October 2009 Archives

ANTON FERDINAND will suspend his 'family' ties for 90 minutes at the weekend as Sunderland take on his old club West Ham at the Stadium of Light.

The defender regards the Hammers staff as his second family after spending 14 years Upton Park, joining the club at the age of nine and following his elder brother Rio through the youth ranks to the first-team.

But Ferdinand left London for Sunderland 14 months ago and, while he remains a big Hammers fan, he is only interested in helping the Wearsiders win on Saturday - especially after losing home and away against his old club last season.

"I'm looking forward to the game because I'll get to see a lot of people who saw me grow up through the years," said the £8m defender.

"I was there from the age of nine and they are like a second family to me. But I want to win with Sunderland. We haven't beaten West Ham since I left, and it would be great to get a win on Saturday at home.

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NYRON Nosworthy has urged Sunderland's players to be as tight-knit on the field as they are off it when they go in search of revenge at home to West Ham United on Saturday.

Under Steve Bruce the Black Cats' squad has become far smaller than the unwieldy group assembled by Roy Keane. As one of those on the outer edge, Nosworthy can see the personal benefits, but also believes it has further strengthened an already strong team spirit.

A spate of injuries have highlighted the problem with such a small pool of players - something Bruce has acquired by choice, not financial constraint - but Nosworthy can see positives.

"It helps everyone but there's also pressure for those who are in the team," he said, after a rare outing in Tuesday's Carling Cup defeat by Aston Villa.

"If they're not doing well there's someone to take their place. It's fresh competition and that's how it should be at any football club. It's changed the atmosphere little bit, but there's been a good set of lads ever since I've been here.

"The camaraderie is very, very high and the team spirit is very, very good - during games, after games, and when we do things as a team. We've had highs and lows but now we're winning games. The main thing is the boys have all stuck together and never had anything

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KIERAN RICHARDSON says Sunderland must put their Carling Cup defeat out of their minds and prove they can compete with the Premier League elite.

The Wearsiders lost to Aston Villa on penalties at the Stadium of Light, after missing two golden opportunities to win the tie.

Kenwyne Jones could have won it with just five minutes of the 90 remaining but saw Villa's man-of-the-match keeper Brad Guzan save his penalty, and then Richardson fired straight at the keeper when clean through on goal in extra-time.

Penalty-king Guzan then denied Andy Reid, Lorik Cana and Jordan Henderson in the shoot-out to book Villa's place in the quarter-finals.

After losing at Birmingham at the weekend, Sunderland put in a much-improved performance against Villa and deserved to win, but paid the price for those missed opportunities.

Richardson said: "We played well and didn't take our chances, which is hard to take.

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KIERAN RICHARDSON says Sunderland must put their Carling Cup defeat out of their minds and prove they can compete with the Premier League elite.

The Wearsiders lost to Aston Villa on penalties at the Stadium of Light, after missing two golden opportunities to win the tie.

Kenwyne Jones could have won it with just five minutes of the 90 remaining but saw Villa's man-of-the-match keeper Brad Guzan save his penalty, and then Richardson fired straight at the keeper when clean through on goal in extra-time.

Penalty-king Guzan then denied Andy Reid, Lorik Cana and Jordan Henderson in the shoot-out to book Villa's place in the quarter-finals.

After losing at Birmingham at the weekend, Sunderland put in a much-improved performance against Villa and deserved to win, but paid the price for those missed opportunities.

Richardson said: "We played well and didn't take our chances, which is hard to take.

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PENALTIES were Sunderland's undoing as they were denied a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup by Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

The Black Cats saw the competition as their best route into Europe but reckoned without the American in Villa's goal.

The game could have been settled in normal time, had Kenwyne Jones converted an 83rd-minute penalty. The spot kick was awarded for a Carlos Cuellar handball but Jones' effort was tame and allowed Guzan to save to his left.

It ensured the game finished scoreless after 120 minutes and allowed Guzan to produce heroics in the penalty shoot-out.

Sunderland fans were resigned to their fate when Guzan saved from Andy Reid and Lorik Cana, and many were leaving the ground as Ashley Young capitalised on his save from Jordan Henderson to clinch a 3-1 victory for the visitors.

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STEVE BRUCE insists Sunderland will go all out to book a place in the Carling Cup quarter-finals tonight - after admitting he found out the perils of fielding a weakened side in this competition the hard way.

