Pete Sixsmith, witnessing a witless defeat that may well seal our fate, offered three variations of his customary seven-word verdict: 1 (at 0-2) ‘not a hope of staying up now’; 2 ‘effort aplenty but lacked quality where needed’; 3 ‘We just cannot win must win games’. What more is to be said? We cannot blame Howard Webb for failing to give a clear penalty. Well we can, but it doesn’t help.
Memo (from Monsieur Salut to Gus Poyet): in a team like ours, Adam Johnson is not an impact player to use when things look desperate.
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March 31 SAFC 1 (0) West Ham united (1) 2 * No points from this games means relegation
March 26 Liverpool 2 (2) SAFC 1 (0) No points but much better than Saturday
March 22 Norwich (2) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 Relegation beckons after yet another shocking performance
March 15 Sunderland (0) 0 Crystal Palace (0) 0 Lack of creativity cost us yet again
March 9 FA Cup Sixth Round: Hull City 3 (0) SAFC (0) 0Errors like these will see us relegated
March 2 2014 Sunderland 1 (1) Manchester City (0) 3 A cruel result. Proud of the team
Feb 22nd 2014 Arsenal 4 (3) Sunderland 1 (0) Absolutely dreadful performance. No positives at all.
Feb 15th 2014 FA Cup Round 5 Sunderland (0) 1 Southampton (0) 0 Wembley twice? Why not? Deserved to win.
Feb 8 2014 Sunderland (0) 0 Hull City (1) 2 Brilliant at shooting ourselves in the foot.
Feb 1 2014 Newcastle United (0) Sunderland (2) 3#1 Wonderful performance from Mannone through to Borini #2 A bad night for Tyneside’s equine population
Jan 29 2014SAFC (1) 1 Stoke City (0) 0 Unconvincing and barely deserved against 10 men
Jan 25 2014 FA Cup 4th Round: SAFC (1) 1 Kidderminster Harriers (0) 0 Won – that’s all there is to say.
Jan 22 2014 Capital One Cup semifinal second leg. AET: Manchester United (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 1 SAFC WIN 2-1 ON PENALTIES: Oh Vito Mannone. Oh Vito Mannone. Hero.
Jan 11 2014 Fulham (0) 1 Sunderland (2) 4:: *Johnson hatrick destroys Fulham in winter sunshine
Jan 7 2014 Capital One Cup Semi-final First Leg: Sunderland (1) 2 Manchester United (0) 1 : Deserved it. Shows what we can do
Jan 5 2014 FA Cup 3rd Round: Sunderland (1) 3 Carlisle Utd (1) 1 : Comfortable in the end. Two youngsters sparkled
January 1 2014 Sunderland (0) 0 Aston Villa (1) 1 : Dismal as our Premier place slips away
December 28 2013 Cardiff City (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 2 : Dragged a vital point out of that
December 26 2013 Everton (0) 0 Sunderland (1) 1 Hung on after interval but massive result
December 21 2013 SAFC (0) 0 Norwich City (0) 0 As stodgy as last year’s Christmas pud
December 17 2013 Capital One Cup 5th Round: SAFC (0) 2 Chelsea (0) 1 AET Ki seals comeback; didn’t see that coming
December 14 2013 West Ham Utd (0) 0 Sunderland (0) 0 Better side by miles – couldn’t finish it
December 8 2013 SAFC (1) 1 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2 Score flatters us as task gets harder
December 4 2013 SAFC (1) 3 Chelsea (2) 4 Pushed a strong side all the way
November 30 2013 Aston Villa (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 *Villa almost undone by cream soda performance
November 23 2013 Stoke City (1) 2 SAFC (0) 0 Ridiculous red gave us an impossible task
November 10 2013 SAFC (1) 1 Manchester City (0) 0 A wonderfully disciplined performance. Real hope now
November 6 2013 Capital One Cup 4th Round: SAFC (0) 2 Southampton (0) 1 A tidy second half brings Wembley closer
November 2 2013 Hull City (1) SAFC (0) Damage limitation after appalling first half performance
October 27 2013 SAFC (1) 2 Newcastle United (0) 1 Bragging rights and a win. Good combination/ or Perfect Poyet puts another one over Pardew
October 19 2013 Swansea City 4 (0) SAFC 0 (0) No Poyet magic cure for abject failure*
October 5 2013 SAFC (1) 1 Manchester United (0) 2 Better side first half, outclassed in second
September 30 2013 SAFC (0) 1 Liverpool (2) 3 Spirit in abundance, undone by shoddy defending
September 24 2013 Capital One Cup 3rd Round: SAFC (1) 2 Peterborough United (0) 0 A solid performance without any touchline histrionics
September 21 2013 West Bromwich Albion 3 (1) SAFC 0 (0) Coach looks completely out of his depth
September 14 2013 SAFC (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 3 Performance far better than the result suggests
August 31 2013 Crystal Palace (1) 3 SAFC (0) 1 Nowhere near good enough for this league
August 27 2013 Capital One Cup 2nd Round: SAFC (0) 4 MK Dons (1) 2Outplayed, outclassed, somehow got out of jail
August 24 2013 Southampton (0) 1 SAFC (1) 1 The point was better than the performance
12 thoughts on “Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 1 West Ham 2. Down and out”
With regard to Vergini (who might make a better midfielder than centre back) I don’t think the formation has anything to do with giving him a game – rather than Poyet must have thought that Alosnso and Bardsley could provide a threat out wide that Johnson and Giacharrini would have to do if we played 4 4 2 assuming of course he wanted to play two strikers. I suspect he thinks that Borini isn’t strong enough to handle the centre forward role on his own.
