I take no pleasure in saying this but the reality of the situation has to be seen for what it is. After a good start to the season and an optimistic new year we have been dragged into the fringes of a relegation battle that no one at the club saw coming. I don't think that we will finish in the bottom 3 but I no longer think that we will finish in the top ten , a finish that appeared nailed on mid-Feb. I don't accept that we have been unlucky or that we have had a bad run of fixtures against the top teams and I don't see the "easy run in " that has been banded about since mid-Feb. why have we turned into a team that can no longer score (or look like scoring) and a team that can't defend (did we realy keep 11 clean sheets) A good indication of where teams are in the league apart from the obvious points one is goal difference, if you look at the table and look at the goal difference it pretty much reflects the positions in the league. Have we punched above our weight and are only just finding our actual level, or are the players who we thought would take us to the next level not realy as good as we think. The 2 lads we brought in , in the window has certainley not met our expectations, Jordan Henderson in my opinion is barely a premiership level player yet a lot of our fans and more worryingly our manager put him in the 20 million bracket and play him week in and week out even though his form says he shouldn't be. I think loosing Darren Bent ( and not finding a replacement) has had a very detremental effect on our team. I don't care what type of person he has turned out to be but we were a much better team with him. I do accept that injuries have played a part in our down turn but this is part and parcel of top flight football and should not be used as an excuse. Do we blame the players or the manager, I think it is equal, is it worrying, very. I would like anyone to come on here and convince me I am wrong, over reacting call it what you like. But try and do it without looking through "red and white" glasses.
Not happy but will try mate, We are 6 points from a relegation spot we are also 6 points from a 7th place finish. We will be lucky to get 7th to be honest 10th is a bit far away now as well but, we will not go down. We can right off this season now (the team already have) and we still have 4 home games left happy days. Glass is half full now mind you I'm onto my fifth one.
AsI have just itten in another thread. In my opinion Bruce simply isn't a natural motivator and that'swhat's lacking. Big question Mark against Hederson
Understatement of the year that one Micky, he's ****ing shocking and the one player on the pitch who you would expect to show some fight.
I think that's only half the problem, One Chance. It's not just the fact that we're losing regularly ; it's how we're losing. Would you mind if I re-vamped your question? - when was the last time we turned up? We had unfortunate goals against us earlier in the season - Fabregas, Torres, etc. But we just carried on and got something. A couple of weeks ago, we played well against Liverpool, got one bad rub of the green ... and promptly turned belly up. It's not the same Sunderland now, is it? Something's gone out of this team, and I don't know how to get it back. Looking at it rationally, I've got to say we'll be biting our nails by May 1st. Bruce-Quinny : good thoughtful post. Thanks.
