Masochism (3): Sixer mounts his Soapbox to denounce QPR shambles

Jake: 'when a man's tired of Sunderland ...;” class=”size-medium wp-image-59196″ /> Jake: ‘when a man’s tired of Sunderland …;

Sunderland AFC please take note. If as loyal and long-standing and (sitting) a fan as Pete Sixsmith is beginning to cry ‘enough is enough’, something’s up. This is how Sixer saw the rotten collective surrender to QPR, complete with a literary allusion to ‘lives of quiet desperation’. Go to the home page – salutsunderland.com and navigate your way to the earlier Masochism pieces – …

In the course of a highly convivial day in Manchester on Monday (I strongly recommend The Marble Arch and The Hare and Hounds on Rochdale Road), one of the party, a Sunderland supporter who, like me, was saddened at the news of the death of Nicky Sharkey, said, in all seriousness that were he a betting man, he would put money on Sunderland to lose the next night.

I, of course, pooh-poohed the idea, believing that we had turned the corner, that the light at the end of the tunnel was getting closer and that, – cliché of all clichés – we would not shoot ourselves in the foot.

It turned out that round the corner was a bloody great man trap, that the light at the end of tunnel was the light of an oncoming train and that both feet were comprehensively blasted to kingdom come.

Make no mistake, this was awful, a performance so poor and lifeless that I have serious doubts about this team’s ability to drag itself away from the bottom three. Even if they do, I have even graver doubts about whether I will renew my season ticket next year.

The victory over Burnley was largely due to the fact that we took the game to them, attacked them down the flanks and stifled them – typical of what many Championship clubs do. Burnley couldn’t deal with it and we ended up as (relatively) comfortable winners.

The win at Fulham (another Championship side) was achieved the same way – create a tempo, go at them and show that we had a greater quality than they had.

What do we do against a QPR side who looked relieved to be playing for a proper coach instead of an old has been who bickers with his players? We start at a tempo that would have shocked a group of pensioners playing walking football, so slow and ponderous was it.

Add to that, a complete inability from a number of players to tell the difference between red and white stripes and blue and white hoops, and between red and white stripes and an open patch of green space, and you have the reasons for this catastrophic defeat.

It is catastrophic because the crowd signalled in the first half that they are about to give up on Poyet, certain players and Sunderland AFC. When yet another “pass” from the wretched Gomez went astray or when van Aanholt showed exactly why Chelsea loaned him to approximately half the clubs in Europe, the howls of derision were clearly heard all over the Stadium of Light.

When nobody picked up the impressive Leroy Fer for the opening goal or Vergini was suckered by Bobby Zamora for the second, there was a gasp of incredulity followed by a moan that was definitely not one of pleasure.

Jake's reaction echoed that friend of Sixer's: 'why am I not surprised?
Jake’s reaction echoed that friend of Sixer’s: ‘why am I not surprised?

The team ethic on display was nowhere near enough and paled into insignificance compared with the effort and quality that Rangers had. Nico Kranjcar was the antithesis of Gomez in that he never wasted a ball all night. Pantomime villain Joey Barton made Bridcutt look the average Championship player that he is and Karl Henry gave a perfect display of how to be neat and tidy.

Poyet has said that Rob Green was their man of the match, indicating that we had chances to win the game. What a load of baloney. Rangers hit the post and missed a great headed opportunity and should well have wrapped the game up before they actually did. And goalkeepers are paid to save possible goals.

What was Wickham’s role? Neither fish nor fowl, this 21 year old with the same background and physique as Harry Kane but without one iota of the desire, seemed to have little idea of where he was playing. He should have buried a header to equalise, but was dominated by Caulker and a creaking Rio Ferdinand, who coasted through the game.

Was it up front with Defoe so that he could torture Caulker as he had last season when he scored twice against Cardiff, or was it out wide as part of a fluid five man midfield and to give van Aanholt some help. Answers on a postcard please as I have no idea of what he was supposed to be doing – and neither did the player by the looks of it.

As miserable and as wretched a performance as I have seen in 50 years was encapsulated towards the end when Bobby Zamora, a man in his 30s, overweight and with the turning circle of an oil tanker, outstripped Bridcutt in a race for the ball. It was enough to make grown men and women weep.

The American writer and philosopher Henry D Thoreau said “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. He must have known what it was like to be a Sunderland supporter. The quiet desperation gets worse season after season.


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22 thoughts on “Masochism (3): Sixer mounts his Soapbox to denounce QPR shambles”

  1. Agreed Michael and it would be nice to see all 3 teams stop up, good for the game and good for the region. But you lot should’ve made better investments, theres too much pinned on one or two blokes and I have me doubts

    • Most of us do , as you can see by reading our comments . The dark clouds are gathering sadly and these things seem so have an energy of their own . Poyets got three games starting with Bradford to save he’s job and get us back on track in my view .

  2. Do you not think its a bit funny Eric how our lads play like a side that knows what its doing and your famous lads that everybody’s heard of and talk about all the time play like they don’t know which end of the field’s which. I wonder why that is and if your lads’ll play as well as our lads when you’re in the championship next season

    • I think Karanka has done an excellent job for you and I hope he is rewarded with promotion.But I am sure you know that it will take a lot of investment in new players to keep you up.

      I haven’t seen much of Boro this year ,so do you have any players of genuine Premiership quality? I bet you would love another Junhnio.

