I did something yesterday I have never done before, I left with 10 minutes to go and TBH I knew I would be at half time. This could turn into a ramble and I donât have or will I try to give the answers, will just try and explain how I feel and why, but first. I logged off last night, I understand how this is a forum, I understand how we all have opinions and I certainly understand that all is not well and things need changing. I donât understand how people can jump in with Quinn out he is a liar, sorry Bobby its your opinion but to me its irresponsible, disrespectful kneejerking of the highest order, not fact just my opinion. I have been a big Bruce supporter, not because I think he is the greatest manager or even because he is a nice man, I just think sacking managers is a last resort, sadly I left early yesterday feeling that the last resort had arrived. My over riding emotion was sorrow, so much sorrow and probably starting with feeling sorry for myself, but leaving me to one side. Sorrow for Short, a man I watched arriving with his family and who must have been sitting there thinking, what am I doing, thousands of miles from home, millions out of pocket and its all gone so wrong. Sorrow for Quinn, a good man, a decent man and IMO an honorable man who backs his manager to the hilt. I can only assume how he felt, wanting the manager to succeed, knowing the owner will have questions to ask and probably feeling like me, lost for answers. Sorrow for Bruce because he looked like a man who knows, he had no answers and TBH I cant see how he will find them for next weekend. We started yesterday with a 4-4-1-1 with Sess on the LW and Gardner behind Benbtner, I wont even ask why it was Gardner. After 20 minutes we changed to 4-4-2 with Sess beside Bendtner and Colback on the wing. We ended with, well Iâm not sure what, can anyone tell me our best 11 or formation? Sorrow for the players who looked lost, unsure and puzzled, they are not bad players but are somehow managing to play like they are. Sorrow for my fellow fans who turned up to be given a kick in the balls even before we started with Bent replay 2. I do agree with Bobby that questions need asking and Garry Bennet on radio Newcastle made me sit up and listen with 2 things he said. 1. Talking about strikers he said,âEveryone close to Sunderland knows the club worked hard to get a striker, had a deal agreed with a world class striker, the player wanted to come but the powers that be would not sign off the dealâ. Simple question, why not? You either back your manager or you sack your manager. 2. Bruce was telling the truth when he said on Friday that Gyan was staying and had to get his head right. Now my question is did Bruce come to work on Saturday thinking Gyan was still here, was the Gyan deal done behind his back. Whatever the answers its obvious, looking in from the outside, that we have hit that time when for whatever reason, and it no longer matters to me the why, its just that time when a fresh start seems the only answer. Its not the answer I want, not the one OI had hoped for and I still hope, forlorn hope but hope none the less, that everything will turn out fine, I simple no longer believe it. So yes Iâm sorry for me because I feel that its a very sad day for my club.
This is quite worrying if true.... As for the rest........guess we're outta answers..but the team was near-enough the team we expected to be put out.. Why are they so bad? No idea, Sure it will all come down to Bruce again, who knows maybe they're right.
Right out of answers mate, I sat numb yesterday with no surprises, no answers and no idea how we get out of it. Not angry just sad that so much promise is again gone.
Sad. Absolutely not. We as a club will survive Bruces sacking without a blink imo. What we will not survive is another week with him in charge. Anyone of 3 or 4 alternative men would improve our team, morale aof overall demeanor. That many more fans are now accepting at last that Bruce is the problem and not the answer, fills me with hope ane happiness. A new fresh feel to our club will change the fortunes of us all. O Neill, Hughes, Curbishley or an ambitious try for Moyes and our season kicks on. Stay with Bruce and we are ****ed for sure.
