We aren’t seeing the players publicly backing the manager and taking responsibility, that is concerning. We don’t hear much from the players these days and I’ve often wondered why. The senior players could easily dispel all this lost the dressing room crap with a simple interview
All the media is done in house these days. No more "rallying cries" from John O'Shea it's all vanilla questioning from the in house media team. There is no real journalism there "So Lee, Ipswich beat us 10-0, you must be happy at the positives out there"
Not really mate, those teams were good footballing sides but also had big powerful players that bullied the games as well. Keep the faith marra, we’ll get there but will need to mix it up a bit.
Spot on marra, think we've all been crying out for big physical beasts up front, midfield and centre of defence... Just a case of getting the balance right... On Saturday Alves got pulled at halftime, he was weak as p first half and if it wasn't an injury, we might as well send him back - I remember a previous home game when he came on late second half and appeared very nervous or scared to move the ball forward.
Aye, there’s been talk of putting him in midfield but at the moment we need proven players to mix up with our young team.
I agree that Alves really hasn't looked the part and with Younger performing so well and Arby on his way back, we might as well return Alves to West Ham and bring another loan signing in during the window.
So he's raw, untested? If so, a lot, like me, need to revaluate their predictions about what he can bring to the team - a few mates had him down as a must play due to his physical size and that he can play defensive midfield.
He's never really forced himself into the reckoning or 'looked the part'. Replace him with a midfield beast in January for the benefit of the squad.
A bit early for this mind this is his first season in assembling his own squad of players to go with his style of football. Up until a couple of weeks ago we were flying and playing some of the best football I've seen for years. Yes this 2 defeats in South Yorkshire were very poor but I still believe we can achieve top 2. He has guided us to the league cup q/f and we are still in a very decent league position. He should be given time imo and not sacked because of a couple of defeats
I'm happy to give him 3 more league games. 2 defeats and a draw out of them and we should start looking to replace him. 4 points should give him 3 more games. 2 wins plus and we should play it by ear.
Well,it's not a couple of defeats....it's 5 defeats where,in each and every one, we've played really poorly! I'm on the record as saying I hate this chop-change manager every year...I think it's soul destroying and we are the prime example in English football of how it never works. However, if the suggestions which have been posted by a couple of lads are true...and the root cause of this bad run is a recent,major fall-out between players and coaches,.....which I'm gutted to hear....... then the ownership need to get to grips with it and sort it.
We were excellent against Burton away in fact it was probably one of our best performances of the season. Charlton wasn't great but we weren't awful either
LJ article in the Mirror, pressure of playing for Sunderland and 30,000 fans too much for young players they have lost confidence.....
Its all a bit odd because, Rotherham aside, in the games we've lost recently, we've had greater possession, had more shots, and have a greater xG. We're losing games we really shouldn't be losing. Obviously stats only tell part of the story but its certainly an interesting thing to think about. https://footystats.org/clubs/sunderland-afc-156
I am a little on the fence again - I was on the fence when he was appointed - I am sick of changing managers but I am sick of being **** and stuck in this division. I was buzzing early on but seem to have had the wind knocked right out of the sails as the saying goes. Perhaps we do need a change - not sure the club see this yet but I cannot believe it has not been discussed at a high level.
