Three months on from his first, dramatic match as Sunderland manager, Martin O’Neill confronts Blackburn Rovers again tonight, leading a very different team with realigned ambitions.
“I was genuinely fearful for our position back then,” O’Neill said yesterday. However, 26 points later, Sunderland are a club transformed.
It took an 84th-minute equaliser from David Vaughan and Sebastian Larsson’s stoppage-time free kick for O’Neill’s opening fixture to end in triumph, but momentum has seldom forsaken his side since. They are ninth in the Barclays Premier League and with an FA Cup quarter-final replay against Everton to savour.
Blackburn cannot say the same, but relegation is no longer being considered, even if O’Neill naturally preaches caution. “It’s a completely different outlook,” he said. “I’ll go in a lot less nervous than I did at the time, though I’ll still be nervous knowing me. It was such a big game for us.”
Having finished tenth last season, Sunderland have an opportunity to progress, remarkable given the sullen mood that O’Neill inherited. “It’s right that we should be starting to look up the table a wee bit now,” he said.
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For O’Neill — with a trip to Wembley and a semi-final against Liverpool beckoning for the winner of the Everton tie — the task is to juggle his resources effectively. The Ulsterman conceded changes are likely, with Sotiros Kyrgiakos, their loan signing from Wolfsburg, likely to make his debut at Ewood Park.
“The attitude of the players has been really decent,” O’Neill said. “Will I protect them? It’s a good point. In the past we’ve always gone as strong as we can — every point is vital — but we’ve got a couple of niggling injuries to contend with and, of course, you’re concerned with the games coming up.”
Blackburn Rovers (possible; 4-2-3-1): P Robinson — B Orr, S Dann, G Hanley, Martin Olsson — S N’Zonzi, M G Pedersen — D Hoilett, M Formica, Marcus Olsson — Yakubu Ayegbeni.
Sunderland (possible; 4-4-2): S Mignolet — P Bardsley, M Turner, S Kyrgiakos, W Bridge — S Larsson, C Gardner, J Colback, J McClean — F Campbell, N Bendtner.
Referee: M Atkinson.