Wilson leg break mars stalemate

Stoke 0 Sunderland 0

Not only was the under-fire Ireland manager subjected to a game sure to be a contender for the Premier League’s worst this season, injury was added to insult when left-back Marc Wilson was carried off on a stretcher with a broken leg.

Stoke defender Wilson confirmed yesterday that he had suffered a broken fibula as he made a challenge on Black Cats striker Steven Fletcher just a few minutes into the second half.

He will be out for up to three months but has some cheer in the fact that the club are ready to offer him a new three-year contract.

Wilton tweeted: “Have broke my fibula. Hopefully I can make a speedy recovery. Thanks every1 for the support. Really appreciate it.”

With no fewer than four of his squad on show at the Britannia Stadium, the Italian would have hoped for some encouraging signs from the Irish contingent present that they are coming into some form for their clubs which can be replicated for their country.

He was to be sadly disappointed. John O’Shea, solid and reliable throughout for the Black Cats, was the only real plus.

Jonathan Walters, deployed out wide by the Potters, worked typically tirelessly but struggled to have any influence yet, most disappointing of all was James McClean.

Outstanding in his breakthrough season last term, McClean has struggled this campaign and he has even claimed his experiences at Euro 2012, where he played just 14 minutes in the humbling by Spain, dented his confidence and stifled his progress at club level since.

“The whole Ireland thing is out in the public,” McClean had said speaking ahead of the game. “It’s really knocked my confidence. I thought I had a good season but I still couldn’t get in the team. I went to the Euros full of confidence.

“Personally it didn’t go too well for me and it knocked my confidence. I wanted to come back and kick on from last season but so far I haven’t managed to do that.”

Trapattoni’s treatment of the 23-year-old — all the more perplexing given the dearth of emerging talent at his disposal — has done no one any favours, not least Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill.

And fellow winger Adam Johnson fears McClean has become a marked man in his second season in the English top flight.

“It is difficult,” he said. “I remember when I was just coming through. As wingers you do get games when you get frustrated and you can become isolated from the game stuck out wide. That can be very frustrating.

“In your second season people pay more attention to you and you can have two men on you at the same time and that’s why teams have been hard to score against, because a lot of teams have had two against James and I.”

Not that the former Manchester City player sees any reason why McClean cannot come up with a solution.

“Sometimes you’ve got to think of other ways to hurt teams,” he added.

“I think it’s something he will learn to deal with. He’s been terrific and we’re only eight games in to the season.”

The injury to Wilson, who was taken to hospital after over stretching for the ball, was the major talking of a disappointing game.

O’Neill had no complaints that referee Mark Halsey failed to award a penalty when Stephane Sessegnon squared to Steven Fletcher only for the Scot’s curling effort to be blocked by Robert Huth’s hand.

The Sunderland manager maintained it was not deliberate.

Simon Mignolet emphasised his importance again to Sunderland’s cause when he demonstrated superb reflexes to keep out Huth’s thumping header from Kightly’s free kick. It was Stoke’s best chance.

Huth and Peter Crouch were still to be denied again by Mignolet and not even eight minutes of added time could provide a goal.

That made it six draws apiece for the two teams, who are over-reliant on Steven Fletcher, still the only Black Cats player to score in the Premier League this term, and Peter Crouch, Stoke’s sole top-flight goalscorer on home soil.

O’Neill added: “We need to try to alleviate that for Steven. That’s a question that’s been asked for a number of weeks now and we need to and are trying to address it. Over the course of time we can do that but I’ve been saying it for a number of weeks and at the moment the situation hasn’t changed.”

STOKE (4-5-1): Begovic 7; Cameron 7, Shawcross 7, Huth 7, Wilson 6 (Wilkinson 6 54); Walters 6 (Etherington 5, 72), Whitehead 6, N’Zonzi 6, Adam 7 (Owen 5, 79), Kightly 7; Crouch 5.

SUNDERLAND (4-5-1): Mignolet 8; Gardner 6, O’Shea 7, Cuellar 6, Rose 6 (Bardsley 6, 83); Johnson 6 (Saha 5, 89); Larsson 6 (Sessegnon 5, 61), Cattermole 7, Colback 6, McClean 5; Fletcher 5.

Referee: Mark Halsey.