City Seal McCarthy's Fate

City's 2 - 1 home win over the Black Cats was the final straw for Sunderland who have cancelled Mick McCarth's contract by mutual consent this morning. Kevin Ball steps up from the Academy to take over as caretaker until the end of the season.

I guess the writing has been on the wall for a long time following their poor run of performances and McCarthy's body language and depressed tones spoke volumes in he post-match interview.

Ironically, their perfomance against the Blues wasn't that bad apart from the first 15 minutes during which City raced to a 2 - 0 lead. For the remainder of the game Sunderland rallied and their second half performance had us on the back foot.

Once again our frailties in midfield were exposed and our inability to keep and pass the ball allowed Sunderland to put us under un-necessary pressure. The highlight was the performance of Samaras, who looks like he's got a load of goals in him if he gets the right service, something that's probably not gone un-noticed by Mr Mourinho!

Micah Richards also continues to impress and shows an incredible level of confidence and skill for a 17 year old.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.