Gus Poyet’s Sunderland’s “Great Escape”

A look back at one of Sunderland’s craziest seasons, as they reached Wembley in the League Cup, and pulled off one of the Premier league’s greatest escapes.

In the 2013-14 season, Paolo Di Canio looked ser to take charge of his first full season as Sunderland manager.

However, his Sunderland side failed to win in their first five games in the league, and he was dismissed following a 3-0 defeat to West Brom.

Uruguayan football manager, Gus Poyet was brought in as Di Canio’s replacement, but it didn’t look good at the beginning, as he lost his first game in charge 0-4 against Swansea City.

In his first home game in charge, Fabio Borini scored a screamer against the old enemy, Newcastle to earn his first victory in charge, in a 2-1 win.

Despite this, Sunderland were still struggling for form in the league, and they looked all but relegated, as they were still bottom by Christmas, and only 1 team had ever survived after being bottom of the league at that time.

The Black Cats still managed to give the fans some sort of excitement though, as they made the League Cup final, after beating Chelsea in the quarter-final and Manchester United in the Semi-final.

They came up against Manchester City in the final at Wembley, and Fabio Borini gave The Black Cats the lead in the first-half, with a beautiful outside of the foot finish.

Unfortunately, a second-half flourish from City meant that Sunderland were beaten 3-1, thanks to goals from Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas.

Sunderland, also secured their 4th straight victory over Newcastle in their second 0-3 win at St James’ Park in a row.

Going into the final 6 games, Sunderland had just been beaten by Tottenham Hotspur and they sat rock bottom, 7 points from safety.

The Black Cats still had Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea all to play before the end of the season.

In an interview after the Spurs game, Poyet said: “We need a miracle”, and that’s exactly what he got!

Sunderland went on to shock the nation, with a 2-2 draw at Manchester City, a 2-1 win over Chelsea and a 1-0 won over Manchester United, not to mention an emphatic victory against fellow strugglers Cardiff City 4-0, too!

Finally, on their penultimate home game against West Brom, goals from Fabio Borini and Jack Colback secured survival, and pulled off one of the greatest escapes the Premier League has ever seen.