Now hear me out A lot of people are on here saying how bad things are at the club - me included. I wonder if we are a little short sighted in this - look at the clubs history - as Reg said on another post recently - this is our longest sustained period in the top division in most of our lives (definitely mine) - so I'm going to list a few things relating to this from my lifetime: 1. 15 Point season 2. 19 Point season 3. Gareth Hall, Tore Andre Flo (Etc Etc) 4. Complete yoyo club for 20+ years 5. We still have 4 or 5 games against teams around us - 3 home games against Norwich, Stoke and Southampton which we should be looking to win Things are not as bad as they have been in the past - the only thing that is different is our expectation - Personally I have renewed my season ticket regardless of which division we are in but that's just me. Now I agree we have higher expectation and why shouldn't we? (Relative) success breeds a desire for more success. Need 3 points this week and go from there
For me not renewing season ticket has nothing to do with which league we'll be playing in. Its all down to O'Niells **** boaring tactics. If he's still here I'm not. If he goes I'll renew, and I'm by no means the only one. I know quite a few ticket holders who say they are not even going this week end. His style of play or lack of it has board me ****less.
I honestly think we have been far, far worse to watch in the past, so it is one of my theories that it is the depressing air of doom and gloom, which seems to be the match day norm these days, which is making things seem much worse than they actually are..
I think its a lot to do with what we have bought, Keane spent 80 million, Bruce 10 million (not bad but some were in and then out the door under him) and MON has spent £20 million in basically 2 windows (1 year) and we are still no better off (well maybe a little) than we were in our worst seasons, we probably have a better/more expensive players than reid`s 2 7th place finishes but yet we are still languishing in the relegation zones. I think we all believed in the 2 bad seasons, we didnt have the funds or the players to compete at PL level so relegation was not a surprise (points were), these days we have been in the PL for 5-6 years and tbh we should be doing better. Now, anyone can beat anyone on their day so I am not like some who think we should just turn up and beat "****" as that never happens in football, if it did then there would be no romance in the FA cup and football would be boring, but I do think over a 38 game season we should be well clear of the drop and mid table with not much to worry about come this stage of the season. Yes, we all think we are probably better than Swansea, Fulham, Stoke, WBA but for some reason we just are not, AV fans probably think the same and we think Reading, QPR, Southampton should be pushovers, but as we have seen, they are fighting for their lives so it makes every game hard. Answer is, I dont have the foggiest tbh, Sacking MON now would be daft though and this is going against the norm on here (i have been reading just not posting at all my GPU decided to give up the ghost so just been on my kindle fire HD for 3 months) but I do think that if we manage to stay up we need someone new next season, if we go down, and if MON doesnt resign I personally think MON is the best man to get us back out of that league and back to where we are.
Yes marcus, you keep believing that, supporters like you are the reason why I come on this site to have a laugh at. Your a dreamer, start living in the real world and accept the fact that MoN is a **** manager and we are probably going to get relegated. What makes you think that our 3 home games against Norwich, Stoke and Soton are potential 3 points? On our current form we will be lucky to get draws out of these games, with Man Utd and Chelsea coming up after Norwich, we will be well and truly in a relegation fight. Simple answer is to get rid of MoN, he is solely responsible for the position we are in, playing players out of position, playing 4-5-1 95% of the season and some terrible substitutions along the way. But all will be well, because marcusblack cat knows best haha.
