There was widespread surprise yesterday when it was revealed that Martin O'Neill had been fired as manager of Sunderland with just seven games left in the season.
Surely losing away to the champions elect can't have been the straw that broke the camel's back, making the decision even odder.
There was widespread surprise yesterday when it was revealed that Martin O'Neill had been fired as manager of Sunderland with just seven games left in the season.
Surely losing away to the champions elect can't have been the straw that broke the camel's back, making the decision even odder.
Aston Villa have announced a loss of £17.7m for the year to 31 May 2012 compared with a £54m loss in 2011.
Since Martin O'Neill left, Villa have been furiously trying to slash expenses, through lower wages and the sale of their best players. Last year Villa reported a profit of £26m from the sale of players.
The MO'N era, Liverpool's third time lucky and the basement boys Liverpool A strange season thus
far for Kenny Dalglish's men. Two wins against Chelsea, a point against Manchester City and the
same against Manchester United. Defeats against Stoke and Fulham, and home draws against Norwich
and Swansea.
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At the onset of his tenure, it wouldn't have taken much effort to find predictions about the brand of football Alex McLeish's Aston Villa side were destined to serve up.
At the onset of his tenure, it wouldn't have taken much effort to find predictions about the
brand of football Alex McLeish's Aston Villa side were destined to serve up. None were particularly
exciting or encouraging.
I prefer a 'wait and see' policy myself, but I think we're far enough into the season now to
look at some statistics and draw some conclusions.
Leicester City have confirmed the sacking (by mutual consent?) of former England manager Sven
Goran Eriksson after the Foxes won just two of their last seven games their latest defeat coming
against Millwall 3-0 at the week-end seemingly the result which broke the camels back so to speak.
And already former Foxes boss Martin O'Neill is favourite to take up the hotseat he left in 2000
for Celtic, with the Filbert Street Thai owners ready to spend whatever it takes to bring the Foxes
to a return to the promised land(Premier League).
As you're probably all too aware, the 1-1 draw at QPR on Sunday was our 5th draw of the season.
And we've only played six games. And we remain unbeaten. You knew that, right?
Of course you did.
You might not be aware that this means we've drawn 83.33% of the (admittedly limited number of)
games so far, or that we'll finish up drawing 31 or 32 games by the end of the season if this
pattern continues.
Steven Fletcher's injury is a massive blow to Sunderland - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Sunderland have suffered a huge blow today with the news that striker Steven Fletcher has suffered ankle ligament damage and could miss out actions for reminder of the season.
Steven Fletcher's injury would serve as a huge blow to Sunderland
Fletcher landed awkwardly against Wales on Friday in the World Cup Qualifiers while playing for Scotland and was stretched off immediately.
Sunderland's number one, Simon Mignolet, could be set for a summer move away from the club as talks over a contract extension appear to have stalled. The Belgian international has enjoyed a hugely impressive season, establishing himself as one of the top goalkeepers in the Premier League. These performances have attracted the attention of a host of top clubs, with Liverpool believed to hold a keen interest in his services.
Morning all, it's still very quiet as we prepare for Sunderland tomorrow.
I suppose that's because the players who were away came back yesterday in dribs and drabs, and after medical assessments the only real training session will be this morning. At that point the manager will have a better idea of who he's got available for the trip to Roker Park.
Danny Graham arrives at Sunderland for medical as Boro in bid to hijack move - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Sunderland have agreed to sign Swansea City's striker Danny Graham for £5 million while his former clubMiddlesbrough are looking to hijack the deal late on.
Despite fans' protests, Danny Graham arrives Wearside for medical
The 27-year-old will undergo a medical at Sunderland's Academy of Light training complex today and will most likely make his debut for the Black Cats against Reading on Saturday.
Danny Graham to solve Sunderland's striking woes? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Sunderland are looking favourites to land Swansea striker Danny Graham and are lining up a £5 million bid for the Englishman in the January transfer window.
The Black Cats are struggling at 14th in the Premier League table and manager Martin O'Neill has felt the need to bolster the squad, especially on the attacking front.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was full of compliments after his side's 3-0 hammering of Sunderland at Anfield. The Reds were two up at the interval thanks to Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez with the Uruguayan striker adding his second to steer the team up to eighth in the Premier League. "You've got to give massive credit to the players," Rodgers told Sky Sports.
Sunderland 1-3 Chelsea Premier League 8th December 2012
Rafa Benitez finally saw his new side secure a league win after comfortably overcoming a poor Sunderland said at the Stadium of Light.
And not only did Chelsea register their first Premier League win in eight games, but Fernando Torres even managed to get on the scoresheet, not once but twice!
Sunderland 0-0 Queens Park Rangers 27th November 2012
In his first game proper in charge of the Hoops, Harry Redknapp oversaw a decent performance from the Premier League struggles which earned the west Londoners a valuable point.
Over the course of the game, Rangers were the better side and produced the better chances, with Djibril Cissé in particular guily of missing a number of good chances.
West Bromwich Albion continues to shine at the Stadium of Light
Coming off the away win at Craven Cottage, Martin O'Neill hoped the high morale was carried all the way back north to the Stadium of Light to challenge visiting West Bromwich Albion, who surprisingly sits in fourth place, ahead of Arsenal, Everton and Tottenham.
Sometimes you just get a feeling about games. Just when you think things are going well, there's a nasty surprise around the corner. In this case the nasty surprise came in the form of Sunderland, a spluttering version of their former selves, Martin O'Neill more or less failing to ignite his expensiveish team to the point where until very recently only one person Stephen Fletcher had actually scored for them.
