Silly season

We're in the off season and fast approaching the opening of the transfer window. With the season seemingly starting earlier every year (8th August is the first round of Premier League fixtures this time) and ore-season tours to all parts of the globe, my view is that teams should get their business done early.

It's surprising to me how long it takes to pull a transfer together. If you take the point in time that a rumour first surfaces as the starting point, then we often see the process take over a month to come to fruition. Take my own club Sunderland and their reported pursuit if Carl Jenkinson. Reports linking us to a right back have gone in every Summer and January for years. This time, the interest in Jenkinson started about 3 weeks ago, according to reports. A loan fee of £1.5million has been widely reported, as has interest from West Ham and Southampton. Now the Saints bought a new right back yesterday so may nick longer be after Jenkinson. From my understanding of business, the situation from the outside looks like the player has a choice of clubs, probably dependent on speaking to the managers and then a medical and a deal can be done. But these things tend to drag out for weeks.

Deadline day seems to be the only thing that concentrates the minds of all the respective parties to get the deal done.

The rumours this season, as always, rest around the players from clubs just outside of the top teams who had a great season last year. Nathaniel Clyne is highly sought after, and Southampton's new right back sends hints that he's about to leave. Liverpool are reported to be front of the queue, but Manchester United could do with a quality right back.

The Danny Ings saga has finished with Liverpool beating off reported competition from Real Sociedad, Bayern Munich and a host of English clubs.

Charlie Austin is another English goalscorer who will be in demand all over the Premier League. Newcastle and West Ham needs goals and would ha e the resources for the transfer fee and his wages.

We shall see.

Champions League Final tonight

It's the Champions League Final tonight and I think that football needs a real boost after the recent (and ongoing) FIFA scandals. I'd love to think that the two teams could think about the image of the game but with the likes of Luis Suarez on the pitch I'm not so sure…

It's not the final I would have chosen at the start of the season but by beating Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the semi-finals, these teams have really earned their place in this final.

Juventus do play in a traditionally Italian way, and have great defensive qualities. They attack sporadically in the Champions League but have real quality when they do. Carlos Tevez seems timeless, Arturo Vidal has great drive and Paul Pogba is being courted by the biggest clubs in the game.

I'd love to see a Juve win as I want to see variety, but I can't see past this Barcelona team as the champions.

The grief that Barcelona have gone to bringing in Neymar and Suarez has paid off. The front three are frighteningly good (with Neymar being clearly the weaker of the three) and attack with real pace, especially at the breakdown. It's what Pep Guardiola calls the transition and being able to attack the opposition before they have set up their formation makes a huge difference to your ability to score goals. As a former central defender I think that modern standards of defending are a long way down from my youth across the game and even with the big teams - particularly in Spain. But with an attack like this, Barcelona don't need to worry about their defence as much.

I think it will be one-sided and I also think that Barça will go all out for an early goal to force Juventus in to the front foot. This will be Juve's downfall.

Big Dick Advocaat is back - where does it leave us?

The slightly surprising news yesterday that Dick Advocaat has returned as Sunderland manager caught the bookies on the hop and has earned Mrs Advocaat a nice bunch of flowers, by all accounts. It's nice to have a quality manager that knows his football, has the backing of the players, understands the club (already) and has a great rapport with the fans. But it doesn't answer the questions around the playing staff of the club. We still need an overhaul, but the stories that went with Advocaat's departure (of him telling Ellis Short that we needed to buy quality rather than quantity) and the stories that went with his return (of him being promised £50m for players) are promising signs.

Personally, I hope that the gap between him leaving and re-signing was because of negotiations over the transfer policy rather than misgivings from his wife. I suppose we'll never know.

I've already looked at what I think should be potential transfer targets in a previous blog-

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The exception to the players I had identified would probably be Keiran Trippier. I stated that I thought he should be looked at as a new right-back based in the link to Sean Dyche, who was the favourite to take over as manager at the time. Rumours have linked us with Sam Byram from Leeds as a potential new right-back and, although I haven't seen him play, he is highly regarded.

There should now be a renewed feeling of optimism at the Stadium of Light and with the right signings (over to you, Lee Congerton) we can look forward to moving away from a relegation battle next season - but I think that at the same time every year.

