We need a lift after 3 games without a win. Tough games against top teams, but after the heights of scoring 3 goals and almost holding on for an amazing win at Man. City, we played well but drew a blank against Spurs, and had a thoroughly miserable day at Everton when we almost blew our positive goal difference. OK, I had one commenter who said I was stating the blindingly obvious, but this is my blog and I blog what I feel – and as a team we definitely need a pick-up.
We have a whole defence out injured. Definitely out are Angeleri, Brown (both knee), Bramble (Achilles); then O'Shea (calf), Bardsley (groin) will be fitness tested before the Wolves game tomorrow. But all is not well upfront either with late tests for Bendtner (back/hamstring) and Campbell (knee), both of whom were missing at Goodison last Monday. We also need Cattermole to recover from a knee problem.
Visitors Wolves are on a horrible run. They rather luckily beat Sunderland in the interregnum between Steve Bruce and Martin O’Neill and this left the Midlanders in 15th spot, 3 points ahead of the Black Cats. That was 19 matches ago and with just a single victory since, the 2 clubs have gone in starkly different directions, with the visitors 9 points adrift of safety at the bottom of the league. Their confidence is shot after 7 consecutive defeats.
For Wanderers Bassong is suspended, Hunt, O'Hara (both groin), Craddock (hamstring) are all out, and they will be waiting on tests for Berra (ankle), Edwards (hamstring). Wolves' on-loan defender Sebastien Bassong will be unavailable through suspension, after his red card in midweek against Arsenal. I have a sneaking feeling that if Steve Bruce had got the job when Mick McCarthy was sacked, tomorrow's visitors would have been better organised and not out of touch at the bottom of the table.
There will be goals, there always are in these games, and I am looking for Sunderland to restore their goal difference. A repeat of the 5-2 win 2½ years ago would be great, but we had Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent upfront then. A 2-0 win would do us fine and get us back on track.
©Lars J.S. Knutsen
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Lars Knutsen was born in Sunderland of Norwegian parents across the Wear from the SSOL back when shipbuilding not car manufacture was the city’s main industry. His first game was in 1968 and he has followed the Black Cats since then, with great memories of the 1973 FA Cup. He hopes the “yo-yo” days are over and defines supporting a team by whether the result affects your mood (but maybe not in the way portrayed in the book “Fever Pitch”!) so has been cheerful recently. He endured school in Newc**tle, has a Ph.D. in Chemistry, a Professorship at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and works in the Pharma industry as a consultant Medicinal Chemist.
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