I Love Sunderland

Premier League side Sunderland have reinterated their intent on keeping Manchester United star Adnan Januzaj despite the interests in the player.

The Sunderland forward has been attracting strong interest from French giant Lyon even as the player was posted to Sunderland under strict conditions.

Januzaj is on a season-long loan to the Stadium of Light. So far, he has netted just one after 15 games but Lyon remain desperate for his signature. The youngster was a breakout star during David Moyes’ side at Old Trafford three years ago but he has just started showing what a great addition he could be with his creative flair.

Top news outlet L’Equipe report that the French side want the Belgium international this January either on a temporary or permanent deal.

The report claim that Lyon manager Gerard Houlier has even reached out to former United boss Louis van Gaal but the Dutchman is unlikely to celebrate a player who rarely played under him as he was shipped out on loan to Borussia Dortmund.

Januzaj is contractually bound o the club until the summer of next year so any move for him is likely to be futile but Lyon are keen on making a serious attempt, according to the report. Even his employers United cannot recall the player until the season-long loan ends or even sell or loan him to another player. For now, Sunderland owns the player until the player fulfils his obligations at the end of the season.

With the way the player has started Sunderland might eventually make the deal a permanent one at the end of the season, particularly with Old Trafford now more competitive for the player to get regular action that he would seek if he is to return.

The 2016-17 season of the Premier League kicked off on August 13 of 2016 but it wasn’t until November 5 when Sunderland was able to secure their first league victory as it took the team of David Moyes almost 3 months to do it.

The first league victory of Sunderland in this current Premier League season occurred when David Moyes and his squad travelled to the Goldsands Stadium and faced off with Bournemouth and Sunderland was able to come out on top with a 2-1 triumph.

It’s clear that David Moyes is struggling to collect a steady amount of points as most of the results of his team are either defeats or draws and this inconsistency is the main reasons of why Sunderland are in the bottom relegation zone and even though they recently secured their 1st victory of the season, David Moyes has told his players that they should not even celebrate as the mountain that lies ahead of them is huge.

David Moyes told his squad that there is no time to celebrate or get carried by just 1 win as the Scottish manager said:

“I’m very happy, it’s our first win of the season; we’ll not get carried away, we now need to go out and get number two. It’s our first win; let’s not get carried away, we’ve a lot of work to do to climb up the league.”

In the previous 2015-16 season of the Premier League, Sunderland was just barely able to avoid the relegation zone as they survived by having 2 more points than the relegated Newcastle United and in this recently started season, it appears like its going to be another frantic campaign with only a few points being the decisive factor in surviving in the Premier League or being relegated.

The former Three Lions manager lost his “dream job” after just 67 days in charge.

There are reports that he is moving to Spain to vacation after all the stress, but there are already calls in some quarters that he comes back to his former job as Sunderland’s manager. ‘Big Sam’ left his former job after he was appointed. Former England national team Coach Roy Hodgson resigned after the Euro 2016 poor campaign and Allardyce was selected, after series of interviews with others, as the coach. Allardyce signed a two year deal but barely stayed 67 days before the deal was terminated by “mutual consent.”

Sunderland are struggling at the bottom of the Premier League table with David Moyes clueless. Could Allardyce be reinstated as the saviour in a troubling season for Sunderland?

The odds are 10/1 – according to Sky Bet – but at least there is glimmer of hope. The terms of termination of the agreement with the 61-year old might mean he would not get the job anytime soon due to ethics breach. However, the former Sunderland manager refused to rule out a return to management any time soon in an interview with News sources.

Allardyce met a troubled Sunderland side last year but he managed them to relative safety before he accepted the England job in July. Ellis Short and chief executive of Sunderland Martin Bain remain steadfastly behind Moyes but with more losses, would their faith in him stand the test of time? Swansea could sack their current manager this week. If Francesco Guidolin leaves, Allardyce has a window to enter since he is experienced, and can save weaker teams. Slaven Bilic is also struggling at West Ham but there is low risk that he would lose his job, especially due to the injury crisis the club is in.

English Premier League club Sunderland are reportedly open to signing former Liverpool midfielder Joao Carlos Teixeira, reports say.

The 23-year old player moved to Portugal during the summer. He has found it difficult to break into the first team, hence the links back to England. The reports say the Portugal international is willing to take a loan deal that will bring him back to England.

Several clubs want the player during the January transfer window, and Sunderland is among those interested. Former Man United coach David Moyes – who now manages Sunderland – is under pressure as Sunderland are bottom of the table. He wants to add more players to the squad, and the midfielder is one of his targets. The Black Cats have endured a terrible start to the new campaign, but cannot afford to say “it’s just the beginning” anymore.

