Sunderland FC - Season 2014/15
Transfers In
Ruben Pardo from Real Sociedad for £3m.
Transfers Out
N/A
Season Summary
It wasn't until the beginning of January that
Sunderland opted to replace
Dick Advocaat after the Dutchman recorded just two wins all season leaving
The Black Cats at the foot of the table, eleven points from safety.
Our season started in the
FA Cup but lasted no more than the 90minutes it took
Everton to roast us 6-3 so our soul focus was now on the league.
Man United were the first up and a
Wayne Rooney hat-trick (2-3) ensured our valiant effort was for nothing but such matches were never going to be where we reclaimed the points.
Aston Villa followed
The Red Devils, Tim Sherwood's side being fellow strugglers who had dropped to 18th place due to Norwich winning their game in hand but we started off too slowly.
Gabby Agbonlahor and
Rudy Gestede both striking and
John O'Shea's red card made it all the more harder. (2-0). Oh dear.
The international break arrived at just the right time allowing me some valuable time on the training ground with those that remained at the club and by time the league action was back underway I felt much more positive that the tactical discussions were working.
West Ham were next up at the
Stadium of Light only this time the script read differently as newboy
Ruben Pardo, signed days earlier grabbed a brace with the winner coming three minutes from time to record the first win for
Sunderland in a long time.
A point against
Everton a few days later was a bit disappointing given the context of the match but points were points so we couldn't be too disheartened given how many we lacked.
Arsenal followed
The Toffees but we were firmly put in our place losing 5-3 at the Emirates. Theo's treble sandwiched inbetween two top strikes from
Ramsey and
Sanchez.
Defoe grabbed a brace to continue his own little scoring streak but we weren't ever in it.
After the game against
Arsenal we sat down and studied our next set of fixtures. This was the make or break stage of our season in my mind.
Crystal Palace, Swansea, Southampton, Bournemouth and
Watford were all earmarked as games we could get points from, I had hoped for at least ten to give us the slimmest of chances but that was being optimistic or so I thought.
Palace and
Swansea were both beaten 3-2, an underperforming
Southampton were dispatched 3-1 at the
Stadium of Light whilst
Bournemouth and
Watford showed their inexperience's and forfeited two points each, two late goals away to
The Cherries secured a 4-2 win whilst a sole
Jermaine Defoe strike was enough to see off
The Hornets.
We were brought down with an almighty thud following our five game mini run as
Manchester City cut through us like a hot knife in better, 7-2 being the final scoreline and it could have been much worse. Another international break again arriving at just the wrong time so we had to wait to make things right. We did though, a 3-1 win at home to
West Brom shockingly took us out of the relegation zone for the first time and although the 2-2 draw with
Newcastle that followed dampened the spirit a little, it returned ten fold the following week as we stuck seven past
Liverpool. The greatest/worst week of my career, I'm sure.
Victory over the red half of Merseyside lifted us up to 15th and two points from survival, defeat to
Spurs didn't change a thing and by time we'd faced
Norwich on matchday #36 we knew our status as a
Premier League club would remain intact. We celebrated with a 3-0 win, inevitably got beat by
Chelsea at
Stamford Bridge (3-0) before ending our great escape with a 4-0 victory at home to
Stoke.
League Table
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Top Goalscorers
- Jermaine Defoe - 18 in 37(1)
- Jeremain Lens - 11 in 30(6)
- Steven Fletcher - 7 in 9(15)
Top Assists
Highlight of the Season
You can't look past the dismantling of
Liverpool, unfortunately. When
Roberto Firmino opened up the scoring it would have been fair to suggest we were in for it.
Defoe's equaliser seemed to stun The Reds and
Jack Rodwell's strike right before half time completely swung the match. Second half
Liverpool weren't really in it and when
Skrtel brought down
van Aanholt to give away a penalty it just got worse.
Defoe took it and grabbed the match ball but his afternoon was far from done as he grabbed another two after
Jeremain Lens's long range effort.
Game of Shame
Manchester City 7-2 Sunderland
Inept from start to finish, no desire to get stuck in and hopefully the last time I ever suffer such a defeat.
League Table
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Next Season
Massive wholesale changes are expected to take place with the likes of
Wes Brown and
John O'Shea being offloaded due to their ages and those who didn't contribute throughout the season which will see the likes of
Emanuele Giaccherini and
Lee Cattermole take off.