Morning Chaps, I have to say, when I turned on SSN yesterday morning, and saw the news of Gyan leaving scrolling along the bottom, i felt sick. Not that I was hungover sick, but sick that yet again its our club. I personally couldnt give two jots about Gyan, he hasnt looked himself for weeks, and theres no point having a player there who does not want to be here. So Asamoah, good luck, you'll need it, as you wont be welcomed back to the Premier league again, let alone SAFC. For years and years we have all endured the same, the promise of big things, big owners coming in, then the players, and then suddenly when they put their boots on, they forget how to play football. Yesterday was a prime example, apart from Wes Brown, the lot of them looked puzzled and petrified to actually play 'their game', now as cyprus says, I dont know the answers why, but players like Gardner, who was great for Brum last year has not become a bad player overnight. Ive just watched MOTD again, and the game that stands out is Arsenal v Swansea. Swanseas team has been built on a shoe string, and yet they looked accompliched, had quality in attack, (Graham was unlucky 3-4 times). Mr Bruce has spent millions, fair enough got alot back, but still spent millions, and then we go and play like that. SOrry for the long essay, Im just so disappointed.
Good Morning Syd. The sun is shining, it's a beautiful day and I hoped you enjoyed your walk with Osca this morning? Commenting on the DAY of a match is not a good idea imho, and some - I say SOME - of the comments on here last night were a bit OTT. To say events in the build up to the match took us by a suprise is an understatement, and I would hazard a guess it did absolutely nothing for the manager and players either?!?! I did not enjoy yesterday, and this is the time where we shall see if SB has the skills necessary to produce points. I also picked up on your report of the Benno comment, and NQ has been conspicuous by his recent silence. Recently SAFC's lack of skill in COMMUNICATING with the fans has become very apparent - time for some truths to get us all pulling in the right direction. KTF
Can you see honestly see Bruce being sacked before Stoke? I can't. I've tried to defend him, sacking a manager this early is a terrible position to be in. Strangely when I came on last night to see a thread saying Bruce sacked I almost fwt relieved and kind of wanted it to be true. I'm trying to think of positive examples of when the axe has been wielded early in a campaign. Two spring to mind. Tottenham were languishing in the relegation places then in stepped a certain Harry and with that same team rocketed them up the table. Blackburn couple of seasons ago looked dead and buried, they brought in Big Sam and he guided them up the league. I can't help but feel Bruce is a dead man walking. How apt would it be if a group of former Sunderand players not deemed good enough fire the final nail in his coffin next Sunday?
Being a Canary I like to see you Black Cats do well and it is not good to see what is happening up at the SOL though it does gives us a little belief we might beat you in a fortnight (we need the points too!). Anytime after that, you will have a dramatic improvement (I hope)
I can't. For me, Stoke is his last chance saloon. Lose, if we play like we did yesterday is almost a formality and Bruce is gone.
IF Bruce goes who do we get? MoN **** on the villa fans from a great height. Spat his dummy out and walked away with 2 days of the window left I think. (he also spent a lot of money at villa for football which wasn't.great to watch. Effective but ugly. I'm not defending Bruce here but I think sacking brush (and the £xmillion payoff) is unlikely. Gyan, as Bruce said after the match, has certainly not gone for footballing reasons. I don't blame Bruce for that. Something needs to happen but I wonder, if we win our next 3, what people will say. We are 4 games into the season.20 years ago they never published a league table . Now we have one after 1 game. Beat Stoke and Norwich and the gloom will suddenly be lifted a bit. The BoB will still ne out in force but there may be a few less of them. Lose the next 2 and I'll be so far off the fence the splinters will be a distant memory
Bruce has got to go now.He hasn't got a clue how to turn things around,and the sooner he goes,the better it is for our club.Dead man walking is the obvious comment.I could go on and quantify my reasons further,but there is no need.He has lost the fans,and it looks like he is losing the dressing-room.Thank you and goodbye,Brucie.
Don't want to but have to agree. His time's up for me. Others have called for his head before now, I was willing to give him a little longer but enough is enough. He cut the figure of a man defeated on the touchline yesterday. I lost count of how many times he turned around and stared to the heavens for answers. He still continues to play players out of position and hasn't filled prime areas everyone else knew we needed to strengthen. I still can't believe we didn't start 4-4-2 with two 'proper' strikers yesterday. I'd rather see us lose 1-4 but have a good go than be forced to watch that drivel that was dished up yesterday.