The reports say Porto are willing to allow Teixeira go on a loan deal, but it can only happen if they can get a replacement. Moyes added ten new players to the ranks when he took over Sunderland, yet the impact is yet to happen. After six games, the club can no longer bear the usual slow start to the season, especially as the Premier League moves these days.

Teixeira started his youth career at hometown club Braga before moving to Sporting Lisbon. He couldn’t break into the first team, and had to settle for an £830,000 move in January 2012 to Anfield. After his four-year spell on Merseyside, he moved to returned home. He spent time on loan at Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion before leaving the Reds. Since Head Coach Nuno Espirito does not have him in his plans, Teixeira would be pleased if the loan to Sunderland work out.

Former Manchester United youngster Adnan Januzaj scored the winner as David Moyes supervised his first victory since taking over the helms at Sunderland.

They played Shrewsbury in the second round of the EFL Cup, with their opponents giving them a tough time before breaking. The Black Cats revel in te win as it comes in the middle of an injury crisis at the club. The defence is the most hit of the departments in the squad.

In the 2-1 loss to Premier League entrant Middlesbrough, John O’Shea limped off, joining the expanding list of injured defenders like Jan Kirchhoff, Lee Cattermole, and Billy Jones. The game wasn’t as exciting but it ensures Moyes gets his first win and a ticket to the next round of the EFL Cup. Former South African international Steven Pienaar played the game, reuniting with his former Everton manager. Before the game, Moyes was concerned with the injury rate but he declared he was taking the EFL serious.

Januzaj, Asoro and Khazri were upfront, with Gooch behind Asoro, leaving Pienner in the middle. Rodwell, Pickford, Love, McNair, Djilobodji and captain of the game Patrick van Aanholt were also in action. Khazri got the first clear chance for Sunderland few minutes into the encounter, but blew it off. Januzaj was fouled by McGivern on the edge of the box, but the free kick from the former Red Devils youngster didn’t get past the wall. The first half ended goalless, despite Sunderland dominating possession.

The second half went underway without many changes until Januzaj scored the late winner. He was allowed to turn on the edge of the box then he sent a powerful shot into the right-hand corner. The rivals couldn’t get to equalize even after four minutes added on. The win means Sunderland will face Queen Park Rangers in the third round.

Adnan Januzaj is reported to have handed in a transfer request to leave the club this summer.

According to Daily Mail, the Red Devils winger, who is only 21 years, wants more from his career after making a big entry into the Premier League but not being able to continue. The player is a product of the Anderlecht youth academy, and he joined Red Devils at the age of 16.

Sunderland were on their way to a huge success over Manchester United when Januzaj was introduced back in 2013. He got into the game seamlessly and scored two goals to upturn the result. Despite the big introduction, he has struggled to keep up with similar performances. He played 18 games in the 2014/2015 season but was sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund last season. He couldn’t make his impact in the Bundesliga so the club sent him back to Old Trafford where he has remained moribund.

The transfer request isn’t strange considering how other young players like Marcus Rashford and others have come to establish at the club, with better prospects than his. Everton are reported to be keen on signing the player as they continue with the large scale changes to their squad of last season.

Even with Jose Mourinho now in charge, there is still a very slim chance of his getting first team football, hence the want to move out. After spending five years at Old Trafford the young player is ready to leave. Sunderland, AC Milan, Ajax, Paris St. Germain and others are reported to be interested in the young player. Ronald Koeman fancies the player and wants him to join in as they need a left winger. Lots of other United players have flourished at Goodison Park. Tim Howard, Louis Saha and Phil Neville are notable ones.

DeAndre Yedlin says that Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce should receive a lot of praise for the club staying in the Premier League.

The club have been involved in a relegation battle consistently for the last five years. Impressive is the fact that they have managed to avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth on each occasion. It was once again the case with the 2015-16 season. Along with the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa, Sunderland were seen as the poorest team in the English top division. However, they managed to get some good results towards the end of the season to achieve safety.

In the end, Norwich joined Newcastle and Aston Villa towards the Championship. Allardyce may have joined Sunderland at the start of the season, but he has received little praise for helping the club stay in the division.Yedlin has tried to bring the attention back towards the manager, who is looked down upon by many fans – especially opposition fans – for the perceived negativity in his football style.Yedlin is at Sunderland only on a temporary basis from Tottenham, but recent reports claim that the north-east outfit are preparing to make a permanent offer for him.

