Wearside believes

It’s fair to say that Gus Poyet has made quite an impact on Wearside; 3 home wins in a row, a League Cup quarter final in December, and he even has the side playing some attractive football, something seldom seen in recent years under O’Neill, Di Canio and Bruce. Things are finally on the up for Sunderland.

It’s incredible to think that we’re only one or two good results away from escaping the relegation zone, which has entombed us for what seems like an age. But the fact of the matter is that the season is still young. We’re a couple of good results away from having a very good start to the season.

I say this because of the upcoming League Cup quarter final against Chelsea at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland fans are pretty resigned to making very little, if any impact on the league table, with only 3 top half finishes in the last 50 years. This makes the cups especially important, and a home quarter final tie is as much as anyone could ask for. If Swansea and Wigan can go all the way, I’m sure Sunderland can as well.

This is Sunderland though. Despite there being an incredibly high chance we will freeze, like we did at home to Everton in an FA Cup quarter final a few years ago, it provides some added vigour to the season, which are usually punctuated by brief appearances in the cups. These often end at the hand of lower league opposition, with Brighton, Notts County and Middlesboro all claiming our scalp since 2011.

But enough about the League Cup. Much as the excitement of a potential Wembley final suitably wets my appetite, there are other tantalising things for Sunderland fans to enjoy this Christmas.

Our upcoming fixtures are tricky, but not impossible. Tough away games to Stoke and Aston Villa are followed by even harder home games to Chelsea and Spurs, but these games are winnable, especially to a side in form.

Anything less than at least 4 points would be a disappointment for Sunderland fans over these next 4 games. Stoke are there for the taking, as are Villa with a misfiring Benteke, whilst the Stadium of Light could once again become a fortress, leaving sides quaking in their boots with the prospect of gracing the hallowed turf.

However, it’s important not to lose sight that these are hard games, and the most important priority is just to grind out results in order to stay in touch with 17^th place, ensuring that by the New Year, with easy home games to come, we’re well set to propel ourselves up the table.

Then there is Poyet himself.

The passionate Uruguayan has certainly endeared himself to the Sunderland faithful since his arrival after Paolo Di Canio’s ill-fated tenure. Naturally, home wins against Newcastle and Manchester City help this, but he’s done more than win a few games to get the crowd onside.

What he’s doing is playing attractive football, something Sunderland fans have long been craving. It’s fair to say the last few managers have not had a total football spirit, with the latter months of O’Neill’s reign proving to be most torrid, with the away defeats at QPR and Reading being some of the worst performances I have ever seen from a Sunderland side.

The passing style has reinvigorated many people’s beliefs that the players are in fact professional footballers, as it was most frustrating when we seemed incapable of stringing 5 passes together under previous managers. Whilst we’re not going to turn into Barcelona, it’s nice to enjoy watching us for a change.

Then there’s the final great changes Poyet has made; work rate. Whilst Di Canio may have encouraged this in bucket loads, the players simply didn’t want to play for him, which although is petty and highly unprofessional, is sadly the recipe for disaster for a manager at any football club.

The newly found level of commitment, demonstrated terrifically by the performance of the 9 remaining men in the second half away to Hull has certainly brought the Sunderland fans back onside.

And there’s the key, commitment. That is the one thing Sunderland fans want to see above all else. Poyet seems to have brought this back to Sunderland and thus has ensured himself great levels of popularity amongst the supporters. Poyet now has a great squad, a good owner, and the fans onside.

Most importantly though, Sunderland have Poyet.

The shambles that is Sunderland AFC: Who’s to blame?

In theory Sunderland have all the makings of being a top side: we have the stadium, the fans, the history, and even a wealthy American owner. Surely this would be the perfect recipe for success…well it should be, but this is Sunderland after all. 40 years without a trophy, the worst start in Premier League history, and over half a year since our last league victory. It’s not going well.

