There are not many days where waking up at 4 o’clock is a good thing, however this time I had Crystal Palace away to look forward too. You have to start with the standard away day breakfast - bacon sarnie and the first tin of the day! Is it slightly worrying that this was at 4:30am? The taxi arrived at 5:20am and off we went - picking up the other lads on the way heading straight to Newcastle Central Station. [More]

Let me start by pointing out that I at no point during this piece want to indicate central midfield is our only issue. Far from it, but the answer to Paolo Di Canio’s cry for a creative midfielder seems to have arrived as Ki Sung-Yeung joins us on loan from Swansea City. I’d be surprised if the need for a creative midfielder has been overlooked by any Sunderland fan, but let me underline the shortfall our current midfielders don’t seem capable of overcoming. [More]

Most pundits have tipped Sunderland for relegation this season but many fans initially laughed this off, suggesting that it was due to bias against the club or being ignorant about the potential of Paulo Di Canio turning the around with all his new signings. After the display at Selhurst Park, it must be wondered if some of the faithful are now having second opinions. The performance was appalling. [More]

Connor Wickham is not a teenager anymore, not by a long shot. The time for 'give the boy a chance, he's only young' is over. The excessive referencing to his stellar England under-21s scoring record must now be cast aside. It’s time to expect more. In this crucial, exciting yet unpredictable season for Sunderland AFC... [More]

Three games, that’s all – three games and I am already scratching my head wondering what on earth is going on. Nothing makes any sense to me at the moment and quite frankly I am starting to get a little bit scared. Can you get more contrasting performances? What on earth was happening on Tuesday? My mind hurts. Anyway, here we come again London. [More]

Sunderland’s recent performances in the League Cup are hardly a new phenomenon, the competition has been a thorn in the side for the club since its beginnings in the early 1960s as a way to exploit the new attraction of midweek floodlit games. A semi-final was reached in 1963, but this was when several top teams refused to play, seeing the competition as some still do as unwanted fixture congestion. [More]