
Monsieur Salut writes: Is there no end to the pain to which Sunderland supporters are subjected by those rewarded handsomely to manage and play for the club? By the time Sunderland got started, 38 minutes into this miserable game, they were three down; it might have been four or five so easily had a well-organised but hardly exceptional Stoke City ripped though our slow, panic-stricken defence. Jermain Defoe scored with a clinical finish to pull one back but apart from one absymal miss from six yards by Jack Rodwell, even a marginally improved second-half performance offered few signs of hope.
David Moyes added his own contribution to a catalogue of individual failings by refusing to make a single change and, quite obviously, saying nothing at half-time to inspire a meaningful comeback. Pete Sixmsith’s seven-word verdict did undergo changes as the game wore on. I shall offer them all below …

January 14 Sunderland (1) 1 Stoke City (3) 3 Any hopes of avoiding relegation extinguished here – that was at 3.37pm. Later: Marginally better in second half. Still awful and finally, despairingly, The bitter end has arrived. Utterly woeful
January 7 FA Cup 3rd Round: Sunderland (0) 0 Burnley (0) 0 * Poor. No revenge for that 4-1 drubbing
And Sixer’s verdict post Dean Street: Sounds a shocker. Replay to be avoided
January 2 Sunderland (1) 2 Liverpool (1) 2 Unexpected but thoroughly deserved. There is hope

December 31 Burnley (1) 4 Sunderland (0) 1 Probably the worst Sunderland display this century
December 26 Manchester United (1) 3 Sunderland (0) 1 Disappointing ending after a hard working display
December 17 Sunderland (0) 1 Watford (0) 0 Dug deep for a welcome Christmas present
December 14 Sunderland (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 1 A decent performance but not enough quality
December 10 Swansea City (0) 3 Sunderland (0) 0* Woeful performance resurrects all the old fears
December 3 Sunderland (0) 2 Leicester City (0) 1 * Superb team display; heroes all over pitch
November 26 Liverpool (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 * Committed, organised resistance overcome by better side
November 19 Sunderland 3 (1 ) Hull City 0 (0 ) Victor’s the boy. We have some hope
November 5 Bournemouth (1) 1 Sunderland (1) 2 *Anichebe typifies gutsy display that gives hope
October 29 Sunderland (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 4 Spectacular collapse as soon as Giroud appeared
October 26 EFL Cup 4th Round: Southampton (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 * More fight but still no real threat
October 22 West Ham United (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 A real killer. Deserved a point. Damn
October 15 Stoke City (2) 2 Sunderland (0) Another inadequate performance that offers little hope
October 1 Sunderland (0) 1 West Bromwich Albion (1) 1 Awful lot of cracks to paper over
September 24 Sunderland (1) 2 Crystal Palace (0) 3 Shambolic defending, barely of Wearside League quality
EFL Cup 3rd Round: September 21 QPR (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 2 *Paddy McNair our new Defoe? No but…
September 18: Tottenham Hotspur 1 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) Point lost thanks to traditional defensive howler
September 12 Sunderland 0 (0) Everton 3 (0) Torn apart in an abysmal second half
August 27. Southampton 1 (0) Sunderland 1 (0) Disappointing at the end, as ever here
August 24. EFL Cup 2nd Round: Sunderland 1 (0) Shrewsbury Town 0 (0) Poor game settled by an excellent goal
August 21: Sunderland 1 (0) Middlesbrough 2 (2) Another season of struggle on the cards
August 13: Man City (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 1 Held them well but tired legs told

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Wasn’t there, and had a bad feeling about this game, so didn’t look for a feed. Seen the goals on sky, and they are shocking.DM is deluded, and a pessimist with a huge chip on his shoulder about his time at MU and in Spain. Not sure sacking him will save us, but don’t think he is the man to resurrect us.
We need to sell Coates, Lens, Kone, and PVA is we can get £10m , for him. But I’m not sure we would spend it effectively.
Looking forward to the Chosen One’s apologists coming on and trying to defend that. The idiot in his pre match with Nick Barnes said it was a must win. Only Butcher and McMenemy in my 40 odd years rate as badly as this clown
I won’t try and defend the performance or the result but blaming Moyes is too simplistic. He has to work with what he’s got and the truth is he is managing a team at a club that has been badly run for years. I know there are people who will defend Ellis Short because of the amount of money he has thrown at the club and because he is a “nice guy” but since he took over the Chairmanship from Quinny the club has gone from bad to worse. Bruce, O’Neill, Poyet, Advocaat aren’t bad mangers but all left hinting at deep rooted problems within SAFC. Hiring Di Canio was an error, always destined to end in tears even though he kept us up and Big Sam was looking distinctly unhappy before he got his dream job that soon became a nightmare.
Yes Short has invested heavily in the club but he has the personal wealth that is unimaginable to the vast majority of people in the world. It is like you or I winning the halftime “Grand in Your Hand” then chucking a quid in the bucket for Shiney Row and East Herrington Under 8’s Cub Scout Team. The majority of fans invest a bigger proportion of their income and overall wealth than Short does and what’s more an emotional investment, which is why we get so worked up about days like yesterday and those at Swansea and Burnley.
Spot on Malcolm.
Wilkinson was dire too. Not sure I would blame Moyes too much but I do think he will eventually resign. Who would or reasonably could blame him?