Premier League - West Brom humble Sunderland

Eurosport - Sat, 16 May 14:33:00 2009

Sunderland sank to a 3-0 defeat against rock-bottom West Bromwich Albion to put themselves firmly back into the relegation dogfight.

FOOTBALL West Brom's Chris Brunt finishes past Sunderland's Marton Fulop in their 3-0 Premier League win at the Hawthorns - 0

A first-half strike from Jonas Olsson and goals in the second period from Chris Brunt and substitute Juan Carlos Menseguez condemned the Black Cats to a demoralising defeat which undoes much of the good work achieved in their win against fellow strugglers Hull City last week.

West Brom edged an insipid first-half which was typical of both sides' struggles this season.

Unsurprisingly, given the poor play on show, the first chance of note came thanks to a deflection when Brunt's low drive from the edge of the Sunderland box almost deceived Marton Fulop after it took a nick on the way through to the stand-in Sunderland keeper on 25 minutes.

A rare moment of quality came from Kieran Richardson ten minutes later, as the Sunderland midfielder picked the ball up in space in the middle of the pitch before unleashing a powerful, swerving shot from 25 yards out which forced Scott Carson into an agile diving save to his right.

Then came the opener as a Jonathan Greening corner from the right fell nicely for Olsson at the far post, allowing the Swede to drive the ball left-footed into the Sunderland net.

Given their perilous situation, you would have expected Ricky Sbragia's side to come raring out of the blocks in the second-half. But what came after the break was somehow even worse from Sunderland, as Tony Mowbray's doomed Baggies outplayed them with apparent ease.

Sunderland had time to waste a number of promising free-kicks in the opening exchanges of the second-half before Brunt doubled West Brom's lead on the hour mark. Marc-Antoine Fortune did well to slow the ball down wide on the right before squaring the ball perfectly for Brunt to slide the ball home from close-range.

Djibril Cisse almost brought his side back into it a couple of minutes later, but he knew very little about it as he inadvertently diverted a Teemu Tainio drive narrowly over the crossbar.

Sunderland's miserable afternoon was rounded off two minutes before time when West Brom sub Menseguez controlled nicely inside the box and shot low past Fulop to emphasise the extent of the visitors' problems.

Ben Phillips / Eurosport

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  1. It's a pleasure to see this article making a­ comeback but what's going on?

    From Bob R, on Sun 17 May 7:16PM
  2. This confirms my suspicions... there's a Mag­ working at Yahoo.

    From patrick.jewell, on Sun 17 May 2:54PM
  3. There is no such match today May 16, 2009, somebody­ make it up????????????????????????????/

    From HELEN, on Sat 16 May 3:54PM
  4. Fair comments,but you're deluded if you think Bruce­ would leave the premiership for NUFC in the­ championship,that's that 'big club'­ syndrome fuc+ing with your head again Cameron,maybe 2-3­ years ago he'd have jumped ship,not now,not with­ that board and set of players he maybe a Geordie at­ heart but he's not stupid.Can't wait for the­ Hatton fight.

    From jack torrance, on Wed 29 Apr 8:19AM
  5. Jack: I never agreed with the appointment of Keegan; it­ had disaster written all over it - mind you, the­ appointment of denis wise has to be the biggest mistake­ by anybody ever connected with NUFC. Yes Bobby Robson­ should not have been sacked; disgraceful and proven to­ be disastrous, especially when you hire an egocentric­ cretin like souness in his place. I thought Big Sham­ was the perfect choice; i remember saying, at last a­ 'proper manager'. However, i swear jack, if you­ had him and his tactics at safc, you would see why we­ had to rid ourselves of him; he was hopeless. Safc fans­ and players hounded out 'the legend'; some­ thanks for what he did to your club. Safc were heading­ fast for League-One when he came so i do believe it is­ a bit rich saying our treatment of Sham was­ 'disgraceful'. I do believe Shearer is the man­ for the job at some stage; if we are relegated then i­ expect ashley to go get Steve Bruce. Bruce, regardless­ of what so-called 'experts' will say, will­ crawl over broken glass to manage this club. He has­ turned them down once and knows the next offer is his­ final chance; plus he has experience of getting teams­ out of the Championship, something that MUST be­ achieved at the first time of asking (if NUFC is­ relegated). At the end of the day though, if NUFC­ survive, what is to be expected next season? More of­ the same i'm afraid, simply because this owner will­ not spend ANY money on players - and i mean­ 'real' money.

    From cameron w, on Tue 28 Apr 9:51PM
  6. Stunning fight jack; but if he wants universal respect,­ he's gotta earn it - and that begins by not­ disrespecting Calzaghe all the time. He has got one­ heck of a jaw tho!!

    From cameron w, on Tue 28 Apr 9:29PM
  7. p.s that was some fight the other night eh,Cobra got­ out of jail big time,but when you're as heavy­ handed as he is it's always a posibility,even when­ you're getting a boxing lesson.You're the only­ Mag with the Kahunas to come on this site­ today,respect.

