Sunderland

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Michael Beale has spoken to BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes after Sunderland's 2-0 win against Preston North End.

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Sunderland are now unbeaten in three games after Michael Beale's side won against Preston North End at the Stadium of Light.

Nazariy Rusyn got his first senior goal for the Black Cats after a stunning strike for Alex Pritchard.

Give us your thoughts on the performance and the result here.

• Sunderland have won just one of their last eight league games against Preston (D2 L5), a 3-0 away win in May 2023.

• Preston North End are looking to secure a league double over Sunderland for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign.

• This is the seventh time Sunderland and Preston have met on New Year’s Day, meeting five times between 1894 and 1914 (four Sunderland wins, one draw) and most recently in 2005, a 3-2 win for Preston under Billy Davies.

• Sunderland have won just one of their last six league games on New Year’s Day (D2 L3), a 1-0 win at Blackpool in 2019. This is their first on home soil since 2018 when they lost 1-0 to Barnsley.

• Preston have lost their last three league matches on New Year’s Day, with this their first since 2020 when they were beaten 2-0 by Middlesbrough.

New Year, same iconic commentary notebook from BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes.

The Black Cats host Preston North End at the Stadium of Light for the first Championship game of 2024.

You can listen to commentary from Nick alongside former Black Cats captain Gary Bennett on FM, DAB and Freeview via BBC Radio Newcastle.

With the transfer window about to open again, we want to know what business you think Sunderland need to do.

Who should they buy? Who should they sell? And who should they keep?

Have your say here.

We asked for your views on Sunderland's 1-1 draw with Rotherham.

Here are some of your comments:

Claire: Absolutely awful. We look lost, certainly not like a top 6 team. Pritchard changed the game today. Ba shouldn't be anywhere near the team but overall very poor performance. Basically Clarke vs Rotherham.

Linda: Much better team when Pritchard came on. Had some pace and attempts on goal. Very very slow and boring first 60 odd minutes.

Jonny: They need to go back to basics in the training arena. The standard of passing and movement is very poor and frequent. It's costing points and I don't believe sacking Mowbray was the right decision.

David: Not a great result playing against the bottom of the league and if we sell Clarke in January what are we going to do for goals?

Gary: Play Rusyn, when teams push up on us, knock the ball over the top a few times for him. No can't do that, got to try and pass it through them. Long ball, sacrilege. Think we're Barca, ha, ha, ha. We ain't, we need to mix it up. Be a team that is difficult to work out.

Richard: Getting quite bored of watching us at the moment. It's all well and good saying we don't have the players but we should be playing with more attacking flair, and intent. And that's on the coaches. However some players aren't good enough. We aren't a finishing school for players to see if they are good enough. Director needs to hold his hands up.

John: Second best to the bottom side in the league. From play off contenders under Mowbray to relegation candidates under Beale. The Chairman, Speakman & Beale should be gone by Hogmanay!

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BBC Radio Newcastle commentary duo Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett praised Michael Beale for the changes he made to get a "hard earned point" against Rotherham.

Barnesy: “It’s finished 1-1. Quite a grand stand finish but nobody could eek out the winner. In the end the changes that were made by Michael Beale did turn it, and it turned a tide in the favour of Sunderland but they couldn’t find a winner.”

Benno: “They did indeed. They couldn’t find a winner. Again, Jack Clarke - excellent. Just kept going and going and going but good on Michael Beale, he’s thrown on Burstow because we needed something different to change the game.

"I think that’s something which he’ll work on in his time here, in training but we up the tempo especially when we were a goal down. Jack Clarke again. Yeah, there was a deflection. It was a great strike.

"You can’t take anything away from Rotherham, the goal that they scored - fantastic volley. "

Barnesy: "So, applause all round for the players, the supporters and for each other. They know they’ve been in a battle tonight. Rotherham, to give them credit, they set up their stall. They stuck to it. They took the lead and Sunderland did have to try and find something different to break them down."

Benno: "They played to their strength didn’t they? Rotherham. And their strengths is, get the ball forward as quickly as possible. If you can’t win the first one, pick the second ball up and they did cause us problems especially from set pieces."

Barnesy: "So, a point. A hard earned point is not a disgrace bearing in mind who have come here before. The likes of Ipswich and Leeds. They couldn’t beat Rotherham at home either. We always knew it would be difficult, and so it proved."

Benno: "Yeah, and look Rotherham are fighting for their lives. Every game. Especially here. This is what they’re going to be doing. Playing the ball forward as quickly as possible. Trying to pick the pieces up. Trying to get their noses in front and then holding on."

The pair later continued to give credit to the substitutions made in the second half.

Benno: “The introduction of Pritchard gave us that little bit more, didn’t it? When Pritchard came on."

Barnesy: “Just, the changes. Pembele coming on. Pritchard coming on. Burstow going up front - having a target man. Just started to make Rotherham have to think about what they were doing."

Benno: “It gave us more options, didn’t it? Really."

Barnesy: “And in the end, it proved worthwhile. Jack Clarke with his twelfth of the season. A corner that was cleared out to him. He volleyed it back in. It took a deflection over the goalkeeper and that has given Sunderland a valuable point here at the New York stadium.”

Give us your thoughts on the performance and the result here.