Sometimes you just get a feeling about games. Just when you think things are going well, there's a nasty surprise around the corner. In this case the nasty surprise came in the form of Sunderland, a spluttering version of their former selves, Martin O'Neill more or less failing to ignite his expensiveish team to the point where until very recently only one person Stephen Fletcher had actually scored for them.
In Wednesday's Liverpool Daily Post, Kevin Mirallas expressed his displeasure at having scored only a single league goal for the Toffees.
"I think at the moment I have more assists than I have goals," he said. "I've provided one or two decent passes for my colleagues to score, but at the same time I'm hoping to continue to improve in front of goal.
Another Sunderland defeat this one against an Aston Villa side who had not won a game away from home this season has Black Cats fans wondering if Martin O' Neill is the right man for the job, despite O' Neills great motivational skills in the past the Northern Irishman looks as if even his miraculous man management skills can get this Sunderland squad into a winning groove as they trodded off the field again yesterday to overwhelming boo's.
Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur, Saturday 7th April, Stadium of Light, 12.45pm kick off,
SS2 &HD2
Tottenham travel up to Wearside for a Saturday lunch time game off the back of 2 very impressive
performances against Bolton and Swansea. We looked back to the form we were displaying earlier in
the season before we had our mini blip.
Liverpool face fighters Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in the Premier League this Saturday at
3:00pm. Under Martin O'Neill's stewardship, the Black Cats/ Makems have climbed up to 12th in the
Premiership Table with 34 points, five behind Liverpool on 39 pts.
Recent results for Sunderland include a 2-0 victory over Swansea and a 3-0 drubbing of Norwich
City.
Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill admits that the Black Cats will have their hands full when they
entertain Arsenal at the Stadium of Light today, particularly given the dexterity of Gunners
youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The teenage sensation has quickly become a fan favorite at Arsenal, setting up Robin van
Persie's equalizer in the 2-1 defeat against Manchester United and then displaying his scoring
abilities by netting twice in last weekend's 7-1 destruction of Blackburn.
A genial head-nod to all Arselings out there. Things are usually pretty quiet on the disquiet
front after a win, and it has expectedly been all shush-and-silence in the wake of us playing
Blackburn like a set of drums last week. But just like the draw at Bolton didn't mean that the team
was on a one-way trip to Hades, a rout over ten-man relegation fodder doesn't a summer make.
Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill has backed tomorrow's opponents Arsenal to silence their
critics, making it clear that the Gunners have sufficient talent to prevail at the Stadium of
Light.
Arsene Wenger's men are three points adrift of fourth-place Chelsea and have relied heavily on
the incredible form of skipper Robin van Persie, who scored a brilliant hat-trick in last weekend's
7-1 rout of Blackburn.
The next edition of the Philly Soccer Show podcast, scheduled to be recorded
tonight, will feature USMNT U-23 coach Caleb Porter and the Philadelphia Union's top pick in
Thursday's SuperDraft, Chandler Hoffman.
Philadelphia Union
Sunderland blog the Roker Report tells fellow SB Nation affiliate the Brotherly Game that team
manager Martin O'Neill responded to a reporter's question about rumors of a possible Michael Farfan
loan by saying people should not read too much "into these things.
It has indeed happened. We have reached the magical plateau of 40 points, and are thus unlikely
to be relegated. Three cheers. As for this fixture, it was a right odd one, with the Chels looking
equal parts sterling and benumb, particularly in defense. Chances, there were a fair few for both
sides.
Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland, White Hart Lane, Sunday 18th December, 3pm Kick
off
So on Thursday night Spurs European adventure for this season came to an end, despite a 4-0 win
at Shamrock. The perceived wisdom is that this is a blessing in disguise and can leave Harry
Redknapp and his team to concentrate on getting Spurs back into the Champions League.
Amidst all the hoopla and hilarity of the season's first managerial sacking in the Premiership -
Steve Bruce by Sunderland FC - it's easy to lose sight of the fact that it typically doesn't help
to sack the manager. To be sure: there often seems to be a bounce-back in results for teams that
appoint a new manager; but statistically speaking, the bounce-back is likely to occur in any case,
with or without sacking the gaffer.
Sunderland may not be in trophy-winning form this season, but their victory in the
always-eventful 'sack race' may prove to be a blessing in disguise.
After looking tame and lacking confidence for much of this campaign under Steve Bruce, with a
paltry 11 points from 14 matches their return, new club chairman Ellis Short felt the club needed
to go in a new direction.
Darren Bent left Sunderland to join Aston Villa two years ago this month. At that point, the Villains were only half a season removed from Martin O'Neill's tenure at the club and there was still hope that the fledgling side would soon find themselves back competing for a place in the Top Six as they had always done under the Northern Irishman.
I've chosen to write a piece for the people that ask: "What's happened to Aston Villa in recent seasons?" The answer is this, they've lost their entire midfield in the space of two years without replacing them with players anywhere near their quality or playing style.
Last Premier League Meeting: 20 August 2011 – Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland (Suarez)
Form:
Liverpool: The Reds' league form recently has been nothing short of abysmal, with the club dropping
key points and all but falling out of the race for a Champions League spot.
I think Sunderland signing Martin O'Neill as their new manager is one of the most significant
events to happen in the North-East recently. Of course there is massive rivalry between Newcastle
and Sunderland, so it takes a lot for a Newcastle fan to say something like that. But rivalry and
competition manifest themselves in every [.
Besides the fact that the embedded YouTube video above has amazing background music (absolutely
amazing), that's not the only reason we're selecting Sunderland's unheard of striker Ji Dong-Won
as our Funny Feeling Friday this weekend. Hear us out... The 20-year-old wiry ... Continue reading
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