Wickham for all his effort is not a Premiership striker at the moment. He may grow into one but I have my doubts. Scocco just isn’t a Premier League player.
They might find their feet and gell together in the championship , they might not, it won’t be easy.
Joan, Totally agree. It’s unfortunate that borne out of the best intentions for the Club (sacking Bruce to keep premiership membership, appointing the peoples choice O’Neil, installing Di Canio to stave of relegation and then putting Poyet in the driving seat to save the Club, all of this has come to naught and we now finally are staring down the gun of the Championship.
Out of all those steps only Poyet comes away with any credit because he inherited the cumulative mistakes of his predecessors. Same pool of players, same problems.
Maybe a clean break from the PL will do us the world of good, facilitating a whole sale clear out of the has been’s and neverwasers because to play the Poyet way will require him to be given the time and space to get the type of players he needs for his system, time will tell.
It’s so easy to blame the manager. Just remember the hand Poyet was dealt. He’s tried everything he can to keep this shower up (unlike M.O’Neill who was sleepwalking towards relegation). It hasn’t worked but most other managers would have been down by Christmas with the shambles picked up from PDC. I firmly believe Poyet is the best manager we’ve had for a long, long time. Stick with him and he’ll build a good team. Chop & change more managers and we’ll become another Leeds.
Stability is definately what we need , chopping and changing managers may have let us dodge the bullet for a few seasons but ultimately we’ve spent a fortune for a championship team . Half of them will be gone next year and we start again, hopefully lessons learned.
Many of us said after a few games under Poyet that we should hold onto him even if we went down. That still applies, however depressing some recent results
If you want to win pick your best team. Wheree was the team that hammered Newcastle and got to the final. Bridcutt is incredibly ordinary. Vergini and Wickham not up to it. Gardner and Johnson should have started, Why play 3 5 2 just so Vergini can have a game? We needed our warriors out there last night but we didn’t play them, Poyet is niave and stubborn I hope this has woken him up but a chance was missed last night and there won’t be another one
Don’t know who the pudding is who gave the thumbs down when really you can’t argue with any of the above. Out quite simply we are not good enough, we can’t break teams down and we can’t defend.
Twenty six shots on goal, only six on target, says it all. No midfield playmaker and limited imagination.
Thought Bardsley was outstanding though, the effort he put in, but if anything he typifies what’s wrong…plenty of effort and willing unfortunately it is married to limited ability and poor decision making.
Can’t see any way back now.
Thanks CSB,on another note I see The Sun newspaper is sticking the boot in too.We ae now called “Derland”,since we banned the Sun….
It d be quite funny if it wasn’t for our predicament…….Poyet is losing the plot.
But id still stick with him,we do not need yet another manager.
I reckoned even if we had won we still would have gone down.The league doesn’t lie, we may even go down bottom,which would be a disgrace,but let us face it we have seen it all before…and worse.Heartily depressing though.
We must have the only Argentinian players ever who cannot play football…there must be a million players in Argentina better than Scocco…and as to the centre back….well least said the better.
I am afraid Gus choice of players has hardly had any positive affect whatsover which does not bode well for next seasons battles to come.
What is it about Sunderland?It is like the Midas touch in reverse.
This game was our season played out in ninety plus minutes. At times, inept, frustrating , exciting , hopefull ,but ultimately not good enough . Barring us turning things on its head we’re down.Millions lavished on a multitude of managers who ultimately traded good players for bad has done for us. Systematic mismanagement from above has allowed this to happen. Hopefully we can survive the financial fallout from the drop and not become a Leeds or Rangers. Relegation is one thing, administration and worse is unthinkable .