And of course you know better eh? So let's sack O'Neil now, now lets see ... near the end of the season ... that always works out well doesn't it? But hey, thanks for posting, it's always nice to hear the views of a talking dildo please log in to view this image
Grow up man! I never said "everything was OK" I just said that thinigs have been worse in the past and if you can;t agree to that then you haven't been watching very long! I think we're in a lot of trouble oz - but I was there every home game and 8 away in the 15 point season - I saw much much worse than now both tactically and in performance. I was there in the third division in 87/88 as well and the season before that when we got relegated with Lawrie Mac - I was only a kid but I still remember how much it hurt. So my question have we become so negative due to expectation this season? We have been far worse in the past. Negativity breeds negativity - watch the Everton game last weekend - their players hardly misplaced a pass at 0-0 but the fans turned on them at 0-3 (expectedly) and the players turned to jelly - I believe we stasrt our games like that and it's detrimental
Fair comments marcus, but I still hold some angst towards you and frogger for the way you both called me a pretentious twat, when I suggested we were the worst team in the EPL a few months ago. Obviously the relegation under Lawrie Mc and also the Howard Wilkinson era was pretty bad, and the period under Mick Mc, albeit he was given zero funds to save us. You are correct about negativity breeds negativity. However I have been saying how bad we have been playing since November, not that it is a positive opinion, but a realist opinion! I suggested also to frogger that I know more about football than he will ever know, probably a condesending thing to say at the time, but that was after he called me a twat, yet you came along and supported his views of me. So don't expect me to have too much respect for your opinions, you will need to earn that. However I do respect the fact that you have renewed your season ticket regardless if we are relegated, a true supporter, nice one mate. Your original thread 'are we a little short sighted' has some valid and relevant points, you are correct in saying that we have had a lot worse seasons. However we never had a billionaire owner during these periods, or a stadium that has a capacity of 45 thousand plus. So our expectations should be a lot higher than the likes of Norwich, West Brom, Swansea eg, yet all these teams are ahead of us. I have said from early in the season that Martin's tactics were so outdated, playing 4-5-1 was never going to win us many matches, his continuous selections of McLean and Colback in CM were ludicrous, yet he stubbornly kept playing this team and formation. But many fans kept saying, Martin will get it right eventually, Bollocks! No, I am not a proud man gloating that Sunderland are ****, it actually sickens me to say that, but I will keep repeating to all that may listen to a mere Aussie, with 'limited knowledge of football', that only only one man is responsible for our predicament, Martin O'Neil.
I think playing football in the premier league means, as a player, you get 'found out' by the opposition quite speedily. This can sometimes mean that players or teams that excel in the early half of the season drop off dramatically once they have played everyone once. (I think in his early days Bruce used to buy a new heart to the team each year to avoid second season 'finding out' so he could enjoy another half-season of success). Our current playing staff have to overcome this 'finding out' by developing or having the talent to do new things. McClean as an obvious example of this, needs time to develop so he can come back stronger. On top of this state of affairs I think that there is an expectation at Sunderland that seeps from the crowd into players and it takes a really strong group of players to keep their tempo up when all around is disquiet and impatience. Undoubtedly we are weakest in midfield where 'found out' players are only able to play well in increasingly longer intervals when they are not in some player's pocket or hiding on the pitch. Our converted full backs were playing decently until the inevitable happened and the other teams realised the way to play them. Everyone talks about buying a creative playmaker, BUT these are as rare as hen's teeth. Go ahead; think of a decent playmaker that could be available to us on a permanent deal. Until MON has the (exactly) right players to work a system that competes with a genuine playmaker style of football (and Arsenal are struggling to make that work), we will scrape by trying to play counterattacking football. The Premier League is a super hard league to do well in, and at the moment MON is feeding off scraps.
Nice to have you back posting Steve. As per, agreed with most of your post.But..... One point a disagree with is bringing in someone new next season. I'm as disappointed in MON at this point of time, as every one else is. But I also think he is having to cope with players he wants to replace and of course there are still obvious places to fill. IMHO he should be given at least one more season, to live up to our expectations. He is a very smart man and will know just as much as us what SAFC means to the fans. This isn't a case of hoping for the best with an inexperienced manager, it's a case of giving a proven manager a chance to sort things out. As to the OP Marcus. I truly believe the players we have should STILL be good enough to have us well above the drop zone come seasons end. I would love to be a fly on the wall to hear what he says to the lads who are under performing. My son is at every match and the sitting back and inviting the oppos on aggravates him as much as me. But one thing he mentioned, is that a lot of the time MON is on the line screaming at the team to play higher up the pitch. Like you have mentioned, I have watched some utter ****e in my time watching SAFC. And every time we improved the expectation rose, this expectation has been shattered more times than I could count. My expectation was a comfortable top ten position for this season. The season isn't over yet, so still time to get me into my comfort zone, as I hate the squeaky bum syndrome I'm used to. Even at my lowest ebb as a supporter I still kept going, it never crossed my mind to not go again. As for numpties talking boycotts, what the **** has happened? Are we penniless and in the 3rd division? Nope we are still a Premier league club! Things may not be going as well as we hoped this season, but I have seen a hell of a lot worse.
