Monsieur Salut writes: No Pete Sixsmith at the Hawthorns. He wisely gave himself a day off from the drudgery and misery of supporting Sunderland and caught a game (and maybe some decent fish and chips) at Whitby. Another wretched defeat, 2-0 as I am afraid I predicted at ESPN, and we’re where we probably deserve to be, bottom place. Gary Bennett told BBC Radio Newcastle listeners we were ‘all over the place’, ‘lost’ and lacking a leader. It must be all too easy to play against Sunderland, he added. At least we have no game next weekend, said Nick Barnes; ‘we’ll still lose,’ came Gary’s reply. George Honeyman, on his league debut, came closest to offering that leadership Benno craved. No other positives …
Jan 21 West Bromwich Albion (2) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 * Wretched. Wretched. Wretched. Wretched. But bravo Honeyman or Sunderland torn to shreds at the Hawthorns
Jan 17 FA Cup 3rd Round Replay: Burnley (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 Now we can fully concentrate on relegation.
And a second – This team will struggle in the Championship
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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Peter would have had some decent fish and chips in Whitby but he won’t have got them from The Magpie!