O'Neill has fingers crossed Carlos Cuellar & Danny Rose will aid survival battle


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sonofagun

Winger
MARTIN O’Neill hopes extra competition for places will spark an upturn in Sunderland’s performances.



Carlos Cuellar and Danny Rose returned to the Black Cats’ starting 11 last weekend after spells out with hamstring injuries, while a battle-sharpened Connor Wickham was recalled from a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday and Phil Bardsley continues to wait in the wings after overcoming a succession of ankle problems.

O’Neill believes that having those players to call on will help increase Sunderland’s chances of picking up the points they need to stave off a growing relegation threat.

The manager – who admitted to the Echo this week that he is not hopeful of Lee Cattermole’s prospects of return this season – needs all the help he can get.

And he has at least had a boost on fronts, other than the skipper.

He told the Echo: “We need to have real competition for places. We’ve got a small squad and we haven’t had it (competition) for much of the season.

“But we brought in a few new bodies in the January transfer window and we do have several players coming back now, so that should help us.

“Carlos has been raring to go for several weeks and hopefully the fact he’s had a bit of time waiting to get back into the side will have improved the chances of having no recurrence of his earlier problem.

“Danny Rose was doing terrifically well for us earlier in the season and he has been a miss during his absence but with a bit of luck he will stay fit between now and the end of the season and recapture his earlier form.

“And one of the advantages of bringing in Danny Graham in January was that it afforded us the luxury of letting Connor Wickham go out on loan to get match fitness and confidence.

“Having extra options and knowing there is pressure on places is always helpful in giving me selection decisions and keeping players on their toes.”

Former Player of the Season Bardsley is available again and ready to shore up a defence which has started to leak in recent weeks.

But O’Neill revealed that the Scottish international continues to work for his best form.

“He’s had a tough old season,” said the Black Cats’ boss. “He played in an Under 21 game and that will have helped his fitness because it is the fitness aspect that is the problem.

“When you’re someone like him, who was injured in his second day back in pre-season and then the injury dragged on, it’s hard to get back to the pinnacle.

“The fact is that if you’re 100 per cent fit, then with that fitness comes confidence and this has been a tough campaign for him to endure.

“If he is looking forward to seeing the back of this one so that he can focus on the next one, I wouldn’t blame him.

“But he came on against QPR as a substitute, played in the U21 game on Monday and as far as things go, we have to rate him as properly fit now. That’s good, because the more players we have at our disposal the better at a time when we need everyone pulling together to get results.”
 
Should have stopped at;

O'Neill has fingers crossed
 
should have waited til after the international break for this,guaranteed jinx material.
 
He has a bad hand and is trying to get it to limp through to the end of the season. I note he is yet to blame anyone for the predicament.

who could he blame?,he has had more than enough time and money to rectify the problem. there can be no doubt that this is firmly at his feet.
 
So accept defeat, accept its over?? Fuck off

Even though we are the shitiest team in the league at the mo,we'll still probably stop up.


I think we need to improve a bit to stay up :
1 point from ManU Chelsea Everton
6 points Soton Stoke
2 points Toon Villa Spurs

should do it it but that form is a significant uptick from our last 7
 
who could he blame?,he has had more than enough time and money to rectify the problem. there can be no doubt that this is firmly at his feet.

He has spent good money on 3 signings:
Fletcher - Success
Johnson - Not done it
N'Diaye - Far to early to judge

The rest is filler.

He has not had nearly enough time to replicate his achievements elsewhere.
The squad is perpetuated with mediocrity who he didn't purchase but due to the size of it he is compelled to play them. Cuellar was a bad buy, but from a purely financial point of view, we got money for Turner who would have played a similar role in the season.
 
I think we need to improve a bit to stay up :
1 point from ManU Chelsea Everton
6 points Soton Stoke
2 points Toon Villa Spurs

should do it it but that form is a significant uptick from our last 7

Really??

Nothing to do with teams below us and their results either?
 
He has spent good money on 3 signings:
Fletcher - Success
Johnson - Not done it
N'Diaye - Far to early to judge

The rest is filler.

He has not had nearly enough time to replicate his achievements elsewhere.
The squad is perpetuated with mediocrity who he didn't purchase but due to the size of it he is compelled to play them. Cuellar was a bad buy, but from a purely financial point of view, we got money for Turner who would have played a similar role in the season.

fletcher,aj,alfie,graham=-30 mill plus. you have to cut your cloth accordingly, if we needed 6-7 players he shouldnt have blew all our money on 4.
also he is playing a lot of these mediocre players he was left with ahead of his own players.
 
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fletcher,aj,alfie,graham=-30 mill plus. you have to cut your cloth accordingly, if we needed 6-7 players he shouldnt have blew all our money on 4.

Lot of money, granted and I forgot about Graham who again should be largely judged on next seasons exploits.

Midfield should have been addressed earlier but then he would have hoped Cattermole would have got over his injury concerns (he will have presumably been advised that he was by the staff) and Johnson is yet to come off coupled with McClean's form falling off a cliff.
 
I note he is yet to blame anyone for the predicament.

Up to a point. He's criticised the quality and ability in the squad, said that he "always knew" we would be in a relegation fight, moaned about the size of the squad, not having enough striking options and the spending of the previous manager.
 
fletcher,aj,alfie,graham=-30 mill plus. you have to cut your cloth accordingly, if we needed 6-7 players he shouldnt have blew all our money on 4.
also he is playing a lot of these mediocre players he was left with ahead of his own players.

and blew it on 6-7 like Bruce used to? We are still left with his 8-9 transfer window type players now.

O'neill has the right idea in terms of quality over quantity but to do this you need a bit of luck on your side that current players stay fit etc and this is where it has backfired on him slightly with cattermole. If our full back and midfield problems are not addressed in the summer and we see again our current predicament then he deserves to go.
 
and blew it on 6-7 like Bruce used to? We are still left with his 8-9 transfer window type players now.

O'neill has the right idea in terms of quality over quantity but to do this you need a bit of luck on your side that current players stay fit etc and this is where it has backfired on him slightly with cattermole. If our full back and midfield problems are not addressed in the summer and we see again our current predicament then he deserves to go.

cuellar was kept out by jos and bramble and alfie is now behind seb and vorn,he is scared to drop aj and graham because that would be like admitting he got it wrong. i wouldnt give him one more penny to spend.
 
Really??

Nothing to do with teams below us and their results either?


only if you're willing to accept that the " best manager we could possibly hope for" is reduced to hoping Reading and Wigan don't finish the season strong ?

Do you think this is what Wor Ellis thought he would be getting ?
 
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