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Club Focus - Sunderland - Unbeaten home record comes to an end.
In the end the greatly anticipated clash against Manchester United on Sunday petered out into somewhat of an anti-climax. Soon after the day’s early kick-off had conspired against them, United overcame the disappointment to do a professional job on Wearside against a Sunderland side that looked ready for the end of the season.
The Mackem’s best player was possibly Dimitar Berbatov, who spurned three relatively simple chances before being substituted half way into the second period. If it was not for his wastefulness in front of goal, the score line might well have looked less respectable for the home side. As it stood the Black Cats managed to remain within a goal of causing an upset, but never really challenged a United side, well trained for this kind of scenario. After the necessary result to charge up the tensions failed to arrive from Anfield, the atmosphere inside the Stadium of Light had all the hallmarks of an end of season affair. Steve Bruce opted for a more conservative line-up than has recently taken to the field for the Wearsiders with Lorik Cana, returning to captain the side, in place of Kenwyne Jones with Fraizer Campbell moving up front to partner Darren Bent. The Sunderland manager was forced into making two first half substitutes with injuries to John Mensah and David Meyler. The inevitable introduction of Jones was therefore pushed back despite repeated calls for the big Trinidad and Tobago international from the terraces. His arrival earlier in the game could have made a difference, but United were able to contain the home sides’ threat throughout apart from a Steed Malbranque shot that whistled narrowly over the bar after a fine build up involving excellent play from Jordan Henderson. All in all it was the kind of subdued end of season game far removed from the relegation dogfights Sunderland fans are used to, probably suggesting the club are moving in the right direction.
Following the game, Steve Bruce offered no excuses for his side coming out second best on the day saying: “we huffed and puffed but if I’m honest we lacked that little bit of composure and the final ball, which we’ve been so good at here. It was a great finish by Nani but we were disappointed with the goal as he’s had two or three stabs at it. We made a game of it but we needed more quality and that’s something we’ve had in our game at home recently.” Bruce also spoke of the injury to David Meyler and the early signs are that it could be a serious one, a cruel blow to a young player who has made a big impact during the second half of the season. Reports after the game suggested he had damaged his cruciate ligaments and could face a spell of up to nine months out of action.
On to matters off the field, and Niall Quinn has suggested that the club will attempt to sign permanently their two current loan signings Alan Hutton and John Mensah at the end of the season. The Sunderland Chairman revealed: “I sat down with Alan and was delighted to hear his desire to come permanently to SAFC. Now I have to contact Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy.” On Mensah he stated: “he wants to stay, but the original proposal can not be accepted. Watch this space.” The signing of Hutton would appear - if Spurs are willing to let him go - a relative no brainer. The Scottish international has impressed since moving to the club at the end of January and his attacking foraging down the right hand side has led to many of the goals that dragged the Black Cats out of their dismal run of form. As for Mensah, the issue is slightly more complex. It does not seem far fetched to speculate that his tendency to be sidelined through injury is concerning Quinn and that he will seek a cheaper deal for the Ghanaian international in the summer. If fully fit he would be a real asset to the club, however it is quite telling that Lyon were willing to let him go out on loan for the season despite having to play makeshift centre-halves for large proportions of this campaign. If Sunderland were to sign him, they would almost certainly need to sign someone else of similar ability as cover and it will be interesting to see if the situation has changed after the Ghana international’s eighteenth minute departure during Sunday’s game due to the return of a longstanding back problem.
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