Does Morgan need to act again to save Wolves’ Premier League status?

By Laurie Fitzgerald

Wolves’ miserable season continued when they suffered a comprehensive 5-0 defeat at home to Manchester United last weekend.

The hammering means it’s now just one win in their last 15 matches in the league, and their inferior goal difference has sent them to the bottom of the Premier League.

For the club’s owner Steve Morgan it leaves him with a headache that becomes more thumping by the week, despite a change of management designed to allay such an issue.

When Mick McCarthy was sacked following the side’s 5-1 humbling at home to fierce rivals West Brom, many felt the need to bring in an experienced figure to galvanise the side in time for the crucial run-in.    

Will Bruce prove his worth to Short at Sunderland?

By Laurie Fitzgerald

Sunderland’s poor start to the season continued yesterday with a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates.

It leaves the Black Cats teetering just above the bottom three with eight games of the season gone, and with just one win to their name the pressure is starting to pile on boss Steve Bruce.

This is Bruce’s third season in charge at the Stadium of Light, and despite being given countless backing by owner Ellis Short and Chairman Niall Quinn, it seems there has been little overall improvement on the pitch.

Now with Quinn assigned a new role in the club managing international development, Short has become club chairman leading to more scrutiny on Bruce’s delicate position.

Since his appointment in the summer of 2009, the former Manchester United defender has brought in 32 players over a two-and-a-half year period, yet the backing of the American has yet to reap a transformation in results.

After only avoiding relegation on the last day of the 2008-09 campaign under caretaker boss Ricky Sbragia, Quinn and Short turned to a man that had pushed Wigan Athletic to the brink of Europe in the same season.

Hopes were high that with a move to a big club, Bruce would evolve into the top-class manager that many believe he is capable of becoming.

However, having been given the money of Short and the excellent support of Quinn, Bruce has struggled to repay the faith, and now has the pressure growing from disgruntled supporters.

The past couple of seasons has been dogged by inconsistency, with impressive starts followed by winless runs stretching for months and dismantling any hopes of European football.

On top of that, Bruce has had to deal with star names leaving that he wanted to build his team around, with players such as Darren Bent, Jordan Henderson and Asamoah Gyan leaving the North-East.

Now the Black Cats seem to be back at square one, with the team at the wrong end of the table and no obvious solutions around the corner.

Pre-season saw Bruce bring in 12 new players to add strength in depth and a more solid foundation, especially defensively with the arrivals of Manchester United duo John O’Shea and Wes Brown.

But after the departure to the UAE of a seemingly money-grabbing Gyan, Sunderland have been left with a blunt attacking force consisting mainly of on-loan Arsenal forward Nicklas Bendtner and young Connor Wickham.

With almost half of their goals coming in their 4-0 win over Stoke, their struggles in front of goal have made it difficult to find the consistency that Bruce has been searching for since he took charge.

What makes it more disappointing is that there is a good spine to the team. The defensive experience of O’Shea and Brown have made Sunderland tougher to break down.

While the midfield of Craig Gardner, Lee Cattermole, Sebastian Larsson and David Vaughan is a centre full of craft and tireless work-rate, not forgetting the breakthrough of impressive youngster Jack Colback.

So it’s all the more disconcerting for Sunderland fans to see another new side but with the same old disappointment, and this draws more attention to whether Bruce remains the right man for the job.

Personally, Bruce is a good manager that has had to deal with situations out of his control; the sales of Bent and Henderson were offers too good to refuse, while the actions of Gyan demonstrated the mentality of man motivated by money ahead of success.

But although there were real signs of improvement in North London yesterday,  the 50 year-old needs to turn things round sooner rather than later.

He was seen as the long-term appointment, the man that would turn Sunderland from relegation candidates to top-six challengers over the course of the next few years.

Everything was in place; financial support, a huge fan base and the potential to turn a sleeping giant into a prosperous one.

Bruce still might. But if things don’t turn around quickly, then he will find that there won’t just be changes taking place at boardroom level on Wearside.

So what do you think? Is Bruce still the right man to take Sunderland forward? Will he end up justifying the long-term support of Short and Quinn? Leave a comment and let us know your views.

Is Craig Gordon’s career over before it ever really started?

By Tony Alvarez

Following yesterday’s news thatScotlandinternational goalkeeper Craig Gordon is set to miss another 4-6 months of his career after under going knee surgery inSwedenon Monday.

Sunderland had hoped that the Scotsman would be back in time for Saturdays fixture againstWiganhaving missed the last 6 games due to this injury. The club released a statement saying “Craig’s been following a programme but when the specialist had a look at the knee again, we were left with no choice but to go ahead with the surgery.”

Gordon started his career at Hearts and made his debut for theEdinburghclub in October 2002 and was nominated for Scottish young player of the year in the 2003-2004 season.