Yedlin feels settled at the north-east and would want to make the move permanent as well. “I have to give a lot of credit to Big Sam, the manager. I don’t know what it was, but he made something click in my head. Maybe it’s his defensive approach to playing. Every Thursday every defender would do strictly defensive drills, no attacking at all. And we hated it, because it’s not the most fun thing to do, but at the end of the day it helps. And you could see towards the end of the season, the last 11, 12 games, we became a lot stronger as a defensive unit,” said Yedlin.

Sam Allardyce has enhanced his reputation as a great manager after helping Sunderland avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth.

The former Bolton, Newcastle, and West Ham manager was appointed as the new boss of Sunderland with some scepticism from fans about the style of football. At his previous clubs, Allardyce was not known to play attractive football but he has always secured results for the club. He was responsible for getting clubs like West Ham out of trouble in crucial circumstances. Sunderland were clearly going for the tried and trusted option rather than the flamboyant.

Newcastle United, on the other hand, went in for the flamboyant Rafa Benitez, who has won the Champions League and has managed clubs like Real Madrid and Liverpool. However, he failed when it came to the relegation battle after the club were unable to get the results to keep them in the Premier league. Sunderland have had a habit of avoiding the drop at the last moment and they did it once again in the 2015-16 campaign. Allardyce has taken this opportunity to remind fans that his man management skills were key towards the club achieving safety. It remains to be seen if Allardyce’s quality will now be appreciated by supporters.

Allardyce, though, will not want to be involved in another year of relegation struggle.“I have managed them, man-management is the biggest part of the job today. It’s your guidance and determination, your belief, your desire to achieve certain goals and to set out those goals to the staff behind the scenes and then to players.It’s been a long road.If you manage your staff and your players, make tough decisions, you hope you earn the respect you have in the stadium. I try to make the atmosphere warm and inviting,” said Allardyce.

Sam Allardyce reckons because of his players being more experienced in dealing with the relegation scenarios, it gives them the advantage over the other teams who are in danger of getting out of Premiership.

As per Allardyce, the Black Cats have been on brink of demotion successively in last few seasons and it’s always this time of the season that they have picked themselves up and have achieved that one dominating result which has changed it around for them.

Allardyce reckons, this time around that changing result might be the three-nothing annihilation that they dished out to Norwich City playing them at their home on Saturday.

However, Alex Neil, the Canaries boss, sort of laughed off at that ‘more-experienced’ thing that Allardyce was talking about and said that a combination of good fortune and probably a bit of laziness by Norwich on occasions was what handed Sunderland the game and it was not the case of them being at their ominous best at all.

Talking about relegation, Crystal Palace is a bit too far ahead. So, they are not a relegation candidate unless the huge uncertainty of the sports takes over and they lose basically everything from here, all the games and remain at 39 points only where they are currently at. But, normally, their position, at the moment, almost marks them safe.

Norwich could have been able to approach safety as well if not for that result, which Neil might call misfortune or whatever, but, now, with that happening, that loss of 0-3, they are left leading to Sunderland by 1 point only and Newcastle by 2 points.

Both Norwich and Sunderland have got Gunners to play against next, the former at Emirates, while, the latter at home, but, whichever the venue might be, it would demand a hell of a lot of effort from the two teams to snatch something off the Londoners.

The international break is not something that managers seem to approve of and this is becoming evident as each season passes by and more coaches are revealing their disgust.

The main problem about the international break is that the players have to leave their clubs for a few weeks and practice as well as play friendly matches with their respective national football team. There is one huge dilemma that the players experience when playing with their national sides and it’s the fact that injury is something which seems to always affect them.

Arsene Wenger is another manager who has expressed his disgust to the international break as the Frenchman usually gets to see a few of his key figures sustaining an injury which is a huge blow for their league charge.

Sam Allardyce is now the latest coach that voiced his frustration to these events and the manager of Sunderland even labeled these friendly matches as: ‘’stupid and meaningless’’

The 61 year old manager of Sunderland, Sam Allardyce said: “We’ve got two home games coming up, although we’ve got two weeks to wait for it because of stupid friendlies and international games. You have to put up with that. We had to wait two weeks for the Newcastle game when we didn’t want to. And now we’ve got to wait another two weeks, with international players going away, when there’s a chance they’ll get injured.’’

“Part of the reason why we’re performing so well at the moment is we’ve kept most of the players fit since the turn of the year. We’ve got them fitter, performing better and the new players have made a difference. We’ve just got to do that last little bit to get more enjoyment out of playing well, and that’s by winning.”

Seb Larsson, John O’Shea, Jordan Pickford, DeAndreYedlin, LamineKone and Patrick van Aanholt are the 6 key figures of Sunderland that had to make their way to the international stage and represent their respective countries.