MICK McCarthy last night shrugged off Sunderland's lack of financial firepower and maintained he could keep the club in the Premiership, despite being unable to add to his squad in January.

This week's publication of Sunderland's annual accounts was accompanied by an admission that McCarthy will not be given any funding for new players when the transfer window re-opens.

The boss spent £10m on the purchase of 12 players this summer and, with the wage bill having already risen following last season's promotion to the Premiership, the purse strings will remain closed until the end of the campaign.

That hardly augurs well for a side rooted to the foot of the table following last weekend's disastrous 4-1 home defeat to Portsmouth, but McCarthy is remaining defiantly optimistic ahead of tomorrow's trip to Arsenal.

"It's not a surprise," said the Sunderland manager, who is expected to field a more defensive 4-5-1 formation at Highbury in an attempt to negate the attacking threat of Thierry Henry.

"My heart rate didn't go up or down when I heard I wasn't going to be given any money in January. It's not a shock at all.

"I've done well in the past with those sorts of resources, so why not again? We'll just crack on and do what we can with what we've got. We've made a good fist and a success of it before and we can do so again.

"We've also got players to come back. Stephen Wright, George McCartney and Kevin Kyle should all be back by January, which would be a big positive for all of us."

There has been a suggestion that McCarthy may opt to sell one of his leading lights in an attempt to raise the funds needed to make changes elsewhere.

Liverpool are understood to be tracking midfielder Dean Whitehead - who was the subject of a firm bid from a Premiership club last summer - while the Black Cats have also turned down offers for both Stephen Elliott and Julio Arca.

But McCarthy has insisted he will not be moving anyone on, claiming the current speculation is a direct result of Saturday's shocking second-half display.

"I'm not interested in letting anyone go," he said. "It's amazing what a poor 45 minutes can do. Suddenly the place is falling down around my ears and it's been said that I'll have to sell players in January.

"I'm not interested in what might or might not happen then. I won't get involved in any of that talk."

Much of the blame for last weekend's defeat has been laid squarely at the door of goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.

The £1.3m summer signing collided with Alan Stubbs as Portsmouth scored their second and watched aghast as he was beaten by Matthew Taylor's speculative 45-yarder for Pompey's third goal.

His every touch was jeered from that point onwards but, after holding a full and frank discussion on Monday, McCarthy has given the 29-year-old his unqualified support.

"Kelvin is a strong character and he will be fine," said the Black Cats boss. "Goalkeepers are a special breed - they have to be strong characters.

"Things like this happen and you need to get on with it. He has not got to where he is in the game today by letting what people think and say bother him.

"He cannot let them stop him doing what he is very, very good at. At the AZ Alkmaar game in pre-season, people came out of the ground saying he was an England candidate.

"He was unbelievable, and that level of performance was the same at Middlesbrough. I've had a chat with him and he is OK."

McCarthy has consistently defended the supporters' right to make their views known after a poor performance.

But, by singling out Davis for particular criticism, he felt the fans went a step too far on Saturday.

"It's tough that certain small sections of the crowd have chosen to single him out for this sort of treatment," he said.

"It affects you - I've been there myself as a player.

"I don't mind them booing us collectively because we were poor in the second half against Portsmouth.

"But don't single out one player - it was disappointing to hear that."

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