That put them third one point behind the leaders Arsenal who
Posted in General on 15. Oct, 2010
That put them third, one point behind the leaders Arsenal, who face a little local difficulty at Tottenham today, and Manchester United, who secured a predictable 3-0 home victory over West Ham.Fortune continues to hide from the Hammers. There was little they could do at Old Trafford against a United side who look back to their rampant best thanks in no small part to the revival in Juan Sebastian Veron’s form. He scored with a Beckhamesque free-kick after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s opener to put United two-up in the first 15 minutes. Their victory was completed when S?stian Schemmel turned a cross into his own net.Never mind “Bubbles”, what West Ham wouldn’t give for the Bubblegum Kid.. There was not much sympathy on Wearside this week for those poor members of the Toon Army stuck in Barcelona wondering what to do after the Champions’ League fixture scheduled for Tuesday night in the Nou Camp was washed out Sunderland’s supporters would die for such a dilemma.
Sunderland’s supporters would die for such a dilemma.
Only the grey or greying among them can recall the club’s fleeting flirtation with European football. Next autumn marks the 30th anniversary of the Cup-Winners’ Cup ties against Vasas Budapest and Sporting Lisbon earned by Ian Porterfield’s goal and Jimmy Montgomery’s saves at Wembley.Barring an FA Cup success every bit as miraculous as that of 1973, Sunderland’s fans are more likely to be going to Bradford and Millwall next season than Budapest and Lisbon. Just the season before last and the one before that, they were getting their passports at the ready at this stage of the campaign, with their beloved red and whites lying, respectively, fifth and third. Now they are getting ready for the highways and byways of the Nationwide League.Sunderland were a wash-out against Manchester City on Monday night.
They have not scored a goal for two minutes short of eight hours. After 17 games, they have won just three matches, scored just eight goals and gathered just 14 points. At the same stage of the 1996-97 season they had won five games, scored 17 goals and gained 20 points. That was the season they sank to relegation with Peter Reid effing-and-blinding all the way on the BBC’s Premier Passions film.There were a few expletives from Reid’s replacement on Friday afternoon, not least when Howard Wilkinson got down to the psychological bottom line his players are now facing. Having been booed off the pitch by those who stayed to the bitter end of Monday night’s 3-0 defeat, they can hardly expect the most encouraging of welcomes this afternoon, when Liverpool provide the opposition at the Stadium of Light.