On Johnson: he must make Poyet tear his hair out. When he’s in the starting line up, ne gets complacent and sloppy; the only way to get him to play well is to drop him or leave him on the subs’ bench.
With regard to Vergini (who might make a better midfielder than centre back) I don’t think the formation has anything to do with giving him a game – rather than Poyet must have thought that Alosnso and Bardsley could provide a threat out wide that Johnson and Giacharrini would have to do if we played 4 4 2 assuming of course he wanted to play two strikers. I suspect he thinks that Borini isn’t strong enough to handle the centre forward role on his own.
Wickham for all his effort is not a Premiership striker at the moment. He may grow into one but I have my doubts. Scocco just isn’t a Premier League player.
They might find their feet and gell together in the championship , they might not, it won’t be easy.
Joan, Totally agree. It’s unfortunate that borne out of the best intentions for the Club (sacking Bruce to keep premiership membership, appointing the peoples choice O’Neil, installing Di Canio to stave of relegation and then putting Poyet in the driving seat to save the Club, all of this has come to naught and we now finally are staring down the gun of the Championship.
Out of all those steps only Poyet comes away with any credit because he inherited the cumulative mistakes of his predecessors. Same pool of players, same problems.
Maybe a clean break from the PL will do us the world of good, facilitating a whole sale clear out of the has been’s and neverwasers because to play the Poyet way will require him to be given the time and space to get the type of players he needs for his system, time will tell.
It’s so easy to blame the manager. Just remember the hand Poyet was dealt. He’s tried everything he can to keep this shower up (unlike M.O’Neill who was sleepwalking towards relegation). It hasn’t worked but most other managers would have been down by Christmas with the shambles picked up from PDC. I firmly believe Poyet is the best manager we’ve had for a long, long time. Stick with him and he’ll build a good team. Chop & change more managers and we’ll become another Leeds.
Stability is definately what we need , chopping and changing managers may have let us dodge the bullet for a few seasons but ultimately we’ve spent a fortune for a championship team . Half of them will be gone next year and we start again, hopefully lessons learned.
Many of us said after a few games under Poyet that we should hold onto him even if we went down. That still applies, however depressing some recent results
If you want to win pick your best team. Wheree was the team that hammered Newcastle and got to the final. Bridcutt is incredibly ordinary. Vergini and Wickham not up to it. Gardner and Johnson should have started, Why play 3 5 2 just so Vergini can have a game? We needed our warriors out there last night but we didn’t play them, Poyet is niave and stubborn I hope this has woken him up but a chance was missed last night and there won’t be another one
Don’t know who the pudding is who gave the thumbs down when really you can’t argue with any of the above. Out quite simply we are not good enough, we can’t break teams down and we can’t defend.
Twenty six shots on goal, only six on target, says it all. No midfield playmaker and limited imagination.
Thought Bardsley was outstanding though, the effort he put in, but if anything he typifies what’s wrong…plenty of effort and willing unfortunately it is married to limited ability and poor decision making.
Can’t see any way back now.
Thanks CSB,on another note I see The Sun newspaper is sticking the boot in too.We ae now called “Derland”,since we banned the Sun….
It d be quite funny if it wasn’t for our predicament…….Poyet is losing the plot.
But id still stick with him,we do not need yet another manager.
I reckoned even if we had won we still would have gone down.The league doesn’t lie, we may even go down bottom,which would be a disgrace,but let us face it we have seen it all before…and worse.Heartily depressing though.
We must have the only Argentinian players ever who cannot play football…there must be a million players in Argentina better than Scocco…and as to the centre back….well least said the better.
I am afraid Gus choice of players has hardly had any positive affect whatsover which does not bode well for next seasons battles to come.
What is it about Sunderland?It is like the Midas touch in reverse.
This game was our season played out in ninety plus minutes. At times, inept, frustrating , exciting , hopefull ,but ultimately not good enough . Barring us turning things on its head we’re down.Millions lavished on a multitude of managers who ultimately traded good players for bad has done for us. Systematic mismanagement from above has allowed this to happen. Hopefully we can survive the financial fallout from the drop and not become a Leeds or Rangers. Relegation is one thing, administration and worse is unthinkable .
On Johnson: he must make Poyet tear his hair out. When he’s in the starting line up, ne gets complacent and sloppy; the only way to get him to play well is to drop him or leave him on the subs’ bench.