
We all hoped. How many of us truly expected? Another quite shocking performance, this time in the second half at White Hart Lane after a creditable opening 45 minutes, probably seals Sunderland’s fate. A few minutes remain as I type and I can hear the wonderful away support singing heartily at 4-1 down. Of course the maths are still on our side, if only just. But even at 2-1, witnessing defending as sloppy as it comes Pete Sixsmith considered the game well and truly up. ‘Embarrassing,’ Gary Bennett has just said, and still our fans sang …

April 6 2014 Tottenham Hotspur 5 (1) SAFC 1 (1) West Ham united (1) 2 Another poor performance deals yet another relegation
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) 0 Errors 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
August 17 2013 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (0) 1 Ultimately little difference from previous two seasons
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No, I get it William. Agreed. The only one in over 30 years who was sacked prematurely was Durban.
William C said “I dislike this constant chopping and changing of managers”
Can I ask this William? Who of the previous 10 or even 15 managers that we have had would you want to have continued beyond their last day in the job?
None – That’s why I want us to appoint a decent one.
A very long term managerial reign in football is rare [ Ferguson and Wenger are exceptions ] but I would like to see someone come in for maybe five years and build a solid base, hopefully allowing some kind of onward movement – as seems to be happening at Everton.
I take your point though Jeremy. because there is absolutely no sense in continuing with an obvious misfit.
Malky Mackay would be a great choice for the Championship warfare to come. Looks like he’s off to Norwich though . Well that would be the sensible option for them , but in this day and age it will probably go to some Spanish ex agent who met Mourhinio once !
Eddie Howe won’t leave Bournemouth. Sean Dyche won’t leave Burnley.
Bring back Sergeant Wilko, that’s what I say.
They might not, but I mention those as the sort of manager I think we need. { Thanks for correcting Eddie’s surname – there was an Eddie Lowe, but he played for Fulham in the 1950’s, so he might not fancy the job either! ]
I dislike this constant chopping and changing of managers, but IMO Poyet has to go. I’ve seen nothing to convince me that he is the answer to our problems.
I don’t blame him for the overall mess we are in [ there are a few other candidates ] but, in truth, he has not helped – clueless tactically, poor recruiting In January, and appears to have no idea how to change anything – no plan B.
I think his stupid decision to field a weakened side against Hull in the FA Cup has come back to haunt him [ I said that this would be the outcome on this forum ]
This, allied to his fantasy that the present SAFC players were capable of playing out from the back, and his recent romance with the 3 CH system [ a formation that would probably take half a season to operate effectively, and is one that the players at his disposal are totally unsuited – no one with pace, or able to pass accurately ]
Tony Pulis has illustrated what organisation and man management can achieve with a limited group of players. Poyet has never looked like having a game plan which might even hint at PL survival.
The club is at an all time low [ well, since the last one ] Poyet says we need a miracle. I say we need a good young British manager. I would have liked Nigel Clough, but he is well set at Sheffield U. Malky MacKay would fit the bill, as would Eddie Lowe or Sean Dyce.
It could be a long way back.
Out of the mouths of babes! As I was wending my weary way to work this evening I passed an urchin of about 7 kicking a ball about. Spotting my Sunderland cap he looked at me and pronounced “Sunderland? They’re crap”. Previously I would have come up with a witty response, or maybe have cuffed him around his earhole. Now? I just muttered “you’ve got that right, young ‘un”, and continued on. Embarassing!
Whatever formation Poyet played ,we’d have lost.
The thing I couldn’t understand was why we persisted with a very dazed looking Wes Brown who clearly took a terrific thump to the head.From one close up, he could barely see out of one swollen eye,and he looked hardly able to clear one header which feebly went straight to one of their players for a goal…can’t recall which one it was all a nightmarish blur.come,but we maybe would not have shipped in
Not that it would have made any difference to the outcome but we may not have shipped in as many.
Looks to me the team have given up hope now,the dressing room has been lost…not that we were ever far away from it with this bunch of self opinionated losers.
I hope Poyet stays and I hope he gets the players and team he wants.Players who will do as he asks and really want to play for him and Sunderland.
The northeast used to be the hotbed of football and look at it now both teams are absolutely sh*te
Sixer’ll be on in a minute telling us Shildon are still doing OK
But you’re shite in the Premier League.
Gatesheads alreet !
Even with 4-4-11 I doubt we’d survive!
Woeful his persistance in playing 5-3-2 will see us relegated, O’Shea was dropped because he spoke up about how stupid it is. It’s a difficult system and it takes years to get an understanding, 4 4 11 worked get back to it, and play the best players. It’s our only hope.
A performance like that removes any lingering doubts about not heading for the Championship. We are as good as down and as others have mentioned in the blog we will struggle in the Championship.
Still stunned by the second half ineptitude of a team supposedly ‘fighting’ for survival. Its a shame and continuing embarrassment that we will undoubtedly suffer further humiliation in our remaining games.
Personally, at this stage in the disaster I would be sacking supposed first team players and putting the kids in for the remainder of the games, can’t get any worse.
Spurs in all honesty were not even that good but we were and are bloody awful and no doubt we get all the same platitudes in the press this week (Brown, O’Shea, Bardsley) saying how the squad are up for it etc.etc.etc.
Embarrassment is most definitely the word. Poyet has to go. He hasn’t got a clue. He keeps blaming the 14 summer signings but he doesn’t pick any one of them other than Borini.
As for his January acquisitions there are two possible explanations for the performance of Scocco and Vergini. \
1) Neither of them had passports of the footballing credentials for a work permit. Hence they were smuggled as livestock to the UK and are suffering long term effects of the horse tranquillizers they were administered to keep them calm in the mid Atlantic.
2) They are bull’s nackers, the pair of them.
As they used to say in that old joke “Senor, some times, the bull, he win!”
The money we’ve wasted on signing absolute dross, the amount of players not fit for purpose who’ll sit out their contract here or on loan because no other idiot will sign them. Can we even scrape together a championship team capable of surviving in that league next season after the semi retired playboys have finished the job they started under Bruce and put us out of our misery ? While in the process buggering off with a small fortune we’ve all helped to fund. What an utter shambles.
Played Ki and Mannone from the Di Saster era aswell last night, but we only Mannone is our player
Bulls knackers are useful.
You lot are even worse than us spurs could have scored 10.
It was a surrender , beyond belief. For all your current ineptitude you’ll at least be starting in the premier next season, we in the championship . I can’t see either club stopping up next season though ………
Unfortunately I think you are right unless Mr Ashley spend a lot of money which I doubt. And you lot will need to completely change your squad if you want to come back up. I can’t see either happening
Losing faith in Poyet I’m afraid, the constant tinkering is having a real detrimental effect. Of course it’s not just he’s fault, we’re all aware of the charlatans masquerading as footballers who are draining the life out of our club. But is Poyet making it better or worse?
I’ve seen some rubbish in my time, but that complete surrender is one of the worst. Most worrying thing? Poyet’s complete inability to choose a first 11 and system that might actually work, and his substitutions. Again! Gardner? For christ’s sake! Too angry and depressed to even begin to put everything into words. I don’t expect much, a bit of fight is the least we can ask. Didn’t even get that, from bench to starting 11. Pathetic!