A Jack Clarke equaliser rescued a point for Michael Beale's side as Sunderland drew 1-1 with Rotherham United.

The result means the Black Cats are now out of the Championship play-off positions.

Give us your thoughts on the performance and the result here.

• Rotherham United have won their last two home league games against Sunderland, scoring seven goals and conceding two in these two wins.

• Sunderland are looking to complete a league double over Rotherham for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign.

• Rotherham United have lost their final league match in each of the last three calendar years since a 4-0 win over Peterborough United in 2019.

• Sunderland haven’t lost their final league game in any of the last six calendar years (W4 D2) since losing 4-1 to Burnley in 2016 in the Premier League.

• Jobe Bellingham netted twice against Rotherham United in Sunderland’s 2-1 win in August – the last Black Cats player to score home and away against the Millers in a season was Dean Whitehead in 2004-05.

BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes is ready and raring to go for the Black Cats' last game of 2023.

Michael Beale's side travel to Rotherham and Barnesy's has as ever delivered one of his beloved, colourful commentary notes for the Championship clash.

You can listen to commentary from Nick alongside former Black Cats captain Gary Bennett on FM, DAB and Freeview via BBC Radio Newcastle.

SAFC Heaven Branch co-founder Joanne Youngson joined Colin White and Nick Barnes on the latest episode of the Total Sport Sunderland AFC Podcast.

One of the things Joanne discussed was how she has worked with the Stadium of Light groundsman to be able to help fans be buried with grass from Sunderland's pitch.

Listen to the Total Sport Sunderland AFC Podcast here.

Former Sunderland striker Michael Bridges is backing Michael Beale to be a success at the Stadium of Light.

Talking about fans' underwhelmed reaction to the new head coach, Bridges said: "He’s got to embrace it."

"If he came in and just thought and didn’t mention it whatsoever you realise that he hasn’t done his research. He hasn’t listened to what’s gone on. He hasn’t made phone calls. He’s hasn’t spoke to people in the region to find out what has gone on so he’s acknowledged it and I think that’s going to be his biggest challenge.

"There’s no easier way to win the fans over than getting results. When you get beat 3-0 at Coventry, all the pitchforks and the daggers come out and you put it right with a result against Hull City."

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As a guest pundit on BBC Radio Newcastle's football phone-in Total Sport, Bridges revealed he's been a follower of Beale's through his own coaching journey:

"He speaks very, very well. I’ve been a follower of Beale. I’ve gone through the coaching diplomas from C all the way to the pro diploma I got in Australia.

"I’ve been a follower of Beale online because he’s happy to share his coaching manuals and show how you do presentations and things like that.

"He’s very, very confident in himself and there’s not a lot of coaches do that. A lot of people feel insecure. They don’t trust the people that are taking it. He’s happy to share his. So, that shows he’s an open coach.

"He’s always willing to learn. He listens to advice. So, that ticks the boxes for me.

"However, what he has got to do is, he’s got to win the players over that were with Mowbray and results do that. As they do when you’re in the meeting rooms and things like that. And obviously the fans, that comes with results as well.

"He knows he’s got a big task at hand and I think he’s up for the challenge.

"I really, really do because he’s not only got to win the fans over of Sunderland football club, of this football club, he’s also got to prove the others wrong when he got sacked from Rangers and the way that he left QPR."

You can listen to more of Bridges' thoughts on Sunderland here.

BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes has spoken about Niall Huggins' injury, the news he needs knee surgery and what the defender is like off the pitch.

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Sunderland defender Trai Hume has been voted Northern Ireland's Senior Men's Player of the Year.

The tough tackling full-back has impressed for club and country in 2023 proving an integral part of both teams.

How highly do you rate Hume? Let us know your thoughts here.

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Former Sunderland striker Michael Bridges has once again told the story of how he gave a reference for Ange Postecoglou to become Black Cats manager.

Now earning plaudits for his entertaining playing style at Tottenham, Postecoglou was a relative unknown quantity on the side of this world in 2017.

In Australia and Asia however, Ange was building a reputation as Bridges explained on BBC Radio Newcastle: "I worked in Australia for 13 years and I’d been over there.

"I knew Ange Postecoglou from the A League how successful he’d been with several different clubs and then the national team manager. He actually got a J League job with the Yokohama Marinos.

"So, I got a phone call from Sunderland football club and it was Martin Bain asking for a reference on Ange Postecoglou and I said to Martin if you want someone to come in and make tough decisions, I’m giving him the best kudos that I can.

"You know, the reference is fantastic. Get him into Sunderland Football Club and Sunderland will go places.

"Unfortunately it didn’t materialise. It wasn't until obviously we saw the Netflix documentary that we knew that obviously Coleman had been given the job.

"Now, Coleman was a big name at the time so I was quite happy that the name had been announced but I was really devastated that Ange hadn’t been even given the interview after Martin had been given such a good reference.

"The rest is history. He’s gone on to prove his worth and his pedigree and unfortunately he’s one that slipped the net."

You can hear more from Michael Bridges here.

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Trai Hume has spoken to BBC Radio Newcastle's Sunderland commentator Nick Barnes after the Boxing Day win against Hull City.

The defender discussed the Black Cats' performance, bouncing back from defeat against Coventry and looked ahead to the trip to Rotherham.

Listen to the full interview here.