This beggars the question as to how this great football club has managed to loiter in the lower echelons of the league in recent seasons, persistently fighting relegation, despite high investment in a team boasting a host of international stars. Clearly something is amiss. So who exactly is to blame for this debacle? The owner? The managers? The players?

Well let’s start off with the owner, Ellis Short. The wealthy American businessman attained 100% control of the club in May 2009 after initially buying a 30% stake in September 2008. There’s no questioning his loyalty to the club with over £120 million spent on players since the 2009 summer transfer window. Granted, we have recouped a lot of that money back in the sales of Darren Bent, Jordan Henderson and Simon Mignolet to name but a few. However, Short clearly cares for the club.

It’s also pretty tough to criticise his decisions regarding the sacking of managers in recent years. His decisions to axe Bruce and O’Neill at the time he did were backed by the majority of supporters, as it was universally accepted that under the pair of them we simply weren’t playing well enough.

Then there was the appointment of Paolo Di Canio.

At the time it was a superb decision, exactly the man we needed to rejuvenate and reignite the dressing room following the dismal last few months of O’Neill’s reign. There is little doubt that he saved us from the drop, with the 1-0 defeat of Everton and the 3-0 demolition of Newcastle at St James’ Park followed by home draws against Stoke and Southampton just proving to be enough for us to edge over the finish line.

However, during the summer the Short and the Board’s policies have left question marks over the fan’s heads. The selling of star players Simon Mignolet and Stéphane Sessègnon for a rather poultry combined fee of £15 million hardly showed a great deal ambition as myself, and many other Sunderland fans were wondering what had happened to all this TV money generated from the new television broadcasting rights deal.

Then came the sacking of Di Canio. Personally I felt this was too early. At the very least Di Canio should have stayed for the Liverpool and Manchester United games as no new manager was even planned to have been appointed by then. Any sacking 5 games into a season is absurd, especially after a radical squad overhaul in the summer but whether you like it or not, Short had his reasons and whilst I didn’t agree with them, many Sunderland fans did.

Now onto the managers, and there’s been a fair few of them. I always feel a degree of sympathy for managers when they get the sack, as it’s not them on the field scoring the goals, although Bruce, O’Neill and Di Canio all made fatal mistakes.

Bruce’s transfer policy was a bit of a mystery, with vast swathes of money seemingly wasted on English ‘talent’. Signing Connor Wickham for around £10 million was always going to be a gamble whilst the acquisitions of experienced, yet injury prone players like Wes Brown was also rather dubious.

Bruce also baffled supporters with his selections, including his infamous 4-6-0 formation away to Brighton in the League Cup. Such tactics may work for Spain but I suppose it helps to have Xavi and Iniesta marshalling the midfield rather than Colback and Gardner. The night ended in defeat in probably the second worst Sunderland performance I’d ever seen, just behind the 3-1 away defeat to Southend under Niall Quinn with an honourable mention to the 0-3 loss to Wigan in the FA Cup in 2008.

Performances against Newcastle were also subpar to say the least, notably the 5-1 trouncing at St James’ Park, a freak result with supporters questioning the manager and the player’s character. The 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge a fortnight later proved the team had the talent, but for some reason this was seldom seen, with prolonged winless runs appearing to become an annual frustration.

Then came Martin O’Neill. He had seemingly been linked to the Sunderland job every time it became available for the last 10 years and was enormously popular on his arrival, with his status only increasing following an impressive start including the memorable last minute victories over Blackburn, QPR and Manchester City.

However, that Ji Dong-Won goal with just 4 seconds left was the highlight of his tenure, as form and confidence dropped dramatically following the abysmal 2-0 home defeat to Everton in the Quarter Final replay of the FA Cup.

Big money signing Adam Johnson never truly played to his potential and a torrid 2012/3 campaign ensued, with woeful performances away to QPR and Reading coupled with the inability to beat Fulham and Norwich at home proving to be the final nails in the coffin. For some the reason the great man motivator couldn’t fire up the players, who seemed rather lackadaisical and lost in the overly negative system employed by the Northern Irishman.