Now that's what I call a canny first post. Welcome mate. Spot on about being found out too. Other managers are looking at our weakness's and exploiting them. JMcC after a good start the oppos doubled up on him and he struggles to change his style. Gardner was doing canny at RB for awhile then suddenly the oppos got players around him as they realised Larsson was very slow to help him out or worse still leave him to it. Get in Vaughans face as soon as he gets the ball and the ball is yours, if Vaughan had more time he would be a very good player. In the Prem one thing you don't get is time.
RE: Philray: 'Florent Malouda... doing nowt at Chelsea and in their bad books' With respect this is not fantasy league - to get a player of that capability without being gazumped by a richer/higher/more attractive club (at the mo we are non of that), would be a miracle. AND he is a reserve player in a top six club, there is a reason top six clubs buy every decent player - to stop them playing for anyone else. Re: Mackemsrule Thank you for the welcome. In my opinion everything you say is correct. So the point is to get the players we have, to work in a system whilst sorting out the wheat from the chaff. I think MON is doing that. Bruce proved that you can get players to do a job for half a season â but then they leave (Gyan, Cana), are injury prone (hence the buy in the first place) or are replaced with other half-season wonders. Moyesâ second season was a bit difficult I remember â did they finish 16th? â but he dug in and slowly built a team from the scraps left over (or overlooked) from the top six. In my opinion thatâs the reality. To think that somehow we are going to just transform into a top side in an instant, is fantasy. MON knows that and says so often. On a more optimistic note good players are finding life in the reserves a bit dull and are willing to go out and find their form (Rose/Lukaku, and Johnson, for all his difficulties this season) at other clubs. Maybe this will prove to be a way forward for this division. I hope so otherwise the bottom 14 clubs will simply fight not to be relegated every three years or so when their best players are bought off by the wages they cannot afford.
Thing is OZ - you stated we were the worst in the league - at this moment in time we are not. At that moment in time we were not - the league doesn't lie mate - I agree we're poor (and, on current form, this weekends game against Norwich is between the two current probably worst teams to watch in the league - well done SKY!!) but 6 weeks ago after 5 wins in 8 games (including against City - and at a time when most of us thought we'd be lucky to get 6 or 9 points from the games - things can change very quickly in football and have again as we all thought everything was going to be fine after that spout of results in some hard games. At the end of the day mate, we all support the same side and want the best for SAFC - but, whilst we're the worst on current form, we're not the worst over the season
I think everyone was a little hard on Bruce. He took us to a 10th place finish. Then he lost Bent and Gyan under suspicious circumstances which condemed him. MON has not really done any better than Bruce. I am not saying I want MON out because I don't I think he need to be given plenty of time. BUT We have been ****e really since Reids 2 x 7th place finishes. So as long as we stay up and look to sign quality not quantity I will be content.
Can't understand the pessimism on this board. Surely to God you've seen worse teams than you have at the moment? Only six weeks ago everything in the garden was rosy. Well above us and playing some half decent stuff. Wouldn't get too despondent, there's worse teams in the league than you, all could be different in another six weeks. Mind you, I hope you just avoid relegation by the skin of your teeth. And before anyone says it, I know we aren't safe either, but things are on the up for us. Blackcatsteve ~ nice to see you back. And where's Brucies beak at lately?