The fact that Advocaat has signed a one-year deal means that we have to start work on his replacement straight away. Bringing in a Kevin Phillips now as his number 2, or promoting Paul Bracewell at the end of the season are better options than going into this blindly and looking for a new manager next June rather than this. I hope that the club sees sense in this and takes steps right now to ensure continuity at the end of the upcoming season.

Who will go down? Hull City or Newcastle United?

Its the last day of the Premier League tomorrow and with most things sorted out near the top of the table, the focus turns to relegation.

It's two down, and one of the remaining two to go. So who will it be? Is your money in Hull City to stay up by beating Man Utd at home? Or do you think that Newcastle United can match Hull's result and stay up?

Current form would suggest that both teams lose, which would be good enough for Newcastle.

With last week's home draw with Arsenal, Manchester United will finish fourth, so they don't have a great deal to play for. I think that Fellaini's mid-season form has tailed off and LVG's reliance on Falcao and Van Persie up front leaves a forward line without pace. I've got a feeling that Hull will make a game of this, defend as if their lives depended in it and may sneak a win from a set-piece goal.

I'm not really that sure about the commitment of Sam Allardyce or a West Ham at the moment. Reports suggest that Big Sam will be out of a job by Monday and that some if the first team haven't trained this week. I think that after a rough time by Newcastle's fans and owner when he was on charge, it would please Sam to put one over the Toon and help out his mate Steve Bruce in the process.

I'm going for a Newcastle win here, because I think that West Ham have given up this season and injuries have left then with a threadbare defence.

If the scenarios above play out as I've predicted then it will be Hull City back in the Championship and Newcastle United to survive and start the rebuilding that sorely needs to happen.

My hopes for Sunderland's team next season

Assuming that we keep the same formation that we've played for the last two seasons (4-5-1 when defending, 4-3-3 when attacking) then this is the team I'd like to see us put together for the start of next season-

Pantillimon

NEW Right Back

Van Aanholt

NEW Centre Back

NEW Centre Back

Cattermole

Larsson

Rodwell

Defoe

Giaccherini or Adam Johnson

NEW Attacking Left Midfielder

In terms of the changes, some are players I don't see as having a future with the club and others are players that I only see as back up to the first team. For instance - Billy Jones and Steven Fletcher fit into the second category, Wes Brown and Connor Whickham fit into the first.

There is still the fact that the club haven't found a manager yet, but I believe that Lee Congerton should be looking at sounding out targets and getting the obvious gaps in out squad filled. Dick Advocaat reported to Congerton, Byrne and Short that the squad needs quality first team players, and I'd look at the following solutions-

Steven Caulker from QPR as a ball-winning centre half. He's a threat from attacking corners and has more pace than O'Shea or Brown.

Sebastian Coates from Liverpool as his central defensive partner. I think we saw enough from Coates during the run in to think that he can do a respectable job for us, on the basis that the transfer fee and wage demands aren't too high.

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Johnny Evans who has been told he's surplus to requirements at Man Utd. He's got form for Sunderland and would complement a Caulker-type centre back well.

Leroy Fer from QPR was one of the very few bright spots in their season and I think he's a quality player with Premier League experience at two clubs (although with 2 relegations under his belt.) He could play in one of the wide roles or in central midfield and scores a few as well.

Kieran Trippier looked solid defensively and reasonable going forward for Burnley last season. If the bookies are correct and Sean Dyche becomes manager then maybe he could persuade Trippier to come to us. I think he's better than Billy Jones, although Jones did end the season well and I'd keep him in the squad.

I've made the attacking right midfielder role in my team as shared between Giaccherini and Adam Johnson as I think Johnson may miss some of the season and Giaccherini's injury record is atrocious.

Any additions to this wish list would be in a loan basis from one of the big clubs. I'd live to take Patrick Bamford from Chelsea, Danny Wellbeck from Arsenal and either Adnan Januzaj or James Wilson from Manchester United. 

Sunderland v Southampton

I went to the match in Saturday, and I thought us wait a few days for the relative euphoria to die down before giving an honest assessment of how I thought it went and what I think it means for the rest of the season.