Shots on target were at a premium throughout the season, with mind numbingly boring football perpetually depressing the Sunderland fans until Paolo arrived.

He fundamentally kept us in the Premier League. For this reason alone I am grateful to him. He had passion for the job, and gave the players a metaphorical kick up the backside and there was some desire in the performances. His main criticism was his treatment of the players, but while his approach was hard-line, I can’t help but wonder how much the media coverage resulted in his eventual departure.

Every minor thing he did to upset the applecart was splashed around the papers. He was clearly unfairly treated by Fleet Street’s finest; something I suspect wouldn’t have happened if he was at West Ham. The double standards were ridiculous, if he criticised a player because they played badly he was referred to as a terrible man manager, and whilst these skills may have needed work on, I don’t remember Harry Redknapp suffering the same criticism after suggesting his wife Sandra could have scored a Darren Bent missed chance. But that was good old ‘Arry having a joke, we must not forget that Di Canio is an evil, Mussolini following Fascist…well that’s what the media had people believe.

Despite having his flaws, I can’t truly blame Di Canio, his hands were tied regarding transfers by the board, he was attacked by the media at every opportunity, and simply the players didn’t perform for him or want him at the club. The players forced him out.

And this brings me onto the real problem with Sunderland AFC: The players.

In recent years the mercenaries Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan have forced their way out of the club, both at the back end of transfer windows in chase of higher wages elsewhere, in acts of greed and betrayal. Both of these incidents occurred when Steve Bruce was at the helm which is why I have sympathy with him. During the first half of the 2010/11 season Bent, Gyan and Welbeck we were fantastic, tearing teams apart, yet by the start of the next season they were all gone.

The attitude of the players has been poor in recent years, highlighted by Phil Bardsley’s casino shenanigans as well as stating on Instagram his pleasure in Sunderland losing 1-0 at home to Fulham. They despised Di Canio because of the hard work required, and because he spoke his mind instead of pandering to the overpaid, talentless ‘professional footballers’ who play for us.

Over the last few years the players simply haven’t delivered on the pitch. There’s no doubting that this season’s squad is not the worst in the league. On paper I would have it finishing comfortably in mid-table, but unfortunately for Sunderland fans the game isn’t played on paper.

The games are played on the pitch, meaning the all the hard work of the owner, manager, backroom staff, not to mention the hopes and dreams of the supporters rest on the player’s shoulders. It’s up to them to score the goals, make the tackles and win the matches. Once they cross that white line it’s all down to them.

The players simply haven’t delivered.

31 games to go, 39 points needed. Can Gus do it?

Gus Poyet is certainly going to be up against it, there’s no doubt about that. But with 31 games left and a squad containing a host of experienced international players, he still has a chance in what will be his toughest managerial challenge to date which beggars the question of will he do it? I certainly think so.

It will be mightily close run, with most bookmakers pricing Sunderland at just under evens to stay up. Only Crystal Palace are priced lower. However, the bigger picture can wait as far as Poyet and Sunderland fans are concerned as the formula is relatively simple. Roughly 39 points needed in 31 games, equating to 11 wins and 6 draws which appears to be simple enough, but it is worth considering that the Black Cats have only won 11 of their last 56 league games meaning the fans are under no illusion; Poyet’s got a tough job on his hands.

Without wanting to sounds overly dramatic, the opening 3 matches of the Uruguayan’s reign will be crucial in the bid for Premier League survival as they’re all winnable (and I use that term very loosely). Swansea away may sound like a tough fixture, and indeed it is, but they haven’t been on song so far this season and like Sunderland, are lingering in the lower echelons of the table whilst Newcastle have been patchy to say the least. Promising away wins at Aston Villa and Cardiff City have been interrupted by a convincing defeat at Goodison Park and a shock loss at home to Hull, who Sunderland will visit in a few weeks. Although Sunderland have a good recent against the Tigers, winning their last 6 league meetings, it could prove to be a tough and hard-fought game with Steve Bruce’s men grinding out results in low scoring games against mid-table opposition.

