ANTHONY LE TALLEC is relying on past experiences and a few jokes from manager Mick McCarthy to lighten the mood as Sunderland try to lift themselves off the foot of the Premiership table.

Le Tallec suffered the ignominy of relegation during his season-long loan at Le Havre during the 2002-03 campaign and is in no mood to face a similar scenario during his year-long switch to the Stadium of Light.

The Frenchman felt helpless to prevent the club he started at relinquish Le Championnat status but is convinced Sunderland are far better equipped to steer clear of the same fate.

Despite losing their opening five matches on their return to the Premiership, Le Tallec is convinced a fight against the drop won't be on the agenda come May.

Instead the 20-year-old expects Sunderland to earn their first win against West Brom on Saturday before going on a run that will see them rise to mid-table.

"I have been in this situation before, with Le Havre. We were bottom a lot of the season and we were relegated. I don't want to go through the same again but I'm not concerned," said Le Tallec.

"This is a much different situation, not the same. We will not finish at the bottom like Le Havre did. I think we will finish tenth. We all believe that we will survive."

And he is backing McCarthy to turn things around on Wearside, suggesting his refreshing approach to training is keeping all the players on their toes and in a relaxed frame of mind.

"The manager is a top man," said Le Tallec. "He talks all the time with the players and he smiles all the time and that helps. He gives confidence to all the players.

"If a manager is miserable all the time, it makes things difficult. When you have no points, you don't want your manager to be like that. He is keeping us all smiling. He is a very good manager."

Le Tallec was overlooked by McCarthy for Saturday's trip to Chelsea and the forward was annoyed by his exclusion.

But the young talent has accepted the manager's reasoning behind the decision, but has urged him to go for broke when the Baggies arrive at Sunderland on Saturday.

Le Tallec has shown he is in fine form for the French Under-21s and he scored in the 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland last week.

And Le Tallec said: "The start of the season has been difficult and we have to beat West Brom. After that, the team will have even more confidence.

"I was disappointed not to start at Chelsea because I feel I have been playing well. I scored for the national team last week - I have four goals in five games - and I'm pleased with my form. I wanted to play against Chelsea because it was such a big game.

"The manager talked to me about it, he wanted to play a strong team and I had no problem with that.

"We have to go for goals this weekend. We need to play 4-4-2, we need to score a lot of goals and make sure we win. I think we will."

Sunderland's dreadful back among the elite has left pundits wondering where their first win will come from.

But Le Tallec has seen signs in all five defeats to suggest a change of fortune could be just around the corner. "We have to win. This is the kind of game we must win at home," he said."If we could play badly but win, it would be a lot better."

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