The build up

I wasn't going to go. I'd looked at the idea earlier in the week and decided against it. Then in Friday night I started to think that perhaps I wouldn't have many opportunities to see us in the Premier League for a while and perhaps I should go. I looked on Stub Hub and there was a ticket for a good seat - 15 rows back, half way line opposite the dugouts - for only £13. I'll have it. Still slept in it and waited until Saturday morning to buy.

There were problems on the Metro so it seemed to take forever to get there, but there was a positive atmosphere in and around the stadium. Collected my ticket, bought a programme, had a wee, got a cup of tea and now I'm ready for the contest to begin.

Danny Graham is starting, Coated preferred to Vergini and Johnson back on the bench.

The match

Overall I think we were second best. I've watched us too many times this season where we stand off the opposition and give them time to pick a pass in our own half. The best defensive display I've seen this season is where we got into the faces of Chelsea - one of only two teams this season so far to have kept a clean sheet against them. I know it takes a lot of effort and concentration to produce a display like that week after week. And we probably need a bigger and deeper squad than we have to produce it. It worried me on Saturday 11 v 11 and even worried me after the sending off. It's all well and good having a set, structured "two lines of four" to prepare for the oncoming attack, but unless there is some pressure on the ball, this tactic will fail.

The effort levels looked much better than in previous games this season - and better than our rivals in black and white up the road.

Seb Larsson showed he's a class act and seems to care about the club. His effort and enthusiasm is contagious and he always seems to get the best out of his midfield colleagues. Danny Graham ran his heart out for the cause and was rewarded with a whack in the face, the penalty award and man of the match. The enigma that is Connor Whickham continues. If it wasn't for a fan about 10 rows to the right of me keeping him in check, he probably wouldn't have tracked Nathaniel Clyne back as much as he should. He can run with the ball and beat men regularly but when he gets to the edge of the box and needs to make a decision he falters.

The run-in

The question is "can we stay up?"

I think that the answer is "no." But I'm not worried. There seems to be a core of players at the club that don't care about the club and are only in it for the money. Relegation will, hopefully, clear these out of the club and we can start afresh, a little like the way Southampton have done.

My thoughts on voting for PFA team of the year

It's voting time for the Premier League, as the players decide in their team if the year, player of the year and young player of the year. Here's my votes-

Goalkeeper - David De Gea

Has rescued Man Utd on many occasions this season and is largely responsible for what now looks like a return to the Champions League.

Right back - Branislav Ivanovic

He defends exceptionally well, is one of the teams leaders and scores some vital goals. He has been at the top of his game for year after year.

Left back - Aaron Cresswell

The top clubs haven't had enough consistency at left back through rotation or injury. I've gone for Cresswell over Ryan Bertrand because he feels like a better defender and better fit for his team. Is reportedly being eyed up by bigger clubs, and this shows he's has a great season.

Centre back - John Terry

As much as I dislike this guy, he's had another great season. Fits well with Mourinho and leads in the manner required by his boss. Played every game so far and scored a few goals as well.

Centre back - Laurent Koscielny

Played well through the season and really, really well since the turn if the year. Wenger adding a defensive midfielder has left Arsenal's back four looking as good as any in the league.

Right midfielder -Alexis Sanchez

As the PFA sets out the team in a traditional 4-4-2 formation, I've gone for Sanchez. His form at the start if the season was electric and he has inspired them to 7 wins in the bounce recently.

Centre midfielder - Jordan Henderson

He has stepped into Steven Gerrard's role as leader with aplomb. His energy and passing make him a top player for club and country.

Centre midfielder - Cesc Fabregas

There has been criticism of his form in the second half of the season, but his influence in the game, chances created and assists show that he's a top talent, and the driving creative force for Chelsea alongside my next choice-

Left midfielder - Eden Hazard

This player will show himself to be at the top table of world football as time goes on. He takes players on for fun and lifts the whe team and the fans. Scores many winning goals, so steps up when he's needed most. My selection for player of the year.

Striker - Harry Kane

One season wonder? Who cares? This season has been magnificent for Kane - goals galore, England debut, first England goal and surely the young player of the year winner.

Striker - Diego Costa

Another off the Mourinho-annoying-player production line. Works his opponents all game so they have to concentrate for every second. He went on a great scoring run at the start of the season and injuries have hampered the second half if the season but a constant danger.