Fanhouse UK Football - sunderland

Premier League Rankings

Ian Whittell — 2010-03-11T07:05:00-05:00

Filed under: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton, Birmingham, Burnley, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Ham, Wigan, Wolverhampton, FanHouse Rankings

Welcome back to our regular look at who's hot and who's not in the world's best football competition.

The real drama seemed to be away from the league this week - with the FA Cup quarter-finals and Champions League last 16 taking centre stage - but, quietly, there were a couple of league results that appear likely to have a bearing on big issues, particularly at the foot of the table.

Teams like Bolton, Wigan and Sunderland looked like big winners but what has that done to their places in our Rankings?

FanHouse UK has used the latest, most in-depth objective statistical data, balanced with the purely subjective views of our expert staff, to come up with the answers.

All this - and much more - is revealed below ...

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Remember When...Sunderland Won a Classic Tie on the Way to Wembley

John Wardle — 2010-03-11T06:00:00-05:00

by John Wardle

Filed under: Remember When..., Manchester City, Sunderland

Sunderland v Manchester City: The teams meet again on Wearside on Sunday in a fixture that has special meaning for all supporters of the Stadium of Light club.

Their clash in March 1973 at the old Roker Park ground was the Sunderland fans' choice in a poll to find the greatest game in the club's history, even eclipsing their victory over Leeds United in the FA Cup final two months later.

Sunderland would not have figured in that famous final if they had not overcome City in this dramatic fifth round replay, although it just one in a series of remarkable performances by a club from the second tier of English football on the way to Wembley.

Bob Stokoe's team were minutes away from a third round exit when they scored at Notts County and went on to win the replay, then another replay was needed before they beat Reading 3-1 at Elm Park in the next round.

It earned Sunderland a trip to City where a 2-2 draw set up the replay on the following Wednesday, with all the 51,000 tickets sold by noon on Sunday - less than 24 hours after the Maine Road meeting.

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Sunderland 4 Bolton 0: Darren Bent Hat-Trick Takes Heat Off Steve Bruce

Jason Mellor — 2010-03-09T16:40:00-05:00

by Jason Mellor

Filed under: Bolton, Sunderland, Match Reports

A hat-trick from Darren Bent helped Sunderland achieve their first win in 15 Premier League games to ease the pressure on manager Steve Bruce.

The overdue victory was perfectly timed for Bruce, who is scheduled to have a meeting with billionaire owner Ellis Short to discuss the club's slide towards the relegation zone.

Sunderland, who have suffered from nerves in front of fans who were becoming impatient, could not have asked for a better start than a goal after only 41 seconds.

Skipper Lorik Cana created it with a cross that Fraizer Campbell sidefooted in at the far post - a punishment for some slack defending by Bolton.

It was a major setback for Owen Coyle's side, but they responded well with Johan Elmander going close, although Sunderland also had good chances to stretch their lead before the break through Darren Bent and Alan Hutton.

Bolton continued to drive forward at the start of the second half, but Sunderland made the game safe when Bent steered in their second goal after outpacing Sam Ricketts in the race for Lee Cattermole's pass.

It was not the end of a miserable night for Ricketts, who was shown a red card for bringing down Bent, conceding a penalty that brought the striker his second goal in the 74th minute. Bent completed his hat-trick with his 19th goal of the season after good work from Campbell in the 87th minute.

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Sunderland v Bolton Preview: Crunch Game for Steve Bruce After Bleak Run

Jason Mellor — 2010-03-08T08:19:00-05:00

by Jason Mellor

Filed under: Bolton, Sunderland, Match Previews

PREMIER LEAGUE: STADIUM OF LIGHT, TUESDAY MARCH 9, 2010. KICK-OFF: 1945 GMT

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Premier League Rankings

Ian Whittell — 2010-03-04T07:42:00-05:00

by Ian Whittell

Welcome back to our regular look at who's hot and who's not in the world's best football competition.

It was a typical weekend at the office for the Premier League, what with jilted lovers taking it out on their torturers; x-rated injuries; a team re-entering the title race and even the distraction of a Wembley final thrown into the mix for good measure.

Manchester United beating Villa in the Carling Cup does not factor into our FanHouse Rankings but everything else does which probably explains why there is a new No. 1, a new No. 20 and plenty of movement in between.

FanHouse UK has used the latest, most in-depth objective statistical data, balanced with the purely subjective views of our expert staff, to come up with the answers.

All this - and much more - is revealed below ...

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Team of the Week: Three City Stars Hit the Heights in Battle of the Bridge

Ian Whittell — 2010-03-02T04:48:00-05:00

by Ian Whittell

Filed under: Team of the Week, Bolton, Everton, Fulham, Manchester City, Sunderland, Tottenham, Wigan

Manchester City's memorable win at Stamford Bridge in their grudge match with Chelsea saw Wayne Bridge settle some old scores, John Terry's reputation take another battering, some contentious moments, some fantastic football ... and three Manchester City stars play their way into the FanHouse Team of the Week.

Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy each scored two goals in City's 4-2 win and the Argentinian forward showed just how much his team had missed him while he was in his homeland for the birth of his child.

Bellamy, too, underlined his value to his team, clearly demonstrating why his fitness is crucial to City clinching the top four spot that they so desperately want this season. Midfielder Gareth Barry, also, earned a call-up to the FanHouse TOTW for the manner in which he helped City dominate midfield at Stamford Bridge.

City were not the only team to record a much-needed win at the weekend and Bolton's 1-0 victory over Wolves was, arguably, as important as any. Defender Zat Knight has already featured in TOTW this season and his first goal in Bolton colours helped earn him another call-up this weekend. South Korean international midfielder Chung-Yong Lee was another stand-out performer for Owen Coyle's team, the latest in a number of impressive displays from one of the Premier League's under-appreciated stars.

Indeed, teams stuck at the bottom of the table were well represented in TOTW. Sunderland full-back Alan Hutton, on loan from Tottenham for the rest of the season, was outstanding in the goalless draw against Fulham - who had their centre-half Brede Hangeland also turn in a nine-out-of-ten display - while Wigan forward Hugo Rodallega stood out for his side in defeat against Birmingham.

Another player from a losing team, Everton keeper Tim Howard, also earned selection for his performance against Tottenham and Harry Redknapp's team collected the two remaining places on this week's TOTW.

Left-back Gareth Bale returns for a second consecutive week and has featured regularly in the side this season while winger Luka Modric is also no stranger to our line-up and his performance against Everton earned him another call-up.

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Sunderland 0 Fulham 0: Steve Bruce Still Waiting for Overdue Victory

John Wardle — 2010-02-28T11:51:00-05:00

by John Wardle

Filed under: Fulham, Sunderland, Match Reports

Sunderland must beware the sides of March after another miserable match that exposed the shortcomings of Steve Bruce's team.

They now face three home games in March and it's essential they locate a few wins to ease relegation fears that won't be swept away with performances such as this one.

Sunderland have now gone 14 games without a Premier League win and never looked likely to end that dismal record against an unambitious Fulham side, who were happy to settle for a draw.

Fulham's Bobby Zamora went closest to breaking the deadlock when his first-half header beat keeper Craig Gordon but drifted wide in a rare break by the Londoners.

Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer was not seriously troubled by a Sunderland team who largely relied on long-range efforts from Darren Bent, Kenwyne Jonesand Alan Hutton for their only threats.

But they were inches away from an undeserved winner when Benjani just failed to connect with a cross from Bolo Zenden nine minutes from the end.

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John Mensah is Now Facing an Uncertain Future for Club and Country

Jason Mellor — 2010-02-28T01:57:00-05:00

by Jason Mellor

Filed under: Sunderland, Ghana, World Cup 2010

John Mensah has revealed he would love to play for Sunderland again next season. Wouldn't we all? Being paid the thick end of £30,000-a-week to represent the Black Cats is a privilege any Stadium of Light regular would die for.

Unlike the vast majority of Sunderland supporters, however, Mensah is in a position to do something about fulfilling his wish. The only problem is, at present, he's rather making a hash of it.

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Sunderland v Fulham Preview: Home Comforts Ahead for Steve Bruce?

Jason Mellor — 2010-02-27T05:51:00-05:00

by Jason Mellor

Filed under: Fulham, Sunderland, Match Previews

PREMIER LEAGUE: STADIUM OF LIGHT, SUNDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2010. KICK-OFF: 1500 GMT

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Premier League Rankings

Ian Whittell — 2010-02-26T02:45:00-05:00

by Ian Whittell

Welcome back to our regular look at who's hot and who's not in the world's best football competition.

There is a new No. 1 in the Rankings this week following another unpredictable round of results in what has been the most unpredictable title race for years. Meanwhile, somebody forgot to tell Manchester City and Liverpool that the race for fourth place is meant to be one of the most exciting in Premier League history.

And both factors have had a major impact on the Rankings.

FanHouse UK has used the latest, most in-depth objective statistical data, balanced with the purely subjective views of our expert staff, to come up with the answers.

All this - and much more - is revealed below ...

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Chase For Quotes Takes Thought Out Of Too Many A Watching Brief

Scott Murray — 2010-02-21T11:46:00-05:00

by Scott Murray

Filed under: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Sunderland, England

So, in the wake of watching renowned Central European circus act The Great Fabianski throw two goals into his own net during Arsenal's Champions League capitulation in Porto the other day, Arsene Wenger bravely strode in to the post-match press conference and took it on the chin, delivering an eloquent - and astonishing - mea culpa.

