We had set ourselves the target of a GOOD* top 10 finish for this season and we have spectaculaly underachieved in our attempt to realise that aim. WHY? That is the question. Did we simpy overestimate our ability as a team? Was it injuries? Is it management's fault? For me, it's 70-80% management's fault and 20-30% down to injuries. We've had a terrible season because Bruce, from day 1, made no attempt to create a team playing proper balanced expansive football. That's the main reason. The 2nd worst decision was not signing N'Zogbia when we had the chance. I was the only person on all Sunderland football forums on which i looked that said we must start playing much better football (this was while we were flying high) or we'll fall down the table. Countless articles wrote discussing whether we can qualify for europe, i was the sole voice saying Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle etc (while these teams were on terrible runs) play much more complete, balanced and expansive football than ourselves and will finish ahead of us unless we improve. Because Bruce got carried away with our league postion, he never could see that our football wasn't good enough. His lack of ability or vision in this context has lead to the current situation where we now pretty much play the worst football in the league. Forget about 5 years plans etc, strive to create a team playing balanced and expansive football. We're almost there, i just hope Bruce can see it. *i highlight "good" in the first sentence because should we finish in the top 10 now, the season would still be a very, very poor one.
