http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/2838747.stm They're going down, but Mick would be a good change, methinks.
So what is the update with the whole... "Sunderland will score more goals without reyna, blah blah blah blah" ...that was going on earlier? Curious as to how the stats are playing out. Right now they average out to a 0.66 GPG average for the season. Didnt want to factor out the 12 games Reyna did play in. Who was it that started the whole "mark my words.." thread? Bueller?
kobra - there is an "Official Sunderland without Claudio" thread on USA Men. If you can't find it, I'll find a link. For some strange reason, BenReilly hasn't been updating it lately.
I think I read that if Sunderland is sent down, Reyna is out of there, but I don't know the validity of that statement.
too busy proving that McBride will never score in the EPL and that Nurnberg is better without Sanneh. (Tho I should talk. I said getting Flo couldn't hurt S'land. It sure as heck hasn't helped.)
It doesn't matter how many goals you score if your opponent still scores more. It may be better to look at where they were in the table when Reyna was playing and where they are now. If you go by just scoring than the Fridge is one of the greatest Running Backs in history because of touchdown to carry ratio.
19th when Reyna got injured (game against Bolton last October), 20th now. In other words they were crap then and they're crap now.
uggh Why did I click on the "This person is on your Ignore List. To view this post click [here] " link ? When Reyna got hurt they were 19th, yes, but also 2 points from 14th. Now 2 points still leaves them bottom table, and 14th is 16 points away. With Claudio they still had some hope...
Given that they had only played 10 games at that point in the season it's hardly surprising that the points differences were smaller. So, yes, they obviously had more hope statistically at that point in the season, but realistically? There was, after all, a very good reason why Peter Reid had already been kicked out by that point - they were crap, even with Reyna.
Comeon, M is right. It hurts me too to say that, but it really is obvious. If you saw Sunderland play with Reyna, it would definitely cinch the deal.
They were lousy at the start of the year, waiting in vain for Phillips return. But if you've seen them play since, they are even worse, even with Phillips back. They truly are. Not that Reyna would have kept them off the deck, but they are really, really hurting at the moment.
That is pretty funny. My favorite quote, "[Wilkinson] talked a lot." You hate to see that crap from managers nowadays...
What a strange situation for McCarthy to go into. He was probably one of if not the best coach at the WC, takes on a huge challenge in Sunderland with only 7 games left trying to get out of the religation zone, what happens if they go down? Does he stay? I'd imagine he'd have to contractually, so you go from being a WC Coach of a side that had a very good showing to a Division 1 coach? Hey I'm forgetting at the moment, how many teams are relegated? 2 or 3?
Wilko: boring More from "Soccernet": http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=260670&cc=5901 Claudio... try not to hold back so much...
3 teams go down, but they have 9 games left, not 7. Current Standings Team, Pts, GD Bolton, 26, -16 West Ham, 26, -21 West Brom, 21, -23 Sunderland, 19, -27 Sunderland's next two games are home v. Bolton and at West Ham. It is absolutely critical that they WIN both of them if they want to have any chance of staying up. If they do that, they have 25 points. West Ham's other game is at Everton (not likely to get points there) and Bolton's other game is home vs. Tottenham -- suppose they get a point. West Brom playing Chelsea and Birmingham is unlikely to get more than 2 points. Standings after 2 games Team, Pts, GD Bolton, 27, -18 West Ham, 26, -25 Sunderland, 25, -23 West Brom, 23, -23 So if the next two games play out anything like this, we could be in for an exciting time watching the relegation battle. For what it's worth, I think everyone above these 4 is pretty much out of danger -- particularly with the number of games remaining amongst these 4.
This is funny. Reyna is probably one of the few guys who you could accuse of "laying a boot" into someone by suggesting he was boring. And that is probably the worse thing you could get Reyna to say about anyone. Mick will probably crumble the first time Reyna suggests he doesn't talk enough or says "lads" too often. I like Reyna, but sometimes I do wish he wasn't so darn diplomatic. His sound bytes are as deliberate as his game.