Paolo’s Pow-Wow after Southampton debacle: ‘I needed more from my players’

Jake previews the last home game
Jake previews the last home game

So our Champions League final might as well have been an end-of-season jaunt. Southampton, clearly the better side without even being that good, will feel aggrieved at dropping two points. Sunderland survive for now but rely, in all rational probability, on Arsenal or Villa to maintain that survival. Paolo Di Canio knows the score as his post-match e-mail makes clear …

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Soapbox: outshooting the Gunners

soapbox

While most of the near 45,000 attendance at the Stadium of Light saw a match that Sunderland won, Radio 5 Live and MoTD  reported on a match that Arsenal lost.  Pete Sixsmith redresses the balance …

The highlights and the stats on Match of the Day did this superb game a disservice. The editing made it look a decent game with Sunderland winning with a well taken but slightly fortuitous goal. The stats suggested that Arsenal had most of the possession and more of the chances – which just goes to prove that there are lies, damn lies and statistics as Disraeli, Burke or Twain (Rochdale’s all conquering half back line of the early 50s) are alleged to have said.

This was no flukey 1-0 win à la 2000 when Arsène’s Arsenal battered us and Saint Niall nicked it at the end. It wasn’t down to a deflection off a piece of beach orientated play equipment. It was down to a hugely committed and thoughtful performance from 14 players who had spent the training sessions listening to Messrs Bruce and Black, then going out and putting into practice what they had learned.

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