Johnson the catalyst as Poyet on rise
OFFICIALLy, for fear of the legal repercussions, Gus Poyet and his Sunderland players will never utter the name Paolo di Canio publically again.
But if there was one aspect of his predecessor’s ramblings at the weekend which must have got under the skin of Poyet — and the squad he inherited from the Italian — it was the accusation that Sunderland have made no improvement since his departure in September.
They were in the bottom three when he left and they were still in the bottom three until last night.
Sunderland may have reached the Capital One Cup final, but maybe Di Canio had a point about a side who had won only two points in their previous five home games.
Last night, they went some way to silencing their former manager with a win which lifts them out of the relegaton zone for the first time since August.
Although it was narrow, nervy and against 10 men, Poyet will not be complaining as he regards the league table today. Poyet was too ill to face the press after the game. But his assistant Charlie Oatway said: ‘It is fantastic. It has been a long time coming and it is a nice feeling to do it. It is such an achievement and it will be nice to see some smiling faces. I don’t know how long for, though, because of the games coming up.’
England winger Adam Johnson, whose sudden and longawaited return to form has played a major role in Sunderland’s recent resurgence, scrambled the ball over the line in the 17th minute for the winner.
It came after an elementary and uncharacteristic slip from the Stoke goalkeeper.
Winger Johnson, who was being touted around the Barclays Premier League a month ago, capitalised on a rare error from Asmir Begovic.
The Bosnian keeper could have been unsighted when Fabio Borini shot through a sea of bodies after his neat footwork at the edge of the area created space. But the Stoke keeper spilled Borini’s effort and Johnson was quicker than Erik Pieters to react. He simply tapped the ball around Begovic with his first touch and then, as he fell to ground, poked it over the line.
Begovic did save efforts from Jack Colback, Seb Larsson and most notably Jozy Altidore, while Phil Bardsley and Larsson supplied two of 16 Sunderland shots which flew wide.
At the other end, Vito Mannone made three vital saves to deny Stoke.
They were harshly reduced to 10 men eight minutes into the second half when Steven Nzonzi was sent off for a second bookable offence. It killed any hope of a Stoke comeback. Mark Hughes was unhappy with referee Robert Madley, who believed Altidore’s tumble under Nzonzi’s challenge was genuine.
The Stoke boss said: ‘It was an unbelievable decision.
‘It was difficult for him because the lad went down easily but the referee has to see it and he has not been very good in that regard.
‘We are disappointed that a performance of real desire, character and skill has no reward but we have been hurt by too many refereeing decisions which have affected the outcome of games. The best team didn’t win.’
Nzonzi was booked initially for a first-half trip on Altidore — then appeared to make the slightest touch to his arm as the pair raced on to a through-ball after half time.
He may be built like a wrestler, but it was enough to force the American to ground.
Nzonzi certainly made the point that he felt the Sunderland striker had dived as Madley fished out his second yellow card, swiftly followed by a red.
Mannone denied Peter Crouch and Ryan Shawcross with superb reflex saves and prevented Peter Odemwingie from scoring on his Stoke debut.
Charlie Adam wasted a free kick in a very good position and Shawcross also hit the crossbar with a looping header.
Poyet made nine changes for this game but it was the absence of Lee Cattermole which raised eyebrows after he was linked with a move to Stoke last week. Oatway insisted Cattermole had a calf injury.
‘He has been training with it, it flared up and it is a long season so it wasn’t worth the risk,’ he said.