... the night before the game at Southampton after an alleged altercation with wedding guests having already given his version of events post-match at the St Mary's Stadium.
However, he did explain further his decision, to the surprise of many, to leave former Basle midfielder Cabral out of his team for the fixture on the South Coast.
He said: "He is one player, like many others here.
"I have good players who have different characteristics on the field. In different games that we play against different opponents, we have different pressure and different ways to play.
"Cabral is a different kind of footballer compared with Craig Gardner, with different characteristics. For this game, I decided to leave him out."
Sunderland Fixtures ...
Tuesday August 27
19:45 League Cup - 2nd Rnd Sunderland v MK Dons
Saturday August 31
17:30 Premier League Crystal Palace v Sunderland
Saturday September 14
15:00 Premier League Sunderland v Arsenal
Saturday September 21
15:00 Premier League West Brom v Sunderland
Sunday September 29
16:00 Premier League Sunderland v Liverpool
SUNDERLAND SQUAD NUMBERS
5 Brown, Wesley Michael
6 Tavares Varela, Adilson
7 Larsson, Sebastian Bengt Ulf
8 Gardner, Craig
9 Fletcher, Steven Kenneth
10 Wickham, Connor Neil Ralph
11 Johnson, Adam
12 Celustka, Ondrej
13 Pickford, Jordan Lee
14 Colback, Jack Raymond
15 Vaughan, David Owen
16 O'Shea, John Francis
17 Altidore, Josmer
18 Mandron, Mikael
19 Karlsson, David Moberg
20 Westwood, Keiren
21 Diakite, Modibo
22 Ba, El Hadji
23 Giaccherini, Emanuele
24 Cuellar Jimenez, Carlos Javier
25 Mannone, Vito
27 Ji, Dong Won
28 Sessegnon, Stephane
29 Roberge, Valentin
33 Cattermole, Lee Barry