      Good luck for the rest of the season .See you next year in the EPL ….I hope

    • Smoggo, Boro are doing just fine, Leadbitter is a class act and would be welcomed back at SOL. Certainties for promotion in my view. BUT, please stop coming on here just to slag SAFC. We never hear from you when Boro are poor, now you feel it is OK to have a go. Boro, Mags and SAFC will all be in same division next season.

  3. Konstantopoulos, Whitehead, Leadbitter, Ayala,Gibson Woodgate, Kalas, Clayton, Forshaw, Adomah, Vossen, Tomlin, Reach, Garcia Martinez, the list goes on. IF ONLY……. lol

    • Hartlepools reserve keeper. 2 that didn’t quite hack it at SOL. 1 that couldn’t hack it at Sid James, 1 that was OK at Barnet, not OK at Bristol City. 9 that most people have never heard of. The list goes on. Back under your slimy rock Smogster.

  4. The defeat confirms what I have written earlier about Poyet. He is not a pragmatist and is too Uruguayan in in his football philosophy which is cautious and based upon stopping the other team from playing. Has anyone ever enjoyed a game involving Uruguay? The problem for Poyet is that the players cannot do what he wants, are not good enough or not willing to do his bidding. Often, they seem bewildered and lost. Either way, it is his doing and, even if – the if is more a sign of optimism than expectation- the team stay in the PL, I expect Poyet to leave by “mutual consent” soon afterwards.

    • If his verbal instructions to the team in anyway resemble his reported post match comments I’m not surprised that the players are bewildered.

      His latest theme seems to be that SAFC fans don’t understand or want to watch ” good ” football. They would rather watch the kick & rush days of Quinn and Phillips apparently. If only…………

      • Quinn & Phillips, Summerbee and Johnstone, Sorensen, Kevin Ball, Makin, Mickey Gray, Alex Rae, Jody Craddock, Mickey Bridges, the list goes on. IF ONLY………….

  5. Has our totally abysmal home form gone unnoticed by Poyet? He’s waffling diatribes that invariably conclude with a dig at the paying public seem to me to be a smokescreen . The non performance agsinst an injury ravaged QPR who hadn’t got a single away point prior to meeting us was inexcusable. Poyet is benefiting from previous managerial sackings that have brought only short term relief from the drop , a lot of money spent to get rid of disasters like Di Canio and underperforming ‘ saviours ‘ like O’Neill . If we’d stuck with Bruce or O’Neill and we’d performed like this ,they’d be gone after Tuesday . Hopefully Short is sounding our replacements as we speak because if we flop agsinst Bradford and god forbid West Brom , the Bruce out chants will be like music to the ears compared with what will come .

  6. We now return to the dilemma that faced us last season. Do we go for it in the FA Cup and risk the relegation that may follow, or is survival the be all. I’m convinced that had we reached the Semi or Final last season we would have been relegated. Same scenario is now unfolding. From a purely personal point of view, I am 64 years old, and rapidly running out of time for a bit of glory. So, and I realise this is controversial, I will happily trade the PL for one or possibly two days at Wembley. I had more enjoyment from one day at Wembley than a whole season of PL encounters. Sunderland for the Cup!

    • I agree Eric, I’m not convinced a cup run WILL end in relegation, but even if it does, relegation isn’t permanent, a cup win however, is.

      • Me too Eric. Every time I suggest I’d rather win the cup and go down than finish 17th and win nowt, I get thumbs down by the hundred! I’ll give myself one now to get the ball rolling which is perhaps more than Liam Bridcutt manages to do!

  7. I am on two minds about Gus.

    Sometimes I think can see the long term plan,which is something we have not seen in previous mangers ….getting us to win by playing possession football,which is essentially the South American way.

    Then I think ,we need more points and is his way the best way to do this? Probably not with the players we have at present.

    So do we sack him now and replace him with say Sherwood and hopefully avoid relegation,or do we leave it to Gus to avoid the drop? I think I would stay with Gus and either back him or more like sack him in the summer……not sure who would want to come though considering our recent record with managers.

    I cannot however understand why he doesn’t give the younger players a chance.

    Is Mavrias ,a full Greek international,really worse than Buckley? Was El Hadji Ba worse than Bridcutt ? Why wasn’t Mandron given some playing time from the bench when our strikers have been woefully out sorts ? Same goes for Robson and Agnew. All hungry young players who would give there all if given a chance

  8. New on here, but I agree. We should have been attacking. I cannot fathom Poyet at this moment. We have the advantage. He did not take it. In Poker, I would rob him of millions.

  9. Poyet should not have changed his team from the weekend.

    That was a more robust formation and he would not have had to bring in two players with poor decision skills who continue to lose possession and gift the ball to the opposition.

    Tactics this year have been abysmal. Poyet is not a risk taker and his lappy tappy style follwed by a quick break only works when you have players with pace.

    Fair do’s to QPR they played a pressing game high up the park which bypassed Bridcutt and frightened the life out of our back four, Risky but it worked.No doubt the Bradford lads in the stand noted this too.

  10. If Arry was an old has been that bickers with the players , Poyet is a young never was ( managerial not playing ) who bickers with the fans . I honestly felt guilty for doubting him a few weeks ago , I don’t now . He’s time is up , he cannot motivate the team at home and to start bad mouthing the fans on top of it , sling your hook !

  11. Pete
    You know my feelings on Poyet.
    To blame the fans and ask for patience is shameless.
    Championship next season for us, and who knows where the season after.
    He has to go!!

  12. Sack Poyet before its too late….Oh sorry it is too late……What a load of crap……Get someone in who knows how to play football…..if not GOD help us know…….

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