    From jack torrance, on Tue 28 Apr 6:45PM
  8. Nice one Cameron,you ask what I would have done? I­ wouldn't have sacked Bobby Robson,then I­ wouldn't have hired Kevin Keegan,I wouldn't­ have sacked big Sam,wouldn't have hired Joe Kinnear­ (a throw back championship manager at best) simply I­ with no experience in running a football team­ whatsoever would have made a better fist of it than­ your shower.Some of the blame lies with the fans and­ the disgraceful way they treated Allerdyce,but largely­ it's the board to blame. I actually felt sorry for­ Shearer last night,he'd left the changing room­ doors open so the team would be inspired by the­ crowd's singing,naive to a fault,his team don't­ give a @#$% about the club or fans,0 loyalty and that­ reflected in the performance.Boro is the biggest game­ Newcastle will have played in the premiership to­ date.,it's huge.

    From jack torrance, on Tue 28 Apr 6:40PM
  9. Jack: they weren't booing Shearer and you know­ it!
    I repeat, nobody outside of Shearer could've­ done any better!
    I have banged the drum all season that­ this NUFC squad is the worst i have ever witnessed in­ my 35 years of supporting them; there is a saying about­ not being able to make a silk purse out of a sow's­ ear etc... - if ever a situation applies, then this is­ it. You are again letting your prejudices cloud your­ judgement; to judge Shearer after 4 games of a­ relegation battle (which in itself is a traumatic­ experience football-wise) is harsh and unfair.­ Remember, these are not his players; if he stays on, i­ wager no more than 2 of these players will remain. Tell­ me Jack, who would you have brought in, or would you­ have stayed with the Chuckle Brothers? The damage was­ done months ago; there is no creativity as Milner and­ N'Zogbia were never replaced due to ashley's­ penny-pinching doing iton the cheap mantra. The table­ does not lie jack, NUFC deserve to be where they are­ and if they fail to beat a similarly dreadful team in­ 'the boro', then they deserve to go down.­ Absolutely no complaints from me; i will add however­ that they did (for once) at least give their all . . .­ they're simply not good enough and the fans were­ truly magnificent (as has been commented on from ALL­ neutral quarters today . . . . wearside, obviously­ isn't neutral). I said several weeks ago that hull­ were the get-out-of-jail team for NUFC and i stand by­ that; but we now defo need 2 wins from 2 home games and­ maybe a point at on-the-beach Villa - with this squad,­ extremely unlikely, but not impossible.
    There you go­ jack, like i said - i will always stand up to be­ counted.

    From cameron w, on Tue 28 Apr 6:12PM
  10. p.p.s was that a chorus of boos at the end Cameron?­ "they will never turn on Shearer" it's­ muted at first but will get more vociferous as the­ weekends go by,mark my words my young apprentice ha ha

    From jack torrance, on Tue 28 Apr 8:46AM
  11. and who was that fat @#$% at the beginning? that was­ just embarressing,I was cringing for you lot.

    From jack torrance, on Tue 28 Apr 8:44AM
  12. farty towels

    From jack torrance, on Tue 28 Apr 8:42AM
  13. oh dear glad I didn't pay to go and sit in the cold­ and watch that @#$%,5 strikers on the pitch in­ Smith,Martins,Viduka Caroll and Owen and how many goals­ could they muster? nadda,zip, zilch,zero.That must be­ the weakest most impotent strike force I've ever­ seen NUFC put out.Owen was wandering around the pitch­ like a little boy lost,Viduka was wandering about­ trying to cadge a pie off someone in the front­ row,Smith was just trying to hospitalise people as­ usual,Martins was going for the sitter miss of the­ season competition.Ha ha game on my merry men,that 4­ point lead is taking months to claw back isn't it.

    From jack torrance, on Tue 28 Apr 8:34AM
  14. Yes I'm just about to sit my butt down infront of­ setanta,"Play up Pompey,Pompey play up" ha ha­ so is Shearer the right choice for next season Cameron?­ or just this season's one trick pony to sell season­ tickets.That MOTD couch must seem a lot more­ comfortable at the moment.

    From jack torrance, on Mon 27 Apr 7:42PM
  15. oh yes before i forget; a message to Yahoo . . . . . .­ FARTY TOWELS!!!!

    From cameron w, on Mon 27 Apr 6:02PM
  16. Off now to watch the lads struggle past Pompey; back­ later people, with 3 points hopefully!!!!

    From cameron w, on Mon 27 Apr 6:00PM
  17. Talking about poor managerial appointments jack, look­ no further than the Big Plank's appointment of­ Sbragia at safc; a man way, way out of his depth - just­ like hughton and calderwood were at NUFC!

    From cameron w, on Mon 27 Apr 5:59PM
  18. This isn't a gamble, it was the only option BUT, it­ should have happened the minute Joe Kinnear took ill­ and perhaps NUFC could've gained more than one­ point against bolton and hull.

    From cameron w, on Mon 27 Apr 5:54PM
  19. Jack, at this stage of the season Shearer was the ONLY­ choice. He knows the club and the fans and the players­ inside out; only 8 games remember, it would've­ taken an 'outsider' at least 4 of those games­ just to settle in. Something had to be done; with­ Laurel and Hardy (hughton/calderwood) at the helm­ Newcastle were doomed anyway.

    From cameron w, on Mon 27 Apr 5:53PM
  20. Quite agree I had a lot to do with one of his best­ mates over a period of 12 weeks not so long ago and he­ was a complete head the ball, he thought Gazza should­ go back on the p1ss because he was "good fun­ then" with friends like that eh

    From jack torrance, on Mon 27 Apr 1:41PM
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