal in 1997 and was then sold to Aston Villa for £6.75m a year later.

After ending his days at Villa, Merson helped clinch promotion for Portsmouth last season before deciding to move for free to the Bescot Stadium.

And McCarthy admits he can understand why the experienced forward would opt against playing his football in the frenetic surroundings of the top-flight.

"He had his decisions for leaving," said the Black Cats chief. "I suppose he has gone back to the area where his family are. At his time of life that might suit him more.

"He might have looked at it as well and thought he could cope better and could get another two or three years playing at this level."

Sunderland's own well-respected front-man, Marcus Stewart, has been backed by McCarthy to keep up the good work.

After scoring four goals in four successive First Division games, the former Ipswich man has now gone seven matches without a goal. Stewart's giant strike partner Kevin Kyle has now hit form, although the smaller of the pair has been playing his part in the Scotsman's goals.

McCarthy, who also has the option of playing Michael Proctor or Tommy Smith up front, is delighted with Stewart's contribution.

He said: "He's been fantastic. He's a goalscorer and he had that little run, he is still playing very well.

"I have to be fair to him, though, and I haven't seen him miss any clear cut chances that someone has set up for him.

"It's not like he is missing chance after chance; and when he's had his chances he has put them in the net."

A victory this afternoon will keep Sunderland up with the promotion pack after the goalless draw with Cardiff City in midweek. McCarthy, who is without Julio Arca through suspension, is likely to hand loan signing Alan Quinn his debut against a Walsall side who are just two points above a relegation spot.

Quinn is the fifth new face - along with Gary Breen, Smith, Colin Healy and Jeff Whitley - in a squad which dropped out of the Premier League in May.

And McCarthy - with one eye on a return to the elite league - admits he is still looking for more new blood, although he indicated he has to be careful with the type of quality he captures.

"We can bring someone in to help us try to achieve promotion," he said. "But what does have to be planned for is when we bring people on long term contracts who are not good enough for the Premier League. Sometimes that happens and you just need players who are going to help you get promoted.

"At the minute, the squad is OK. But we will review that when we pick up bookings and suspensions.

"In saying that, though, how many players can you bring in who are Premiership quality? It's a balancing act all of the time.

"What we want to do is go up and then worry about that afterwards."