He became a Scotland regular by 2005 and in 2006 won the Scottish Football writers player of the year, Gordon signed for Sunderland in 2007 for an initial £7 million and up to £3 million in add ons if all those add ons were paid it would be a British record fee for a goalkeeper.

Gordon’s injury problems really started once he had made the move south to Sunderland, he missed several months of the 08-09 season due to a knee injury and found himself second choice to Martin Fulop.

He regained his place at the start of the following season but just 3 months into the season he broke an arm in a fixture against Tottenham keeping him out until the January 2010, in the summer of the same year he had surgery to remove a metal plate from his arm he recovered in days however in a freak accident just days after he returned to training Gordon fractured his arm, ruling him out until November 2010. Unfortunately for Gordon injury woes struck again when he was diagnosed with a tendon injury in his knee, luckily this still allowed him to be available but he was kept on the bench as a precaution until his latest op that will keep him out until at least the 2011-2012 season.

In 4 seasons as aSunderlandkeeper Gordon has made only 94 appearances in all competitions when you consider that goal keeper is not a position that is changed too much you would expect the figure to be around the 120 mark even that would allow for 8 league games absence per season and no participation in cup competitions.

The question remains will Gordon’s career ever get back on track as a youngster he promised so much and was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal, with Arsene Wenger personally watching him and giving a positive review, but hasn’t turned out being a bit part player for a mid table side rather that World wide greatness which was expected.

What are you thoughts? Is Gordon’s career finished despite his young age for a goal keeper? Can he still reach his potential and be a top class goal keeper? Was he ever as good as the hype around him suggested? Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts

Different season, same old story for Bruce

It's been another campaign of ups and downs for Steve Bruce and Sunderland

By Laurie Fitzgerald

Sunderland’s miserable run continued on Saturday when they suffered a 3-2 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion.

The latest loss means that it is now just one point from their last eight games, a horrendous set of results that sees them just five points clear of the relegation zone.

There’s never a good time to go on such a winless stretch of matches, but unfortunately for manager Steve Bruce, it is proving to be a case of de ja vu.

Last season, Bruce saw his side get off to an excellent start with wins over the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal putting them into contention for a European spot.

However, they ended up going on a horrific slump, failing to win a game in 14 matches. By the time they had arrested their slide, their chances of securing European football were over.

The former Wigan manager would have hoped that the squad had learnt their lessons from that disappointment. When they started this campaign in impressive fashion, there was a real chance to prove their character.

Positive results over the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United were built on with a stunning 3-0 win over champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in November.

With the side well placed to right the wrongs of last year, I wrote a piece on the Black Cats that focused on whether they could do this (http://shoutsfromthestands.wordpress.com/2010/12/26/will-sunderland-push-on-this-time/)

Everything was set up for Bruce: a stronger squad, better options throughout the team, more goals in the side, and a growing belief from the fans in the manager.

But things have not gone according to plan in 2011. In January, top scorer Darren Bent joined Premier League rivals Aston Villa in a shock £24 million deal.

Many would point to the England striker’s departure as the protagonist for the disappointment that’s followed; Sunderland haven’t won a game since the month he left.

Although his goals have been missed, it should be remembered that before his exit, Bent was struggling to get into the starting XI due to the fact that £13 million signing Asamoah Gyan and the on-loan Danny Welbeck had formed the better partnership up front.

What may be a bigger reason for just the seven goals in their last eight matches was the absence of Welbeck for several weeks due to a knee injury.

In fact, Bruce has been hugely unfortunate on the injury front; the 50 year-old has had to rush the likes of Welbeck, Lee Cattermole and Michael Turner back before they returned to full fitness.

Saturday’s game summed up their problems; John Mensah, Kieran Richardson and Anton Ferdinand all went off with knocks. Ferdinand was a substitute for the injured Mensah in the first-half.

To add to this, Titus Bramble’s impressive season has been hampered since the turn of the year with knee problems, while forward Frazier Campbell looked bright in the early weeks of the campaign before suffering a serious cruciate ligament injury.

So Bruce does have a valid excuse – but only to a point. In his two seasons in charge, he has had over £50 million of Ellis Short’s money to build a squad capable of sustaining a European push.

The American owner will be questioning how much has been spent wisely. Some of the money from the Bent transfer was used on bringing in Sulley Muntari on loan and Stephane Sessegnon for £6 million.

Neither have impressed, and with goals being leaked at the backed (21 in total during this wretched run) the money may have been better on a defender.

But hindsight would make us all great managers, and Bruce now has to prevent the players at his dosposal being drawn further into an unlikely relegation battle.

After their defeat to the Baggies, he said, “I think we’re already in it. I think anybody in the bottom ten is still there the way it is. There’s five or six games to play, and we have to get a couple of wins as soon as possible.”

While Bruce should find the necessary points to secure the Black Cats’ safety, it remains to be seen whether he will get the chance to make it third time lucky next season.

So what do you think? Has Bruce been unfortunate with injuries? Or does he have to take responsibility with the players for the recent slump? Let us know your thoughts.