However, it is these tricky fixtures where Sunderland need results after a poor start comprising of defeats to Fulham, Crystal Palace and West Brom, whilst failing to take advantage of a string of first half chances against a struggling Manchester United. If the team could muster 5, or even 6 points from these 3 games then it would keep them in touch, which right now will be Poyet’s main aim with easier home games to come in the New Year, but poor results in the coming weeks could leave the club cut adrift at the bottom with little hope of survival.

Sunderland are just one defeat away from breaking Tottenham’s record for the worst start to a season in Premier League history, which would be just 1 point from 8 games, and despite Spurs getting out of the predicament that year, it demonstrates the catastrophic start the Black Cats have made. History dictates that it could already be too late, with 71% of team’s bottom of the league after 7 games going on to be relegated, but there’s no time to dwell on that. If disaster strikes and only one or two points are accumulated in the coming weeks then the table will be even grimmer viewing, as Sunderland need to at least be in touch by the New Year offering them the opportunity for significant improvement in the January transfer window.

So whilst there are still 31 games to turn the season around and a plethora of winnable home games coming after Christmas, there’s no exaggeration in stating that the next 3 games are vital, and crucial in the survival hopes of this great football club.

There’s still hope yet.

Match Report: Barclays Asia Trophy Final- Manchester City 1-0 Sunderland

Manchester City were deserving winners over Sunderland, landing them the Barclays Asia Trophy in the process in a scrappy game, devoid of any real fluidity due to the atrocious weather conditions.

City looked comfortable throughout the game and opened the scoring early, in the 9^th minute courtesy of a majestic left footed strike from Edin Dzeko.

City had chances either side of half time, with Dzeko missing the best of these after blazing a penalty well over the bar.

Sunderland rallied late on with a Sebastian Larsson free kick forcing Costel Pantilimon to make a fine save, but ultimately could not break down the solid Sky Blues defence.

Sunderland initially started the better of the two teams, dictating the play early on with Wes Brown going close with a header from a whipped in Larsson free kick, and an off target Adam Johnson effort before Edin Dzeko struck against the run of play. His half volley left Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone with no chance as it crashed in against the post.

The Citizens almost doubled their lead straight from the kick off as sloppy passing from Sunderland immediately gave the ball back to the opposition. Fortunately for the Black Cats City’s poor decision making let them down as the attack came to nothing although the onslaught continued, with a perfect David Silva through ball releasing Negredo, who missed high and wide at the near post.

Sunderland then came back into the game with a deflected Giaccherini shot just missing at the far post whilst intricate passing frequently broke down for the Mackems just outside the opposition box resulting in further frustration.

Right on the stroke of halftime stand in Sunderland right back Craig Gardner almost put through his own net after his attempted clearance from an in swinging David Silva free kick struck the upright, before a big clearance from American forward Jozy Altidore spared his blushes.

At halftime Connor Wickham was brought on for an ineffective Jozy Altidore for Sunderland with El-Hadji Ba replacing Cabral and Irish international goalkeeper Kieren Westwood taking the gloves from Vito Mannone. David Silva made way for debutant Jesus Navas whilst former Arsenal man Samir Nasri replaced James Milner.

There was a low tempo to the opening of the second half, as the conditions deteriorated with both sides struggling to create any clear-cut chances. Further substations were made by both sides with Toure, Clichy and Johnson making way for Fernandinho, Kolarov and Karlsson.

El-Hadji Ba then handled the ball in the area resulting in Anthony Taylor correctly pointing to the spot. However, the resulting penalty taken by Dzeko was horrendous as it was woefully struck high and wide of the target.

