Gus Poyet is reaching the same conclusion as Paolo Di Canio about many of his Sunderland players - he's just expressing it in a more subtle way. The Sunderland head coach leads his side into an enjoyable diversion from their league troubles tonight, in the CapitalOne Cup semi final against Manchester United. Win or lose it will be a noisy occasion and some light relief away from the Premier League. Maybe Mackem dreams will come true against an unusually vulnerable United? Whatever the result, Poyet knows Sunderland are at a crossroads this month. Top flight survival will be made possible, or slip away, by actions on and off the pitch. There is no doubt the club is a more stable, united place since Di Canio was sacked in September after star men revolted and told the club's board they could no longer work with him. The Italian told it how he saw it. A mistake on the pitch, was a mistake millions had witnessed, and he wasn't shy of discussing it. A debate blew up about the rights and wrongs of Di Canio supposedly criticising his players in public. And about how players reacted to hearing such home truths. Di Canio clearly needed to reign in some of the worst excesses of his personality, and how he demonstrated his feelings. Could it be Poyet is reaching the same levels of frustration? Take a look at this quote: "I'm not going to go with the same group of players to the end of the season because if I do it's going to be more difficult. I am close to running out of patience." Di Canio at his most vicious and outspoken? No, this was Poyet last Friday, two days after admitting he was "fed up" after Sunderland lost to Aston Villa. It was a clear public message to owner Ellis Short that his current squad is not good enough. That they won't survive unless there is an injection of fresh talent this month. Poyet added: "We've been here now (at the bottom of the league) this season for five months. I'm not just talking about me, there was also the previous manager and Kevin Ball as a caretaker with this group of players, and we're still bottom. I need to choose well and make sure that we get the (new players) that can really help us to change the season around." Poyet, like Di Canio, is a manager who can't disguise his emotions. Some bosses hide behind a poker face, and trot out fit-to-the-situation cliches when explaining their sides performances. Up or down, angry or happy, fed up with his players or mildly satisfied, Poyet never shirks from showing what the incredibly tough job at the Stadium of Light is doing to his mood. We've seen him looking totally despondent, slumped on a chair, rock-bottom after a defeat. We've seen him full of wit after positive results. It is a fascinating, gut-wrenching roller-coaster to witness. Sunderland can't secure survival in the next three weeks, but they can go a long way to condemning themselves. Good possession and a calmer style of play, fostered by Poyet, now needs to be allied with more subtlety in the last third of the pitch. They have to get Steven Fletcher, their best striking hope, scoring regularly. The other sparks, Fabio Borini and Emanuel Giaccherini, need to be more consistent and grab goals. Off the pitch they could do with signing a creative midfielder who is athletic, full of running power and energy. It will be hard for owner Short to part with more cash, and instigate another reshuffle, given the financial armageddon relegation will cause, but Poyet's growing frustration, and ability to express it diplomatically, shows it may be one gamble he has to take. Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...land-face-make-or-break-2997128#ixzz2piWdTCdF Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook
I think the comparison is apt .............. Di Canio must have been appalled at the slovenly social club the players were running under MON. No wonder they went whinging to the headmistress when he asked them to buck their ideas up. How can their 'professional pride' have been hurt when they don't act like professionals on or off the pitch. The more I watch Poyet's struggles the more I believe Di Canio was justified ................ i suspect Poyet will blow up but just has a longer fuse than the Italian. These players have taken us to the bottom, got rid of 'the problem' then ironically proved, beyond doubt, where the real problem was all along. I've never disliked so many players in a Sunderland team, who signed all these knackers?
I don't think PDC was sacked for intentions, just the way he went about achieving them, whether verbal, physical, in-house or in the public eye.
Poyet seems to displaying all of Di Canio's traits but is desperately trying to keep suppress them ............. these players would try the patience of a saint.
You can just imagine ES's face when Gus went into his office and told him pretty much the whole squad are ****! "Not fit for purpose guv" - in more ways than one! The way I felt after the Villa match was probably, no definitely, worse than after we lost to Charlton in the Wembley play-off final. Totally demoralised! I actually said to my mate that after all these years of continually shattered pre-season hopes, that maybe I should pick a club closer to where I live down here and start supporting them instead! Never said that before!
It would take a brave man to do it but getting rid of JOS, Catts, Johnson and Fletcher might be the solution. To me these four are part of the problem, all 3 seem to have bit of an attitude problem and blow hot and cold on the pitch, if they don't fancy it for whatever reason they don't turn up. 4 of our best players maybe but think of what you could do with the money?? Buy/Loan Demba Ba, Heitinga, Milner & Bridcut .................Mannone................. .Bardsley..Heitinga..Brown..Alonso. .................KI.....Bridcut........... .Giaccarini.....Milner...........Borini. ...................Ba.......................
We have so many players I can't abide and I've always tried to see the best of every Sunderland player. There are too many players with a 'drink' question' hanging over the ............ Bardsley, Cattermole, AJ, O'Shea all strike me as being half-arsed which I despise. Players without any ambition make me sick and we have Wickham who'll never make it and Graham who never has. The kid Watmore did more in his brief appearance than many of the team have done all season. It's ****ing simple isn't it ........... get the ball, run at defenders & get them turning, get near the goal by whatever means and get a shot away
PDC was and remains a complete idiot, incapable of ever managing at a decent level - there is a good little piece from Don Hutchinson in the Mirror today where he talks about him, as a player and person in their time at West Ham and the appointment here. He said PDC has no social skills and will never make a top class manager. There isn't a single Sunderland fan who didn't already know that our squad was **** BEFORE PDC was appointed. However, what we needed was someone to manage that situation and then develop and change that problem, just as Gus is doing now. What we got was a friggin idiot who managed to make everything 10 times worse but with little or no plans to improve it other than publicly slate every player and fall out with them all whilst we lost 7 out of the first 8 games this season. Thankfully, Short came to his senses and appointed a quality manager.
This is the perfect summary ^. Short needs to see that, (if he hasn`t already), and do something about it. Let Gus have his way is the only answer as far as I can see. Enough investment now to keep us up and, in the summer, all the ****e out and good investment for next season. It really is up to Short to trust Gus to deliver. Either he has confidence in him or he doesn`t.
I doubt he's the right person to lecture anyone ......... he was chucked out of Liverpool for being unprofessional and regularly boasts about his drunken escapades during his career. IIRC he was chucked out of West Ham after another drunken incident, a dozen bookings and at least one sending off in his first season. Exactly the kind of unambitious 'too fond of a drink' career wasting knacker that we're lumbered with now ........ I also can't remember him winning owt either tbh.
The same bunch that spat out their dummies & got Di Canio sacked, Gus Poyet will have to be careful they don't do the same to him, although I like to think that Ellis Short would tell to stop whingeing & get on with what they are paid a lot of money to do!
I blame MON, that idiot spent a fortune and made us a worse team not a better one. He bought planks like Graham who were never going to be accepted here. PDC was just picking up the pieces he was left from the MON disaster. I actually think PDC was right in the fact the players needed a kick up the backside. He just underestimated player power and their ability to go crying to the board when the going go tough. PDC was out of his depth but his intentions honest. If you want someone to blame for the state were in blame MON.
