Demba Ba had a very low release clause, which is why his transfer could be tied up early. Most clubs will haggle on the fee, delaying things until the end of the window
It was evident last season as well that Adkins is very good at getting results against teams we are better than / equal to. We rarely shock teams above us but we usually do the business when we ought to. It's probably a sign of good psychological preparation
Agree he doesn't deserve blame for the own goal, but he does have a habit of doing other things that are a red rag to the crowd, like the open goal miss against Stoke and more generally not jumping for headers
To be fair though, the big difference between Benali and Guly is that Benali was a grafter who got stuck in, whereas Guly has a style which makes him appear lazy (emphasising the work 'appear').
All those people who were certain he should be playing despite not having the benefit of seeing him in training.
In fairness though, it doesn't help with confidence when we're constantly chopping and changing. Keepers need security as there is already so much pressure on them
The thing about this season is there aren't really any clubs underperforming due to bad managers, a la Keen, Megson, McLeish. Except maybe Man City.
Makes it tougher for us
He was dreadful today but it's really over the top to write him off. He has got plaudits for other performances this season.
The money could probably have been better spent given that we needed a consistent performer but he is playing a useful role
Let's not forget that Sunderland have mostly been pretty solid this season, they've just struggled to score goals.
Our passing was also off but we know we can play better than that
The scroungers may exist in some cases but the extent has been blown out of all proportion by a sensationalist and elitist media:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/28/benefit-scroungers-child-poverty-parents