Nottingham Forest maintained their 100 per cent start to the campaign with a

Nottingham Forest maintained their 100 per cent start to the campaign with a 1-0 win over Northampton – Forest manager Colin Calderwood’s former side – at Sixfields on Saturday. Substitutes not used: Ward (gk), N Collins.Plymouth Argyle (4-4-2): McCormick; Connolly, Doumbe, Aljofree, Hodges; Norris, Wotton, Summerfield (Buzsaky, 71), Capaldi; Ebanks-Blake (Chadwick, 71), Hayles. Substitutes not used: Sawyer, Reid, Djordic.Referee: R Olivier (West Midlands).Man of the match: Norris.Attendance: 24,377.Black CatastrophesNiall Quinn has seen his side lose their first three Championship games. It is an eerily similar start to the 2005-06 Premiership season, in which Sunderland were relegated.* 13 AUGUST 2005 Sunderland 1 Charlton 3* 20 AUGUST 2005 Liverpool 1 Sunderland 0* 23 AUGUST 2005 Sunderland 1 Man City 2* 27 AUGUST 2005 Wigan 1 Sunderland 0* 10 SEPTEMBER 2005 Chelsea 2 Sunderland 0* 17 SEPTEMBER 2005 Sunderland 1 West Brom 1* 25 SEPTEMBER 2005 Middlesbro 0 Sunderland 2.

To go on and press the self-destruct button in the last few minutes was very hard to take.”Goals: Murphy (1) 1-0; Norris (8) 1-1; D Hayles (39) 1-2; S Elliott (67) 2-2; Chadwick (82) 2-3.Sunderland (4-4-2): Alnwick; Delap, Cunningham, D Collins, Clarke (Wright, 20); Lawrence (Stead, 58), Whitehead, Leadbitter, Miller (Brown, 63); S Elliott, Murphy. “I need characters to burst through that, stick their chests out and be stronger mentally. A stunning individual effort from the midfielder David Norris levelled the scores and the centre-half Danny Collins turned Barry Hayles’ fierce drive into the goal six minutes before the interval.The Irishman Stephen Elliott’s 67th-minute header made it 2-2 but Plymouth’s substitute, Nick Chadwick, drilled a low shot beneath Sunderland’s goalkeeper, Ben Alnwick, eight minutes from time to seal all three points for the Pilgrims.”Heads went down and we became disjointed and you could smell that mistakes were in the air,” said Quinn. But it is in defence that Sunderland are deficient.After the striker Daryl Murphy had given the home side the lead within 26 seconds, it was Argyle who took a 2-1 advantage into the break. I know I’ve got to bring one or two players in.”Quinn hopes to hear from the new Aston Villa manager, Martin O’Neill, later today over the future of his main target, the forward Kevin Phillips.

I don’t want to be too critical but this is a serious situation The closure of the transfer window is looming. No wonder the chairman is becoming visibly restless.Niall Quinn, of course, will both escape censure and be denied the opportunity to vent his spleen. Such is life for the brave, some would say foolish, incumbent of an exacting dual role As manager, Quinn knows his job is safe. As chairman, the amiable Irishman accepts he must be seen to be the decisive and strong personality his predecessor, Mick McCarthy, rarely was.Hence “St Niall”, as he has been dubbed by a section of the Sunderland support who believe he will ultimately emerge as the club’s long-term saviour, is about to become Quinn the sinner. At least he is in the eyes of those players he has already assessed and subsequently deemed unsuitable for the challenges which lie ahead.”Only the tough will survive,” confirmed Quinn after a second home defeat in four days “Some of the players won’t make the cut Those who react positively will stay around. Sunderland, the Black Cats, may have left England’s top flight with their red and white tails tucked firmly between their legs, but promotion from the Championship was a pre-season prerequisite.
With a talented if thin squad at his disposal, the club’s rookie manager never expected to be down among the dead men, near the foot of the table, less than a fortnight into the new season. “But, at the end of the day, I have a terrific squad of players with great ability The boys have to accept the challenge We are ready and, hopefully, they can do the business.”.

With three defeats from his first three fixtures, Sunderland’s new manager could quite reasonably be expected to explain himself to the club’s chairman at what could be a heated meeting this morning. “He just needs games now, but a week’s full training with us will help him.”We are trying very hard to get another midfield player in,” Ferguson added. I think he could easily score 25 for us this season.”Provided Saha can stay healthy, few would disagree with Ferguson’s assessment and few would also dispute that United looked more effective when the Frenchman replaced Van Nistelrooy last season.Saha’s ability to hold the ball up also appeared to get more out of Rooney and, on the evidence of the 3-0 friendly win over Seville on Saturday, the former Fulham man can also strike up a productive link with Ronaldo.Both were on target against last season’s Uefa Cup winners and, rather than respond negatively to Ronaldo’s summer revelations of a desire to join Real Madrid, the home supporters united behind him on his first outing at Old Trafford since the World Cup.”Cristiano got a good reception,” Ferguson said. He only started playing in November last year and he still ended up with 15 goals. Alan Smith is a fortnight away from recovery after his double leg break at Liverpool in February, so Ferguson’s resources are already being stretched.However, Saha appears to be over the injuries which have plagued his time at Old Trafford.”Louis is a fantastic footballer,” Ferguson said “He has everything: great pace and two good feet He is good in the air and exceptionally powerful.

Instead, the Scot opted to keep Giuseppe Rossi rather than sending him out on loan and to rely on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs as striking back-up should injuries start to bite.
It seems the plan will get an immediate test as Wayne Rooney is struggling to overcome a groin injury in time to face Fulham next Sunday. Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped Louis Saha to step out of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s shadow and help Manchester United to success this season. Ferguson has surprised many United fans by letting Van Nistelrooy join Real Madrid and then failing to secure a replacement. Fernando Torres was widely assumed to be on his way to Old Trafford, but Ferguson balked at Atletico Madrid’s £27m asking price. “For us it’s another trophy which is good for the confidence,” he said.