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.
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.
Comment 54 - 73 of 73
It's a pleasure to see this article making a comeback but what's going on?
This confirms my suspicions... there's a Mag working at Yahoo.
There is no such match today May 16, 2009, somebody make it up????????????????????????????/
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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
and who was that fat @#$% at the beginning? that was just embarressing,I was cringing for you lot.
farty towels
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.
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.
oh yes before i forget; a message to Yahoo . . . . . . FARTY TOWELS!!!!
Off now to watch the lads struggle past Pompey; back later people, with 3 points hopefully!!!!
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!
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.
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.
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
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account