"Tell you what, folks, I've taken my eye right off the ball with this goalkeeping situation. I've been too busy pursuing this absurd vanity project, trying to get several young diminutive ballplaying midfielders to replicate the passing movements of Brazil in 1970, ordering them to walk the ball into the net, that I totally forgot to sign a dependable keeper plus backup. Sorry about that. I'll sort it out, promise, or you can take turns to punt your boots up ma jacksie."

Ah, but he didn't. What he actually said was: "For an indirect free-kick, if you award it five metres from goal and then allow a team to take it quickly, how can you defend that? It's better than a penalty. You cannot defend that. It was a massive mistake. It's laughable. Has he ever played football? I don't know."

A quote which would carry some weight, were it not for the fact that when Thierry Henry did exactly the same against Chelsea in December 2004, Wenger described that set piece as "an intelligent exploitation of the rules. It is in the interest of a player to always say he wants to take a quick free-kick."

You can't actually blame him for this, though. They're all at it. Did Rafael Benitez apologise for Liverpool's abject scrape past Unirea Urziceni on Thursday night, confessing that after five years in the job, he should really have built a team that doesn't need to rely on an 18-year-old Spanish prodigy to create the first chance of a match after 81 minutes? Did Sir Alex Ferguson hold his hands up at Goodison Park, shamefaced at sending out a Manchester United defence containing the myriad talents of Wes Brown and Jonny Evans, and Gary Neville, 83? Would Martin O'Neill act any differently? David Moyes? Harry Redknapp? Carlo Ancelotti? Neil Warnock? Tony Pulis? Neil Warnock!?

The only manager this past week who wasn't interviewed spouting paranoid myopic nonsense was Sunderland boss Steve Bruce - who announced to the world that he prefers listening to Radio 2 than Radio 5 Live. Stop the presses!

Quotes - tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing - are killing sports journalism. You can ignore them, yes. Problem is, writers are forced to spend most of their time chasing them down. So these witless meanderings come at the expense of smart writing and cogent analysis.

Say a reporter is at a midweek game that finishes at 9.50pm. She might have to file her first-edition report at 9.48pm - seriously - then a final-edition take by 11pm. But instead of constructing it with precision and care, and not a little wit, she will have to spend at the very least half of those 70 minutes hanging around and waiting for some dullard at a press conference, listening to the dullard drone on, typing up what the dullard said, and wondering whether to hold a sharp pencil to her temple and bring her head down hard on the desk. It doesn't take a genius to work out that time chasing vacant platitudes could be better spent coming up with analysis, and working out exactly why the teams won or lost and the reasons some players played better than others.

Exactly when this was deemed necessary is a moot point. When Liverpool won the European Cup in 1977, for example, the quotes in The Guardian the next day ran to one word: Bob Paisley thought it was "tremendous". You can almost hear him say it, his Geordie lilt barely audible over the shy shuffling of his carpet slippers. Did anyone need any more?

Even better, when Hungary ripped England a new one at Wembley in November 1953 - surely the most famous game ever played in this country, trumping even the 1966 World Cup final - there were no quotes whatsoever. Not one utterance. One phrase has echoed down the ages, though: Geoffrey Green, the booze-addled genius at The Times, famously described England captain and star defender Billy Wright as "a fire engine going to the wrong fire" for his hilariously slapstick attempt to tackle Ferenc Puskas ahead of Hungary's third goal. These days Green would have no time to dream that one up. Instead, he'd be ordered down to the mixed zone, trying but failing to get Walter Winterbottom to admit to being tactically inept.

Like a fire engine going to the wrong fire.

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Arsenal 2 Sunderland 0: Bendtner And Fabregas on Target For Gunners

Ben Hunt — 2010-02-20T11:16:00-05:00

by Ben Hunt

Filed under: Arsenal, Sunderland, Match Reports

Nicklas Bendtner and Cesc Fabregas scored in either half to keep the pressure on Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premier League title race.

Bendtner put Arsenal ahead in the 27th minute when he tapped home his first goal since the end of October to cap off a good run from Emmanuel Eboue.

And Fabregas converted from the penalty spot in stoppage time after he was fouled by Fraizer Campbell.

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Through The Fixtures As It Happened

JP Shaw — 2010-02-20T09:40:00-05:00

by JP Shaw

Filed under: Arsenal, Chelsea, Hull City, Sunderland, West Ham, Wolverhampton, Min-By-Min Reports

Minute-by-minute commentary from around the grounds.

