The winners and losers in the transfer window (From Durham Times)

The winners and losers in the transfer window

10:56am Friday 5th February 2010

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STEVE Bruce's Transfer Radar - a one-week feature which, apparently, I'm never allowed to repeat - went into overdrive last week as the transfer window slammed shut.

In time-honoured tradition, most of the names Sunderland were linked with fell by the wayside, as talks with the likes of Rod Fanni, Habib Beye and Guy Demel broke down.

However, Sunderland did manage to nab a right-back in the end, Alan Hutton squeezing through the window just before the 5pm deadline.

But there was drama to come. On the other side of that window was Benjani, complete with a bindle containing all of his clothes, and a football at his feet. Had he missed his chance? Luckily the Premier League felt sorry for Benjani, who'd already handed over the keys to his plush Manchester apartment to Adam Johnson, and let him sign for Sunderland.

This was much to the relief of Steve Bruce, who had spent much of Monday driving David Healy and Daryl Murphy round every club in England before Roy Keane hailed Bruce's Transit down and unloaded the two unwanted packhorses into Portman Road, gave them both a hot cup of tea, a Timeout biscuit - to share - and two Ipswich Town replica shirts.

Earlier in the day, Nyron Nosworthy told Sheffield United that they were to sign him on loan, and Nosworthy not being someone that sensible people argue with, they obliged. He'll be there until the end of the season, unless Nyron disagrees.

As far as Bruce's dealings go, I did think he would go a little further than two players.

If there was any truth in it, Bruce was in the market for Ahmed Al-Muhammadi, who was last seen winning the African Cup of Nations Apart From Togo tournament with Egypt. The right-winger has been referred to as 'the Egyptian Beckham' which sounds nice enough, but in some circles I have been described as the 'left-footed, not as good and nowhere near as good looking Beckham'.

The right side of midfield is a position that has needed to be addressed ever since Carlos Edwards suffered that leg fracture in the second game of the season in 2007-8. Sunderland haven't had an out and out winger since then, and you'd have thought they would have been in the market for one by now.

Instead, we heard that Bruce had made a bid for Adam Johnson, who, as talented as he is, would slot into a left side of midfield already occupied by Kieran Richardson, Andy Reid or even Bolo Zenden.

Matt Kilgallon looks to be a pretty astute purchase, putting in an impressive performance in his home debut against Stoke, but the idea of Sunderland strengthening that department seemed to go out of the window when Russell Anderson and Nosworthy both departed in January.

Both full-backs needed competition for places, and while I'm delighted that Hutton has signed, you wonder how many irons in the fire there were for left-back, arguably the weaker part of the defence. George McCartney has been poor - although he has improved in recent weeks. But injury to McCartney would put Sunderland back down to the bare bones. It'd be square pegs in round holes all over again.

While Sunderland's A-Team is fit and able, I'm confident that a top-half finish is still a possibility. But underneath that, I do worry whether Sunderland have the reserves to handle a relegation battle.

Bruce has taken a gamble. With Premier League survival at risk, the stakes couldn't be higher.

Same old Stoke...

MY feelings for Stoke are pretty clear. I don't wish to cover old ground, but I'm going to anyway.

Every single part of that club screams Championship to me. They play like a Championship team, they are supported by Championship fans, they play in a Championship ground - but they are somehow managing to compete in the Premier League.

Arsenal and Stoke are on completely different ends of the spectrum. Arsenal, rightly or wrongly, insist on playing football 'the proper way' but that has been considered lightweight, and the lack of trophies in recent years is possibly testament to that.

Stoke, on the other hand, do not seek to play football, they kick lumps out of the opposition - literally, ask Lee Cattermole - and their sole tactic is to get the ball down the channels in order to win a throw in for Rory Delap to launch into the box.

Whereas it's healthy to have a bit of bite and a bit of physicality in your team, employing a squad of thugs who can do keepy-ups is hardly the way to go. Stoke could not string two passes together, but they bullied and hassled their way into the right positions, while at the back, their only response was to hoof the ball as far away as possible.

Ryan Shawcross played his role admirably, but his passing and control was Sunday League.

But they are a unit. A team. And this is why they win games, and this is why they are above Sunderland in the league.

To truly succeed in the Premier League, you need a little bit of Stoke and a lot of Arsenal. As long as Sunderland keep looking to compete without compromising their footballing ideals, then they will be all right.

It's a big one

TOMORROW'S match against Wigan is probably the biggest game of the season so far.

That's not over-hyping the situation. If results go against them, not only would Wigan leapfrog Sunderland, but they would be dragged within a few goals of the drop zone. As we all know, once a team is dragged into the relegation places, it's a different proposition to get out of them.

Luckily for the supporters, Wigan are more of a footballing side than Stoke are. So at least we might see a bit of quality out there. Maybe.

But the most important thing tomorrow is the result. Beach balls, dodgy refereeing decisions and the luck of the bounce has won us a few points so far this term, but the last two months has shown that such luck has run out now. It's down to Sunderland to get themselves out of the mess before it's too late.

It's going to take hard work and quality to win the match. Do that, and the table will look a great deal better and we may well be back on the right track.

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