Poyet will hope for a quick turnaround

Gus Poyet needs a quick turnaround at Sunderland after being named as boss this morning.

The Black Cats are already six points adrift of safety with only one point from seven games so far this season. Yet that will soon seem insignificant if they can pull a couple of wins out of the bag.

After the international break Sunderland face Swansea City before hosting Newcastle United on Sunday 27 October. Poyet could make himself an instant hero by winning that match!

After the short-lived reign on Paolo Di Canio, I'm sure the Sunderland fans will want a long and stable relationship with Gus Poyet - but that will only happen if he achieves some success on the field. Given the start they have had, success will presumably be retaining their Premier League status.

An apparent player revolt spelt the end for Di Canio, so Poyet will hope he can get the trust of the players quickly. Poyet was sacked by Brighton for 'gross misconduct' after being suspended at the end of last season. Such troubles must be put behind him.

Sunderland showed some good signs against Manchester United on Sunday - although they ultimately lost 2-1, demonstrating that, despite their poor start, they are by no means a lost cause.

Sunderland fans will be hoping that the speedy action of getting rid of Di Canio will give their team plenty of time to turn their problems around.

Third round weekend delivers as expected

It proved to be an interesting FA Cup third round weekend (as it so often is), from Paolo Di Canio's Swindon Town knocking out Premier League Wigan Athletic to Thierry Henry making a dream comeback for Arsenal, scoring the winner against Leeds United.

The Manchester derby didn't disappoint as we had the return of Paul Scholes, a dubious sending-off of Vincent Kompany as United roared into a 3-0 lead, and a stirring effort to peg United back from City - yet the half-time pundits on both ITV and Sky would have had City "accept and settle for the 3-0 defeat so that it wouldn't get any worse"! A pathetic assessment, and one that would no doubt have had any City fans growling with anger.

Crawley Town pulled off a giant-killing, by dumping Bristol City out of the cup, and Macclesfield Town (2-2 with Bolton Wanderers) and MK Dons (1-1 with QPR) came close and get a second chance.

As for Henry - fair play to him, and will be interesting to see if he can deliver in the Premier League, but from a Leeds United's fan's perspective, the overwhelmingly biased coverage by ESPN on Monday night was little short of disgraceful.