Shortly afterwards Sunderland threatened again with Connor Wickham advancing into the penalty area, but a well timed challenge from Kolarov snuffed out any chance for the England under 21 striker.

Chances came and went late on for both teams as the game became more open, with Sunderland’s Sebastian Larsson having the last of these, his 20 yard out free kick tested Pantilimon although the Romanian international responded admirably as Manchester City sealed the win, and the title of Barclays Asia Trophy 2013 winners.

Sunderland Season Preview: There is some hope…

Paolo Di Canio has certainly reinvigorated Sunderland since his appointment on 31^st March, although there are still many questions to be asked regarding his long term success, as I seek to answer a seemingly impossible question now; how exactly will the Black Cats fare this time around?

Many people, including myself, are in a quandary over this question, with it having the potential to be a tremendous success or an unmitigated disaster, with it all ending in tears for Di Canio. The optimist within me anticipates an exciting year with a comfortable league position; the quality new acquisitions made over the summer such as Giacchrini, Cabral and Altidore ensuring there will be no relegation battle this year for the Black Cats. This would be a more than satisfactory result for many fans, providing good inroads were made into the domestic cup competitions, as these are realistically the only trophies Sunderland will be able to win and the only likely route into Europe with a top 6 finish not on the cards. Throughout the last decade, performances in the cup have been the bane of Sunderland fan’s lives with the only modicum of “success” being the 2004 Semi Final defeat to Millwall with a single Tim Cahill goal downing the hopes and dreams of the Sunderland faithful.

This also seems to be a realistic prospect with Di Canio as manager, due to his positive attitude towards cup competition; exhibited at Swindon where he pulled off an away at Stoke as well as pushing Aston Villa all the way in a hard fought 3-2 defeat in the League Cup. This has been sadly lacking from Sunderland managers in recent years with Steve Bruce in particular, not taking cup competitions seriously enough and infamously starting no strikers when away to Brighton in the second round of the League Cup in 2011. I was there and can confirm it was woeful.

The team itself has changed dramatically since last year. Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet’s departure will be a great loss for the club although Mannone and Westwood should be suitable alternative’s, but are unlikely to make as many match winning performances as the aforementioned Belgian international. In defence the deadwood of Bramble and Kilgallon have been moved on whilst Phil Bardsley is unlikely to feature in Di Canio’s first team plans after his casino antics last season, this has been shown by him not travelling with the first team to the ongoing Barclays Asia Trophy. Valentin Roberge and the experienced Modibo Diakite have been brought in with both players adding steel to the back line, which will also be bolstered by the return of Wes Brown from injury, who put in a man of the match performance against Spurs recently showing how he could again be a valuable asset to the side. However, there is still great concern over who shall play as full backs this season, as despite Colback and Gardner filling into to an acceptable level last year, they, and Gardner especially were found wanting against the more skilful players. As both of these centre midfielders started at full back in the recent friendly against Spurs, there is still a degree of concern about this position.

In midfield, Emanuele Giacchrini, El-Hadji Ba, David Moberg Karlsson and Cabral have all been brought in with the only departure being that of Ahmed Elmohamady being sold to Hull and reunited with former manager Steve Bruce for a modest £2 million. This will add some experience and flair to the midfield which was heavily reliant on Stephane Sessegnon last season for a creative spark, ensuring it was tough to break down poor side’s defences, as the 0-0 draw at home to QPR pitifully demonstrated. However, Giacchrini has infused the most excitement and anticipation into the Sunderland fans, with his background of playing for Italian champions Juventus and recently scoring for Italy against Brazil in the Confederations Cup demonstrating his tremendous quality on the ball. Questions will inevitably be asked whether he can replicate such form in the Premier League due to his lack of size, although only time will tell.

