Sunderland v West Ham

Sunderland will be hoping to get back to winning ways havig lost their last two league games , the danger of being sucked into a relegation battle is still a possibility so manager Martin O`Neill knows he still has work to do .."its tough ou there" .



West Ham had a new year win over Norwich and will want to push for a top ten finish as the season nears the half way stage , manager Sam Allardyce now has the services of former Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh on loan until the end of the season , and of course Joe Cole who makes his return to Upton Park from Liverpool .

Well, as a Celtic fan I've always liked O'Neill and I thought he would eventually turn it around for Sunderland. Bad day at the office for the Hammers, but they will not be relegated this season so it is a case of Sam developing his team and getting them established in the Prem.

Sunderland won this one 3-0 with goals to Larrson, Johnson, and Mcclean.

Any comments on this loss for the Hammers?

it was a walkover for Sunderland ...could have been a few more really .West Ham were awful .

awful? we were diabolical. an utter embarrassment.

second to every loose ball, no hunger and no creativity up top. Cole lumbered about with all the mobility of a three legged cow and, aside from the first goal which was a screamer, we gifted them extremely soft goals.

Diarra is either not cut out for this league or is still rusty after his lengthy lay off. i couldn't tell which so will give him the benefit of the doubt but I will be very happy to see Diame slot back in against Arsenal (i'm guessing he'll be left out against Man United).

we're still in the habit of throwing away points and undoing the good work of the first few months of the season so we'll need to up our game in these types of fixtures to give ourselves a bit of breathing space in the final 6 weeks of the season. the pressure it starting to mount, although we can take heart from the fact the teams down the bottom are incredibly shite - even though they are starting to pick points up here and there now.

dont know if you would agree ...but a mate at work said it was the worst he had seen West Ham play and he tries to go as often as he can ...

definitely not worst ever but worst this season, for sure. i didn't think the Swansea 'performance' could be topped but this managed it somehow.