Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith should have been sitting next to me today, I had to cry off – wife unwell – but watched on the TV what I thought was far from a bottom-of-the-table performance. It just wasn’t quite good enough and we lost anyway. Grabban should have scored minutes before we inevitably succumbed to a smart Boro move, aided by the usual slack defending. On BBC Radio Newcastle, Benno said the timing of substitutions was again questionable: ‘where are we going to get a win from? I don’t know’. Nick Barnes: ‘Fantastic Grabban chance … [then] huffed and puffed but really didn’t cause Boro any problems second half.’ Sixer’s verdict is the one that counts and he has seen enough wretched play this season, and for the past 50, to be entitled to his even harsher judgement …
November 5 Middlesbrough 1 (1) Sunderland 0 (0) Bottom of the league and deservedly so. Sixer’s second and third thoughts offerings were scarcely more positive: lack pace and strength and lots more and No pace or physicality and nothing creative
And no, you don’t think Wear-Tees/Tees-Wear is a derby. Polling closes tomorrow – click here to register yours – but the voting so far shows nearly 58 per cent believe Wear-Tyne is our only derby. That IS a landslide …
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October 31 Sunderland 3 (1) Bolton Wanderers 3 (3) Neither the result nor performance good enough
October 28 Sunderland 1 (1) Bristol City 2 (1) Hopeless and clueless. Add embarrassing to that.
October 21 Brentford 3 (1) Sunderland 3 (3) * Two in front yet lucky to survive
October 14 Sunderland (0) 1 Queens Park Rangers (1) 1 The elusive home win seems miles away
September 30 Preston North End (0) 2Sunderland (1) 2 * Seriously entertaining and well worth the point
September 26 Ipswich Town 5 (2) Sunderland (1) 2 Sunderland’s defending plummets to unheard of depths
September 23 Sunderland 1 (0) Cardiff City 2 (1) Undoubtedly the worst Sunderland team I’ve watched
September 20 League Cup 3rd Round: Everton (1) 3 Sunderland (0) 0 * Never looked like scoring, let alone winning
September 16 Hull City 1 (0) Sunderland 1 (1) Hung on but not a sparkling performance
September 12 Sunderland 0 (0) Nottingham Forest 1 (o) Some improvement but we lack any punch
September 9 Sunderland 1 (0) Sheffield United 2 (1) no tactics, appalling team selection,
total embarrassment
August 26 Barnsley 3 (2) Sunderland 0 (0) Alarm bells clanging after a dreadful performance
August 22 League Cup: Carlisle United (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 2 Classy finish by Gooch masks scrappy performance
August 19 SAFC 0 (0) Leeds United 2 (1) Weaknesses exposed by a solid Leeds team
August 16 Sheffield Wednesday (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1 Looked tired in second half. Decent point
August 13 Norwich City 1 (0) Sunderland 3 (1) Very well organised and three cracking goals
August 8 League Cup: Bury 0 (0) Sunderland (0) 1 Hardly convincing but a win’s a win
August 4 2017 Sunderland (1) 1 Derby County (1) 1 Encouraging second half. Something to build on
Awful game from two poor teams. Boo were no better than us, but that’s no comfort at all. The difference was that they took their chance (poor defending from Jones) while we didn’t take ours. Other than that it was more of the boring rubbish we’ve endured all season.
John, kind words butter no parsnips – or some such rubbish. I don’t think we have any pace or heart in the team and club. I didn’t think much of Middlesbrough but they did the simple things better than we did. Cattermole and Gibson were totally eclipsed by Leadbitter and Howson. I think we will go down unless there is a huge change of mentality within the club and on the pitch. Ndong (our sole bright spark) will leave in January. Desperate times.
As a Boro fan, I am obviously delighted with the win, but I must say that Sunderland did not look to me like a bottom of the table team. They worked extremely hard and should have had a couple of goals before we scored. Randolph’s save from Grabban was exceptional and lucky to boot.
The midfield gave us as many problems as any other team has this season, but your second half lack of shots must be worrying. I certainly think a win or two can turn your season around. Despite what fans are saying, you have the players. I was particularly impressed with the substitute who took over when Jones was injured. He was very quick and supported the attacks very well. Just happened to be our day today and we haven’t had many at home this season !
Hey John. As a guy who grew up in Peterlee, and was a firm Sunderland fan. But, as a child spent more time at Ayresome Park than Roker, thank you kindly.
I did not expect Sunderland to be as low as they are. Mid table was the expectation.
Personally, I would have given Simon Grayson 2 seasons,and I would support John O’Shea right now. I feel I am in the minority. Well, I live almost 200 miles away have seen more Boro games than Sunderland. It just sticks in my head, that game where we lost to Liverpool; and were relegated in I have always stuck by the underdog. Sadly Sunderland are perennial underdogs. Thank you for your kind words.Hopefully,we will rebuild.