Saw this and thought I'd share..... http://www.sabotagetimes.com/footba...drop-james-mcclean-to-turn-sunderland-around/ We Sunderland fans are more than used to mediocrity, misery and dashed hopes â itâs pretty much all weâve known for decades now. Oh, apart from a brief period at the turn of the century when Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips combined to produce some football that was almost sexual to watch. Itâs been almost a year since genial Ulsterman Martin OâNeill swooshed into the Stadium Of Light, giving us renewed hope that finally, THIS was the man who could lead us to the promised land. That promised land being nothing more than a few top half finishes and maybe a cup final somewhere along the line. Fast forward eleven and a bit months and OâNeillâs tenure is at that crucial crossroads point. The club got an immediate adrenaline boost when he arrived, as he organised the players, instilled some much-needed belief and racked up a sackful of points by deploying a canny counter-attacking style. But once Premier League safety had been assured with a couple of months of last season remaining, the wins dried up. And they still havenât returned. And weâre almost a third of the way into the season. And weâre all getting a bit jittery. We havenât had a bad season per se â we just havenât got out of first gear. This time last month weâd still only lost once, and defeat came at the home of the champions. But weâve just lost three on the spin, including a turgid home loss against lower league rivals Middlesbrough in the Capital One Cup. It already looks like the kind of run that drains teams of confidence and sends them into a tailspin. At the start of the season, we could have been forgiven for thinking we were too good for a relegation battle but that now looks like folly. The illness isnât hard to diagnose. Essentially, weâre bereft of creativity, with our wide men suffering from chronically poor form. New signing Adam Johnson is taking his time settling in, which is no surprise given how little football he got to play at Manchester City. Over on the other flank, James McClean has struggled to find the performances he put in when he burst into the Sunderland side a year ago. Maybe itâs harder for him because opposing defenders are more aware of his game; maybe his headâs been turned by being fast-tracked into the big time. Time will tell. Then thereâs Stephane Sessegnon, who has played the role of bewildering enigma over the past few months. Capable of game-changing brilliance and previously able to chip in with his share of goals, heâs playing like someone who isnât sure he wants to be where he is any more. Maybe he shouldnât be. All of that absence of creative endeavour is leaving new signing Steven Fletcher looking more than a bit lost up front. The Scot started the season with a great run of goals but these have dried up as the teamâs results have dipped. The fact that Newcastleâs Demba Ba was our top scorer for October (with one own goal) has not helped to appease the fans, who are rapidly becoming uncomfortable with how the season is shaping up. Itâs all salvageable but OâNeill needs to make the right decisions during the January transfer window and be backed by the clubâs owner Ellis Short. Seeing as the manager seems to see Louis Saha only as an impact player from the bench, a new, proven forward is required to cause some trouble in and around the penalty area and help lighten Fletcherâs load. If it was up to me, Iâd let Johnson play his way through his form loss and leave McClean on the bench, where he can watch and learn. Iâd play Sessegnon in a free-ish role starting on the opposing flank to Johnson and see if he can cause more havoc in a less central role than the one heâs occupying now. But thereâs no doubt that something has to change â itâs going to be a long, tough winter for Sunderland and loitering just above the bottom three is not the place that a team that canât score goals needs to be at the beginning of it.
He's out of form, so drop him. Simple, really. Obviously MON knows what's going on inside the club more than us, but from what we can see a spell on the bench would do him some good.
Why would a mag, who's team is hardly setting the world on fire, posting stuff about us? I'd be more worried if I were a mag than a Mackem. Our players looked much better on Saturday down at a very good Everton, than your lot did 24 hours later, at home to a very poor west ham. Even with us playing ****e, it took a 92nd minute equalizer from them to stop us taking all 3 points down at their gaff only a few short weeks ago. There is more trouble up the road than ever there is here and they have their cockney Muppet signed up for 8 more years yet.
Oh Cest... I've missed you It's called sharing information, like some of your decent lads do with us from time to time. If 'more trouble up the road than ever there is here' means we are still 6 places about SAFC at the end of the season I'll take that now tbh. now give us a ****ing kiss big boy! x
After 10 games its hardly time for sitting comfortably. You are only a couple of games away from being behind us kidda and we still have a game in hand at home. We have 28 games to go before I would be shouting to loudly and pointing fingers, as I've been burned too many times in your shoes before.
