Poyet...

Don't get me wrong I still think he can turn out positive for you. I just think his lack of flexibility and an inability to adapt may not bode well if you hit tough times again (inevitable for clubs like ourselves). I fully expect Short to resource and Poyet to get you promoted if you do go down. I just think its a hell of a lot easier and less expensive to progress if you retain your PL status.

I also fully expect the Palace fans to get cheesed off with Pulis style (or lack of it) in the future. He'll be a victim of inflexibility too in my opinion.

The point is people get too carried away with "principles" etc. Martinez is quite correctly lauded for his style. For clubs like Newcastle and Sunderland that might not always be enough though. When things get ugly and you have to get your hands dirty, it does not always serve you well to stick to these "principles" no matter what. Wigan found that out to their cost. I agree that is the way football should be played. Some managers are made to manage top clubs too. As long as they have resource to work with (good players as much as finance), they'll do well. The best managers for me (often unsung) can adapt. Certainly when SAF got in trouble at Man U in the early days, he was not adverse to a bit of direct football and fighting their way out of trouble. I think this served him well even once he got them back to the top. He adapted their style to something more attractive, but retained the fighting/ugly style for when things weren't all rosy. It allowed them to win titles they shouldn't have. Under Bobby we could be pretty direct at times.

Most importantly for Sunderland is that Gus learns from it, does not hide from it, and becomes a better manager from the experience.

 

I watched the match last night and in the first half I thought Spurs were poor, it just so happened that aside from the Xmas Present goal Sunderland were awful, Poyet's post match interview was almost car crash, I thought he was gonna start crying, he admited that tactically he doesn't know what to do as his players are not good enough. I don't think much of the stock "I take responsibility" answer, he had time to assess his squad and to make changes, as was pointed out a number of times last night this is a squad that could go out and beat top clubs in the cup but fell apart in league matches, the odd bit of class they do have will hit the lifeboats on relegation and I don't see what's left winning promotion to bounce back.

 

To be honest I think they'll bounce back but then again the championship is tricky to predict. Most years 1 team just run away with it. However if Sunderland are not that team, then it can be very much a dogfight. Certainly they'll face stiff compeition to be that team. If Norwich or Fulham go, they'll be desperate. Vincent Tan for all his lunacy will not want to wallow in that league. 3 from Derby, Wigan, QPR and Reading will still be there. Wolves will come up and invest. The likes of Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Watford, Leeds will all have designs on improving. It could be a tough league. Gus has already failed to get out of it once on a decent budget with Brighton.

 

Problem for Sunderland is that what has been bought in isn't good enough even for the Championship, a very tough combative league, Neville on Sky's coverage last night was particularly scathing about Vergini and you could see why he was so far out of his depth, to me Cardiff and Sunderland are heading down, it say's it all that Poyet as manager is quoted in the press today as saying they need a miracle. Norwich need to beat Fulham as I see it being very difficult for them to get much out of their last 4 games, if they beat Fulham though that leaves the bottom 3 needing at least 3 wins to get any chance of survival.

Sunderland have games in hand but I thought from last nights interview how can Poyet get them to play above themselves when he has said they are not good enough, even more so when he says they need a miracle, usually when you see a manager in this scenario they come out fighting, I thought Poyet looked defeated last night and wonder has he got it in him to make the miracle happen.