Up front, perhaps where the most change was needed after the embarrassing reliance on Steven Fletcher was demonstrated throughout last season; Di Canio has partially addressed the issue. Jozy Altidore has been brought in from AZ Alkmaar to share the goal scoring burden with the currently injured Fletcher whilst Danny Graham has been loaned out to Hull after his dismal showing at the back end of last season. Connor Wickham will provide suitable back up, if he remains injury free whilst Ji Dong-Won’s fruitful loan to Augsburg of the Bundesliga last season has ended, although with only a year left on his contract there have been question marks over his future at the club. Thus the strike force probably needs strengthening, with one more signing probably being enough as the fitness record of the current players is not overly promising although if the rest of the team supplies more goals, especially the midfield, then this may not be such a big issue after all.

Summary of predictions:

Premier League- 11^th

League Cup- Semi Finalists

FA Cup- Quarter Finalists

 

Post season apathy? With Di Canio in charge? Not a chance.

Despite Paolo Di Canio leading a resurgence at the twilight of Sunderland’s 2012/3 campaign, resulting in survival; the long, arduous, and tormenting days of O’Neill’s monotonous football in the 12 month’s prior had taken their toll; apathy had crept in.

From August to March, there was an air of inevitability about the result and performance a Sunderland fan was going to witness. A turgid and unpalatable one at best; minimal attacks and totally void of any excitement. The occasional glimmers of hope such as the back to back wins over Southampton and Manchester City either side of Christmas were merely false dawns, as they were followed by abject displays highlighting the sickening reality to the supporters; relegation was a distinct possibility.

No enjoyment was to be had; the distinct lack of any game plan was evident by the demoralising away defeats to both the abysmal QPR, and equally hopeless Reading, resulting in confidence plunging to an all time low. These defeats were thankfully some of the final nails in the coffin for O’Neill’s desperately poor spell in charge, which produced only 7 league wins in the last 365 days of his tenure. Since the FA Cup quarter final replay defeat to Everton, in a gutless performance, things had taken a turn for the worse. The brief 3 month honeymoon period involving memorable last minute wins over Blackburn and Manchester City was over. However, Paolo Di Canio took the helm and guided us to safety, with a 0-3 demolition of Newcastle and a long awaited win over Everton in there to boot; which beggars the question: why the post season apathy?

Well it’s actually a pretty simple answer; there was still the cold reality that we had finished 17^th in the league, whilst playing atrocious football despite having made big money moves for long time targets of ours such as Adam Johnson, whilst crashing out of both domestic cup competitions at home to lower league opposition (to the aforementioned Bolton, and Middlesbrough respectively). The failure of Martin O’Neill was also a bitter pill to swallow; because he for so long had been the Sunderland fan’s first choice to take over, due to his support for the club as a child. The fans believed we would go on towards bigger and better things with him, potentially emulating his 3 consecutive sixth place finishes he had at Aston Villa and their 2011 run to the League Cup final, but none of this was to materialise at the Stadium of Light, where he appeared to lose his Midas touch as the great man motivator.

As the summer has progressed, Di Canio and his mini revolution had rekindled a sense of belief and excitement surrounding Sunderland, with the introduction of stellar signings such as Juventus and Italy star Emanuele Giaccherini and the American international striker, Jozy Altidore. Through the public demeanour Di Canio presents to the fans, it is evident that there is renewed energy amongst the players and the staff, which passes down towards the supporters. At last, after years of mediocrity at best, there is the tantalising prospect of things starting to change. Evidence of this can be seen through the training camp subjugated on the players, where plying their trade in the gruelling 35 degree Verona heat was designed to enhance their fitness levels for the upcoming season. All the hard work was first evident just a day ago, with the impressive 3-1 win over Spurs despite the biblical weather conditions hampering the fluid and attacking style of play advocated by Di Canio.

Despite it only being a friendly, it sparked a sense of joy within me, and relief that things might be on the up this season, potentially an overreaction on my part, but a clear sign that the apathy developed under Martin O’Neill was most certainly gone.