Lets face it folks, Bruce is clueless, I know a lot of you have had and some still do, have great faith in the man, but for me the man, nice as he may be, is not a manager, not for a club of the stature of what Sunderland should be, he is holding us back, how much longer do you want mediocraty, me Ive had enough, since long before clueless joined us, how many chances do you give him, If I was as poor at getting results in my profession as he is in his, how many chances do you think Id get? so isnt it time, he wont resign, not with the payoff dough at stake. so where do we go from here? because IMO Stoke are going to thump us. and how many folks will throw good money away to watch that? the crowds are thinning as it is, Ellis must hard and dump him quick as poss.
Regarding Bruce and being sacked. Yes I believe he has lost the plot, the players & the fans, however Martin O'neill. FFS no. Aston Villa normally came here and won but the football was utter w*nk. Soak up pressure and counter attack. imo it was crap to watch. Not sure who to get but please not him.
I dont think many do see Bruce as the great manager Bill, I can only speak for me but its not a blind faith in Bruce that I have its that sacking the manager is the very last resort for me. I still dont want him sacked but simply cant give an argument for him staying, if you understand what I mean.
To be honest lads I was all for Bruce to go after yesterday, but then I watched his interview and spoke with some of the stewards and people working at the sol. I think the problem is above Bruce. Something is not right at the club, if that's true changing the manager is not going to be the solution, to me Bruce looks like a man with his hands tied. He was possibly expecting to have Gyan plus another wold class striker, now he has neither, Bruces fault?? Maybe not. As for our play, well it was not terrible but it also was not exciting? 2-1 against Chelsea is not a bad result but that maybe does not tell the whole story. We need some answers and we need them now
I think you will find O'Neills problem was Lerner promising him one thing and then reneging on that promise in the transfer window. O Neill has operated at the bottom level on no money just as effectively as he has with money and it was the principle of being conned he objected to. Villa were top 6 for two or three years on the trot under that 'ugly' football mate and I'd settle for some of that. Also, he won 2 trophies at Leicester spending **** all and building a team instead. He has all the credentials for us as a club right now. Martin O Neill may not be everyones cup of tea but I would bet my whole annual salary he could get more out of the half decent squad we have currently, than the clueless Muppet we have picking the team yesterday. O Neill in on Monday and the Stoke game will be a winning start. Bruce will be lucky to send out a team capable or in the right frame of mind to get a draw. Thats the difference.
Marcus : "Gyan, as Bruce said after the match, has certainly not gone for footballing reasons. I don't blame Bruce for that." I do think both Bent and Gyan went for footballing reasons, and I do blame Bruce. It reminds me a bit of the John Barnes situation. At Watford, the opposition knew 'snuff out Barnes and you snuff out Watford'. They just put three defenders on him. But at Liverpool, you had Beardsley and Rush/Aldridge to think about. You couldn't mark Barnes so heavily - and he shone. Without a threat from anywhere else, defences know if they just crowd Bent (later Gyan) out they've got us stuffed. Add to that the fact that Sunderland play no accurate balls to feet, and it leaves a lone striker flogging like a donkey all game, every game. Is it any wonder, Darren and Asamoah's heads went down? We're flogging these poor sods to death with one-up-front. I think Bent and Gyan were two smashing lads who came to a good club and had the joy squashed out of them. With help up front, I think they'd have shone. And after he'd alienated two top-class strikers inside two years, what did he do yesterday? - He played one-up-front! Ach, to hell with it - get rid. Perhaps 'goodbye' is all that ever will get through to him.
Sorry I dont agree at all, Sunderland are not the only team to play 4-5-1 and you dont see the strikers of other teams that play as the loan striker, sulking and pissing off to pastures new every transfer window, just so they can play in a 2. Strikers have to adapt to either a 1 or a 2, if they cant, then they are not very good strikers, and Bent can do it, also Gyan can do it, and have done it previously, so not sure why they would spit their dummy out when asked to play like that for us.
