Sunderland ready to push up table

It has been all change at the Stadium of Light this summer and not the first time in recent years the team has had a makeover.

Sunderland fans have become accustomed to periods of upheaval that started when Roy Keane took charge.

That tradition has been continued by Steve Bruce who has seen nearly 60 players join the club since 2006.

But whereas Keane was building a squad fit for a purpose (promotion and, latterly, Premier League survival), Bruce now appears to be building a balanced, settled squad that can be built upon, rather than rebuilt next summer.

Ellis Short hasn't handed out cash readily in 2011, Bruce has had to earn it.

Indeed it's a new age of relative prudence at the Stadium of Light - reducing the wage bill and profiting from player sales all in the name of balancing the books is the priority.

Expect players such as Nyron Nosworthy, Matthew Killgallon and George McCartney to move on. Marcos Angeleri has done little to get into Bruce's good books and may also find himself leaving.

The sale of Darren Bent in January caused upset among fans but the money raised from the sale - and Bent's salary being taken off the wage bill - has allowed Bruce to move quickly and decisively in the transfer market.

Jordan Henderson soon followed Bent out of Wearside as he headed to Anfield in a sale which made the club a huge profit on a player who came up from the youth team.

Henderson's exit led to people questioning the vision and ambition of the club - selling two prized assets leaving behind a rather thin squad, they said, didn't seem like the actions of a club wanting to grow.

Bruce was quick to rectify that.

His first move was to make Ahmed Elmohammedy's loan deal permanent while Kieran Westwood was signed in a move that seemingly pushes Craig Gordon, who has one year left on his contract, towards the exit.

Craig Gardner signed for £6 million with Sebastian Larsson and David Vaughan both joining on free transfers.

All rather solid signings so far, but the real star attractions were still to come.

Sunderland beat Liverpool to the signing of starlet Connor Wickham from Ipswich, who joins South Korean Dong-Won Ji in the new-look attack and at the back, John O'Shea and Wes Brown were persuaded to swap Manchester for Wearside.

Along with the influx of new signings, the emergence of academy talent has caused excitement in the club.

Jack Colback impressed in midfield towards the end of last season, while centre-back Louis Laing has caught the eye during the team's pre-season tour of Germany.

Sunderland had one of the youngest squads in the Premier League last season, and they've now added experience.

A nice blend of flair and steel should see them improve on last season's 10th place finish.

Avoiding the perennial disastrous mid-season losing streak will also be high on their wish list.

Prediction: Seventh - this team should be good enough to better recent finishes of 13th and 10th, with added steel to their spine in Gardner, Vaughan, Brown and O'Shea, a finish of seventh should be achievable.

Key man: Stephane Sessegnon. Linking midfield and attack, the Benin international could help take the pressure off the Sunderland forwards.

Defensive lapse sees Wenger’s boys hand trophy to Henry and co

Arsenal finished their last Premier League campaign with a run of two wins in ten games, perfecting the habit of snatching draws and defeats from the jaws of victory.

With the new season just two weeks away, Arsene Wenger’s side seem to have taken that form into the Emirates Cup, conceding a late own goal to draw 1-1 against New York Red Bulls and hand the Americans the trophy in the process.

The build-up to the game wasn’t about winning the competition however, or Arsenal’s form, it was all about the return of Thierry Henry.

The Frenchman ran out on the pitch on his own and was met with a standing ovation and rapturous applause from the stands.

Rumours were abound before kick off that Henry was going to appear in an Arsenal shirt for a portion of the match and Wenger, who expressed his delight at seeing Henry again, confirmed that he had planned a ‘surprise’ for his former striker in the form of a five minute cameo.

“He was desperate for it,” he admitted. “But the referee stubbornly turned it down.

“They say great clubs never die and great players never die as well because Thierry has shown us today that he’s still top quality with his feet and with his head.”

Henry himself claimed that he was disappointed not to appear in an Arsenal shirt once more because of the "stupid rules" of the competition.

The game itself was a turgid affair with Arsenal failing to find a way to turn their dominance into a win against New York, a team Robbie Savage compared to a "pub team.”

Arsenal were forced into an early change when Jack Wilshere was taken off with a minor knock to his ankle to be replaced by youth player Benik Afobe.

The substitution was merely a precaution though, with Wenger confirming Wilshere will be out for a week.

“He’s a quick healer usually and a tough boy,” he said.

The first half was played almost exclusively in the American half as Arsenal kept hold of the ball like a greedy child in a playground.

Their usual trait of edge-of-the-box tentativeness was on show once more, though with van Persie flanked by Afobe and Gervinho, they did look somewhat more direct than at times last season.

The home side eventually took the lead after 41 minutes when Tomas Rosicky floated a free-kick into the penalty area and Robin van Persie, carrying on his tremendous goal-scoring record in 2011, leapt in front of Roy Miller to head past Frank Rost in the New York goal.

The Emirates had to wait until the 85th minute for the next goal, however. Henry slipped a precision pass through to Juan Agudelo who ran to the by-line fired a cross across goal which was duly smashed into his own net by substitute Kyle Bartley.

Wenger admitted that he was frustrated that the game was “forwards against defence” though said that he was happy with the competition as in pre-season, the “most important thing is to prepare.”

“Overall I am very happy with the two days because we were confronted with two teams who played very committed, very physical and very strong defensively and both days we played for an hour and we have not more to offer at the moment, hopefully that will change in the next two weeks.”

With his side booed off the pitch at full-time, and the futures of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas still in doubt, Wenger will be hoping that any possible moves for Phil Jagielka, Juan Mata and Christopher Samba are concluded sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile in the earlier kick off a youthful Paris Saint-Germain team swept aside Boca Juniors in a tepid 3-0 win.

It took Leonardo’s men only eight minutes to take the lead, with Jean-Eudes Maurice beating Boca goalkeeper Augustin Orion to the ball and diverting the ball into the net with an acrobatic karate kick. Half an hour later, the lead was doubled.

An unmarked Guillaume Hoarau ran in-between Boca centre-backs Gaston Sauro and Matias Caruzzo to get on the end of Maurice’s cross and head past Orion with ease.

The game was wrapped up with twelve minutes to go when Marcos Ceara curled in a delightful free-kick from 30 yards.

It swerved majestically over the wall and into the top left corner of Orion’s goal with little anyone could do about it.