da fazobetai： Martin O’Neill enjoyed his first Tyne-Wear derby this weekend and said that in a perverse sort of way, he enjoyed the high intensity of a game that saw plenty of late tackles; two sending offs and a dramatic late equaliser that saw a share of the spoils. The Sunderland boss will have undoubtedly taken a point at the start of the game and build on the incredible point haul that O’Neill has brought to the Stadium of Light since he took over the reins of the football club.
da brwin： Martin O’Neill has turned the club around full circle and he is surprised as to how quickly he has been able to achieve it:
“Yes naturally I have been surprised by the results. I think that most managers going into a new job would probably look at the fixtures still left and start to count up points here and there they think they could accumulate. I did this but it’s really stupid because you lose a couple of points early on and you become disenchanted with the whole thing and you throw it into the fire.
“I think that the main concern for the football club was to try and stay in the Barclays Premier League, which is so important and our ultimate goal.”
One of the main reasons for Sunderland’s upturn in form has been the performance levels of James McClean on the wing – a player who he didn’t know much about prior to his arrival at the Stadium of Light:
“I didn’t know him at all, I met him during my first week. He had been substitute for a number of games without ever getting on the field of play, but I did see him play for our reserves against Manchester United during my first week at the club. The conditions were terribly windy and the pitch was not great but after a slow start in the game I thought he made a very decent contribution. I put him on against Blackburn in effectively my first game in charge of the team in the 75th minute when it looked like we had run out of ideas to break Blackburn down. He came on and gave us a boost, reignited us again, went past the full back put in a cross and suddenly we got another lift. Since making his full debut he has never looked back.”
One of Sunderland’s most impressive performances of late was their FA Cup win against Arsenal, which has taken the Mackems just 90mins away from a semi final place at Wembley. Martin O’Neill is a big fan of the competition, although he does believe that the trophy has lost a bit of its magic over the years:
“I think it has lost a bit of its sheen and that is probably because the Champions League has now become like the Holy Grail. The Barclays Premier League has become very important and back when I was growing up there was only one live game of football during the year and that was the FA Cup final, so everybody tuned into it. This year it is not going to be played on the final day of the season, there will be a league game to negotiate after the final. It’s a great competition nevertheless and I am hoping that it will regain not only its popularity but also its sheen in the coming years.”
For more insight from Martin O’Neill and other leading managers plus exclusive Barclays Premier League highlights go to www.yahoo.co.uk/sport
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