Martin O’Neill had every reason to be proud again today as Sunderland went eighth with what will be remembered as a tremendous team performance to beat Liverpool. In his post-match e-mail, Martin expresses delight for Fraizer Campbell and Nicklas Bendtner, whose joint assault on goal produced the winner …
Dear Colin,
I thought we played very strongly today – we had to.
It was a game where there were very few chances, but it was very entertaining nonetheless.
The crowd got behind us and stayed with us, which was great – very encouraging.
Eventually, I thought we just about deserved to win the game.
It was probably even but we had a chance and [Nicklas] Bendtner took it and I’m delighted we got the win.
With the goal we got that little bit of luck that we needed.
Fraizer’s shot was blocked by the keeper and the post but Bendtner was there to put the ball in the net.
He still had work to do to get the goal but I’m delighted for both of them; they were great today.
We were without two very influential players, [Lee] Cattermole and [Stephane] Sessegnon, so we had to conjure something else up and all in all it was a terrific effort.
Defensively we were very strong and obviously we needed to be.
I think we carried on from where we left off last week with players really prepared to do battle for the club and it was very encouraging.
All the best,
Martin O’Neill
I haven’t lived in the UK for several years, but I can’t remember how many years had passed prior to departing that MOTD vanished from my viewing list. It’s a complete waste of time with a completely outdated format for watching and analysing games, and play. It’s no more or less biased than it ever was before, just that this such bias is even more apparent. It’s time that it was ditched completely, because the selection of highlights is subject to the most subjective criteria for selection. A few minutes of action is invariably edited to maintain the status quo.
MOTD? Switch it off!
MOTD is a programme I no longer waste my time watching. Smug presenters and format well past their sell-by date.
I’ll take ‘dull, poor game, short of entertainment’ and all of the criticism thrown at us every game. It was 3 points. Good enough for me. MON changing the shape of the team when Carroll came on shows he can change tactics mid-game and that’s something we haven’t seen from a manager in years.
If I was a Liverpool fan I’d be very worried. Who is going to break ranks and call for Dalglish to be sacked? Almost heresy but he’s doing a poor job.
Joan, I guess with 2 ex Liverpool players and an ex Newcastle player waiting in the wings, it was to expected.
Can I pass on a word of thanks to the BBC for their magnificent analysis of the game. Highlights- 7 minutes- Discussion about Liverpool- 2 minutes- Mention of Sunderland- one sentence.
Great to know that we are so highly regarded by our premium broadcaster. Thank goodness for local radio!
Yes, I’m sure somebody in the MOTD editing suite doesn’t like us
yes Shearer sorry Mary Poppins as he’s better known
Yes, and think the 7 minutes included the interviews with the two managers, pathetic!
I am old very old and a product of the sixties Fulwell End boot boys. In my dotage I remember going to Old Trafford and stuffing Manure, Sir Cecil Irwin god bless his cotton socks puts George Best into row Z in the first minute and the aforementioned Best never touched the ball again. Newcastle as at present managed to lose to Man city and make City champions.However I digress after being chased all over Manchester by irate Manure fans we ended up in Picadilly at a pub called the Band in the Wall, when MOTD came on that bastion of BBC wit and humour Kenneth Wolsenhome opened his comments with the immortal words we are here at Old Trafford and ‘Sunderland are only here to make the numbers up’. It never changes year after year only now we seem to have Sky, Setanta and ESPN on our backs.I must admit I never watch UK television I much prefer to watch Korean and Japanese television live over the internet and I must admit KBS the Korean equivalent of the BBC get quite carried away when we win or score its quite nice to know that somewhere in the world they actually like us.
Liverpool fan.
Entertaining!? Really!? Christ…
Fair do’s to you lot though, I can have no complaint with the result. The win probably had more to do with the fact that we were abject on the day and you seemed to want it more than any real quality.
I must say though, as a fan of a team that has hit the post more than 20 times already this season, it was particularly galling, to put it politely, to see you hitting the post and then miraculously scoring from it.
Hope the wheels fall off of your season though- you might overtake us at this rate!
Embarrasing you still beat us without Sessegnon in the side. Goes to show O’Neill has turned you into a side.
I’m not worried.
Honest.
YNWA
You’re not worried? You should be. I think Everton will be a much bigger test. Same result though.
I am getting sick and tired of hearing about BIG clubs Man City were a laughing stock four or five years ago until they found an oil well, Manure, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea are up to their eyes in debt trying to buy success and Arsenal suddenly become big again because they score a shed load of goals against the bottom team. If the BBC and Sky want to talk about a big club which I think most football fans will agree with then it is Everton and David Moyes incredible feats year after year always top ten with no money. I would much prefer Sunderland to aspire to be like Everton than any of the so called big clubs.
Man management is priceless, isn’t it? Just like last week we would never have seen the same endeavor and commitment from a Bruce team, even though it’s the same players. Well done Lads. In MON we trust.
Unspectacular, battling performance from a weakened side ,and which neutralised one of the big clubs completely. Magnificent to win and be so untroubled against a team like Liverpool. The players were an absolute credit to themselves today, and no mistake.