Haven’t read it yet, but will later, at the moment still on the shelf but easing towards get did. He doesn’t seem to be exciting anybody as far as I can see.
Talks very well off the pitch! But i’ve seen nothing on the field that can convince me he is the one to take the club forward! I cant see any evidence of a kind of style of play he wants to instil here that can take us forward
In his first 12 months, individually, we've played well for about 4 of them. I'll give him a generous 3 month 'break' when we wouldn't have been playing playing. So that leaves 5 months. 5 months which have comfortably been the worst football I've ever seen following Sunderland. The urgent problem is we simply can't afford another Lj bad streak this season. My gut reaction is to get rid but a nuisanced one is that I'd like them to buy a real midfield enforcer to protect the likes of Neil etc and see what happens with a fitter squad.
I can look past it if we are averaging 2 points a game. I'm not a fan of the bloke, but if he gets us promoted then I'll be happy
When Johnson was appointed we were in 7th place on 24 points from 14 games. We also had a squad riddled with mediocrity (Matthews, Burge, McLaughlin, Power, Scowen, Dobson, Grigg, Maguire etc) As it stands today, we have young and talented players in the squad, many of whom who could improve as we go up the leagues. Of course, the most important thing is there here and now. As stands we 5th place, 36 points from 19 games in terms of league position is a slight improvement, in terms of PPG we are better off (1.9 v 1.7) but still short of the magic 2 PPG mark that pretty much guarantees promotion. I think Johnson gets a bit of leeway (from me at least) for the injury situation - 9 1st teamers out on Sat was it? - and whilst we still have the majority of our key players (Hoffmann, Doyle, Neil, Embleton, Stewart, Broadhead) the constant changing or personnel in defence is harming the team A few weeks ago I was all for making a change, but I've seen some guts and some fight in the team over the last 4 league games (I'm not counting the Pizza Cup game) and I think we are in a reasonable position to challenge but January is a massive month (when isn't it?) and we absolutely have to strengthen some key areas. Some genuine competition for Ross Stewart, not to mention bolstering the central and wide midfield positions is essential Win the next 2 and we suddenly go into Xmas in very good shape in fact, looking at the Dec, Jan and Feb fixtures there's not a lot there to scare us.
I’ve not read his interview but agree with many elements of your post. January is critical and ideally we need to get our business done quickly and we must address the lack of physical presence at CB and CM. I’d agree to an extent with you also about winning the next two but we’ve repeatedly blown fixtures like this throughout our time in this League so I’m taking nothing for granted. We really need to make home advantage count this week and ideally significantly reduce the chasm in GD in the process. Fingers crossed.
Seems like a decent enough bloke, but I simply don't know enough about football to be any kind of judge of his abilities as a manager. But I hope to hell he's better than some of us fear, that he gets us promoted, and doesn't get the sack. Not only to get us moving back to where we belong, but also because I'm getting too old to remember all the managers we've had in the last 10 years. For example, I'd completely forgotten about Coleman until he was mentioned somewhere on this forum recently. There's no way I could list all the managers we've had since, say Keane. I know I'd forget somebody, and while some of that's on me, some of it's on the chaos we've lived of late too. There surely has to be more continuity than we've known in the last 10 years if we're to build a solid base for the future.
Johnson is better than that absolute dinosaur. **** Parkinson. Now managing in the national league I’m embarrassed that he was at SAFC.
Whilst I agree, I’m not sure who would excite us. Neil Warnock? I’d rather have my Grandad in charge and he died 20 years ago and hated football!!! The only way we get an exciting manager is get promoted. I’m still on the fence (or back on it) but saw some important shoots of improvement at the weekend. Time will tell I guess
OK performances are not convincing but we are still in a decent position. I'm not saying things are Hunky Dory and of course things could quickly go downhill I don't think he's doing particularly badly. Only here a year, would certainly not sack him at this particular moment in time and who would we replace him with??
Replacing a manager is, as you say, always the hardest bit. We are on just shy of 2ppg right now. We are in the League Cup quarter final, have a really young team and a lot of injuries. Let's say the club decided to sack Johnson. Given the fact that the owner has declared openly his desire for a long term approach, how could he ever be taken seriously again, if he sacjed the manager he appointed when he is more or less on target to achieving his goal, and exceeding it in one of the cups? I realise that is a positive view of things, but the point regarding outside perception holds: Since Keane, we have had three owners and managers I have lost count of. Other people aren't Sunderland supporters like us. Managers particularly, ( especially if they are youngish and want to work to a long term plan) have to judge their moves carefully, as they don't get many chances to make an impression. Our recent history would be a big red light warning them to stay clear if, after five months, yet another man was sacked, after doing reasonably well. That said we need to escape this league. I'm sure Johnson knows that, and I'm sure the owner will expect it too. But no case for change now IMO, despite Johnson's flaws.