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Arsenal v Sunderland Preview: Arsene Wenger Defends his Goalkeepers

Ian Winrow — 2010-02-19T11:24:00-05:00

by Ian Winrow

Filed under: Arsenal, Sunderland, Match Previews

PREMIER LEAGUE: EMIRATES STADIUM, SATURDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2010. KICK-OFF: 1500 GMT

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Gunshot Victim Salvador Cabanas Finally Ruled Out of Paraguay's Plans

Jeremy Cross — 2010-02-16T06:22:00-05:00

by Jeremy Cross

Filed under: Sunderland, Paraguay, World Cup 2010

Gerardo Martino is hoping all his misfortune as Paraguay coach has taken place before the World Cup starts in South Africa.

This year promises to be the most important of his professional life, but so far all it has brought him is total misery.

Firstly, he has encountered nothing but problems when it has come to finding suitable bases for his squad ahead of the tournament.

Secondly, Martino has seen leading striker Roque Santa Cruz struck down with yet another injury, raising fresh doubts over his long-term fitness ahead of the tournament.

But, in the most tragic development, Martino now knows he will be without Salvador Cabanas. The striker, an integral part of Martino's plans for this summer and one of the most influential players in the Paraguay squad, but remains in hospital after being shot in the head in a bar in Mexico City.

There were early suggestions that Cabanas might recover in time to play in South Africa, but they are over-optimistic and doctors now say there is no chance he will be involved.

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Premier League Rankings

Ian Whittell — 2010-02-11T02:20:00-05:00

by Ian Whittell

Welcome back to our regular look at who's hot and who's not in the world's best football competition.

In a week in which a Premier League club was almost wiped off the face of the earth, the Rankings seemed likely to be in for a major shake-up and that's exactly how it proved.

A trip to the High Court was never going to spell good news for Pompey - at least not in our estimate - but upset wins for the likes of Hull, Burnley and Wolves over the past seven days have had just as big an impact on the FanHouse Rankings.

FanHouse UK has used the latest, most in-depth objective statistical data, balanced with the purely subjective views of our expert staff, to come up with the answers.

All this - and much more - is revealed below ...

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Portsmouth 1 Sunderland 1: Three Players Off as Aruna Dindane Earns Draw

Ian Winrow — 2010-02-09T14:39:00-05:00

by Ian Winrow

Filed under: Portsmouth, Sunderland, Match Reports

Aruna Dindane's added time equaliser salvaged a point for Portsmouth in a game that was marred by three red cards and the dismissal of manager Avram Grant.

Pompey's Ricardo Rocha was sent off in the ninth minute after conceding the penalty that allowed Darren Bent to fire Sunderland ahead.

Grant was the next to go, sent to the stands at half-time for an on-field altercation with referee Kevin Friend.

Then it was Sunderland's turn to lose their discipline with Lee Cattermole collecting a second yellow card in the 55th minute before David Meyler was sent off for an elbowing offence two minutes after appearing as an 87th minute substitute.

That gave Pompey the numerical advantage and their late pressure paid off when Dindane headed home from Jamie O'Hara's cross.

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Portsmouth v Sunderland Preview: Avram Grant Vows to Battle On

Ian Winrow — 2010-02-08T07:38:00-05:00

by Ian Winrow

Filed under: Portsmouth, Sunderland, Match Previews

PREMIER LEAGUE: FRATTON PARK, TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2010. KICK-OFF 1945 GMT

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Through The Fixtures As It Happened

Howard Swains — 2010-02-06T12:06:00-05:00

by Howard Swains

Filed under: Blackburn Rovers, Bolton, Burnley, Fulham, Hull City, Manchester City, Manchester United, Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sunderland, West Ham, Wigan, Min-By-Min Reports

Minute-by-minute commentary from around the grounds.

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Sunderland 1 Wigan 1: Kenwyne Jones Rescues a Point for Steve Bruce

John Wardle — 2010-02-06T11:16:00-05:00

by John Wardle

Filed under: Sunderland, Wigan, Match Reports

Kenwyne Jones scored a 64th minute equaliser for Sunderland, but they are still in relegation trouble after 11 games without a win.

Wigan, who will certainly be happier with this away point, put Sunderland on the back foot from the 20th minute when Mohamed Diame robbed Lorik Cana before surging forward and powering a shot into the top corner from 16 yards.

It was a goal that created unrest among Sunderland fans, who booed off their team at the end of a half when Jones went closest to a leveller when his 30th minute shot was deflected onto the post.

Jones did have the ball in the net in the second half, but was fractionally offside, while Michael Turner also missed a glorious 60th minute chance for the home side.

Wigan created further chances after their goal, notably when James McCarthy went clear in the 58th minute, but was foiled by a fine save from Craig Gordon. It proved to be a decisive moment, with Jones heading in the leveller six minutes later from Jordan Henderson's cross.

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