EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

In an exciting match with repercussions beyong the field Sunderland succeeding in beating Tottenham 2-1. The first half showed Tottenham’s David Bentley and Sudnerland’s El-Hadji Diouf take shots from 25 yards out. Bentley’s went wide; while Diouf’s shot was on target it was also headed wide by a defender for a corner. Tottenham’s Gareth Bale dove in the 26th minute while trying to win a penalty and was instead awarded a yellow. French Steed Malbranque fired off a powerful low shot only to have it hit Tottenham’s post in the 40th minute, it rebound and was then cleared but probably rattled Tottenham’s nerves. Bale had a great opportunity to head the ball in from a Bentley cross but instead hit the ball over the goal. In the 55th minute Ledley King was unable to clear the ball; Richardson beat Jermaine and took the shot and scored from 25 yards out. Woodgate had an excellent opportunity to score after a Bentley free kick but the ball went miserably wide. 73 minutes into the game Luka Modric dashed into Sunderlands box and took a hard shot. Gordon managed to deflect it but Jenas was there and tapped the ball in. Only 9 minutes later Daryl Murphy crossed the ball into Tottenham’s box; Cisse jumped in the air and headed the ball far post to score. Cisse scored the late game winning goal for Sunderland in the 87th minute after having come on as a substitute in the 65th minute. My silly friend Stuart actually thought that Cisse was 56 years old (he was fooled by the Cisse’s silver/gray hair color). Oh, if only 56 year olds could do what Cisse did in that game…

Berbatov was not playing for Tottenham, a result of a recent spat between him and Tottenham manager Ramos. He felt that Berbatov had a bad mentality and attitude which was reflecting negatively on the rest of the team. Berbatov put in a transfer request a week ago in hopes he could move to United. [Stuart may be seen and ridiculed below]

He may face punishment from club officials as Ramos described: “That is a decision the club has to make. That is a very interesting question you should ask the club. He didn’t play because he wasn’t in the right condition, this is what he told me before the game when I spoke to him. So he did not play. We’ll have to wait and see, tomorrow we’ll speak to the player and then we’ll make a decision. It’s a situation that is very personal, there are players able to play under these circumstances and others whose head is not right. Berbatov is in the latter category. We’ll have a meeting with the player and clarify a few points and see if there is a decision to be made. We’ll meet primarily to know if he is in any state to play in the next match or we have to find another solution. He hasn’t got any power, if he is no condition to play the game he in not going to play, that is the same as any other player.”

Roy Keane (Sunderland’s manager) never let the win go to his head or the rest of his team. “We won’t be dancing in the streets in Sunderland for beating Tottenham away from home, we’ll have a cup of tea and sandwich as normal. We fancy our chances and we’re happy with the progress we’re making. Players showed the other side to them. The character of the players is there for everyone to see. We have that and you can criticise in other areas but not character. When you’ve won the game you say Berbatov’s a talented boy but (Darren) Bent is also a good player.”

As for Cisse’s performance Keane said, “Someone told me he scored on his debut for Liverpool but I couldn’t care less what he did in the past. It’s a good start. Djibril only trained with us yesterday and he was always going to be on the bench, he gives us good options if things aren’t going our way.”