The Black Cats boss is preparing to name the strongest side injuries will allow as Aston Villa visit the Stadium of Light for a fourth-round tie this evening.

And Bruce says he learned a valuable lesson six years ago while in charge at Birmingham, when he rested half his first team for a tie at Blackpool, who were then in League One, and saw his Premier League outfit dumped out of the cup at the first hurdle by the Seasiders.

"I left half my first team out and we got our backsides kicked," said Bruce. "I thought 'what's the point of that?'

"I can understand why the top teams do it, because of the sheer number of games they have to play, but for everyone else in the Premier League this competition is an opportunity to try and win some silverware.

"I've got to guard against a few knocks tonight, but I will name as strong a side as I can.

"If we get through to the last eight and get a favourable draw, who knows how far we could go?"

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STEVE Bruce will order his Sunderland players to take tonight's League Cup tie against Aston Villa seriously, with memories of an unpleasant trip to the seaside six years ago still fresh.

The Black Cats have suffered an injury scare to top-scorer Darren Bent but will otherwise keep changes to a minimum as Bruce senses a chance for his first major silverware in an 11-year managerial career in which he has not come "remotely close".

The Black Cats boss, who lifted the League Cup as a player with Norwich City and Manchester United, saw a weakened Birmingham City knocked out in the second round at Blackpool in the 2003-04 season. The chastening experience altered his attitude.

"When I was at Birmingham I put out half a team at Blackpool and we got turned over, I was concentrating on establishing them as a Premier League team," he recalled. "You get worried sick about picking up injuries and suspensions in a cup run.

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If you look at Sunderland's start to the season - WLWLWLWDWL - it looks vaguely impressive. An away win at Bolton on the opening day of the season looked to be a sign of things to come.

Sunderland normally find it difficult to win those so-called easier games, so get three points from the first of many was seen to be great progress. However, subseqent defeats at the hands of Stoke, Burnley and Birmingham have dampened expectations and proved Steve Bruce right when he claimed that his side lack the 'big club' mentality.

The fighting spirit and the urge to cause an upset is as rife as ever, as shown with a draw at Old Trafford and a win against Liverpool, but, as always, no matter what players are on the pitch or who is sitting in the dug-out, we struggle to beat the smaller sides.

Personally, I'm a big fan of what Alan Irvine is doing at Preston in the Championship. Since his arrival at Deepdale, he has operated a 'win at home, don't lose away' modus operandi that has seen, firstly, survival ensured and latterly play-off football.

Now I know that is not the key to taking the club forward, but in this, what is surely a season of mid-table mediocrity that all fans are crying out for, a point at Turf Moor, The Britannia or St Andrews would have been welcomed.

With Aston Villa and West Ham visiting the Stadium of Light this week, it will be interesting to see how the players do after a humbling defeat in the Midlands.

STEVE BRUCE branded his old Birmingham boss Karren Brady 'patronising' on his first return to St Andrew''s since his acrimonious departure two years ago.

Brady was the managing director at Birmingham during Bruce's six-year reign as manager, but left the club along with previous owners David Sullivan and David Gold when Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung completed his takeover this month.

When Yeung launched his initial takeover bid in 2007, Bruce left Birmingham for Wigan after failing to secure a new contract from the Brady-Sullivan-Gold regime, and his departure sparked a row over how much money was due to him under the terms of his deal.

Brady had given her account of those events over the weekend, saying "Carson's first takeover attempt unsettled him when he was Blues manager and due to stock market restrictions put on the club at the time, Steve didn't get the new contract he wanted and deserved. The result was he left for Wigan. It was a bad time for Blues."

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STEVE Bruce will spend the next two weeks mulling over a Plan B after Sunderland's disappointing away form continued at the weekend, but there will be no sweeping changes for tomorrow's League Cup tie at home to Aston Villa.

After drawing at Manchester United and beating Liverpool in their previous two games, the Black Cats were desperately disappointing in Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City, which extended a miserable sequence.

Sunderland have not beaten Premier League opposition outside of Wearside since the opening day of the season, and Bruce left the Midlands pondering a "different approach" at Tottenham Hotspur on November 1.

In the meantime comes two home games. Bruce rightly sees the League Cup as important to his club and, although Darren Bent will undergo treatment on a knock today, he sees little need to rest other first-teamers.

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