Sunderland captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lee-Cattermole-c21868 has revealed he is ready to begin next season, a full season under the new management of Martin O’Neill.
Under former boss Steve Bruce, Sunderland were struggling in the English Premier League, so much so that they found themselves at the bottom of the table, fighting relegation. Bruce was sacked following a string of poor results and Martin O’Neill was installed
in his place.
They played their last fixture of the season against Manchester United and despite a loss to the runners-up, managed to remain in the top flight. According to Cattermole, he was pleased with his side’s performance and was now looking forward to the new season.
The 24-year-old defensive midfielder admitted the season had been particularly tough for the Black Cats, but despite that he was looking forward to returning with a bang in July for pre-season training. He applauded the new manager for working hard to lead
the Black Cats to safety towards the end of the season.
Cattermole said in an interview:
“This season, we lost Steve Bruce, which was a shame, but it happens and we had to move on. We picked up quickly under Martin O'Neill and we have gone from strength to strength.”
Cattermole admitted the side could have ended up with a trophy if things had gone differently for them in the fixture against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Everton-c13019 in the Premier League and later in the FA Cup quarter final replay. Sunderland drew at Goodison Park in the league, but
lost out in the FA Cup.
He revealed:
“We got ourselves into such a good position and started looking at the FA Cup game and potentially getting to Wembley, but we lost that game.
Then we had a couple of games where we could have kicked on and looked at an eighth-placed finish - it was still on if we had beaten Fulham at the weekend.”
After their heroic survival in the Premier League this season, Sunderland can hope to do a lot better at the start of next season. Under Martin O’Neill the Black Cats will definitely be eyeing a much higher finish than this unfortunate but lucky season.
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