... their 9 away fixtures include Newcastle, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Man United ...
Well, there are three points there for a start
... their 9 away fixtures include Newcastle, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Man United ...
At the end of the day, they may not be the worst team in the prem, but I don't see 3 teams worse than them, so there's really only one outcome. I don't see them doing enough decent business in Jan to change that.
It does put Gus in an awkward position though, he can't really afford to leave them. If he left them voluntarily before the summer, it would look v.bad, and if they are relegated it would look v.bad. Unless he can keep them up somehow, he's certainly not going to get another prem job unless he takes another championship team and gets them promoted.
The natives are getting restless
West Ham, Fulham and Palace are all worse. Norwich, Cardiff are no better. Gus will keep Sunderland up.
He's fed up. What a shame. And frankly, who cares?
Err, no. It's the gutless players Poyet's having no choice but to play we're restless with.
You clearly haven't read that thread then. There are plenty displeased with Poyet's team selection, substitutions, tactics and post match comments.
I would actually say the one thing massively in Gus' favour is that there are a lot of poor teams in contention to go down this season. Every team from Hull in 10th is still realistically a contender for the bottom three. There are plenty of teams Sunderland are just as useless as - Palace, Cardiff, Norwich, Fulham, West Ham, Stoke, Hull. The problem is they're at least four, and as many as nine, points behind those in safe positions. It's an obvious thing to say, but what they really need to do is to win two or three out of a run of four matches as that's the only way to make any progress at the bottom. However, with their run of away fixtures, it is hard to see how it can happen. Having got an incredible result at Everton on Boxing Day, they've just blown a great chance to do it by taking only a point from Cardiff and Villa. It all means Gus is going to have to mastermind a series of home results that reads something like P9 W6 D2 L1 from their remaining games, but the fact they've failed to win (or even score) against Villa and Norwich in their last two home matches suggests that is going to be hard.
This quote is very telling:
"The ball barely left our half for the first 5 mins. Passing around back and forth with the back 7. Back 4, Catts, Jack and Ki. This tippy tappy keeping the ball isnt constructive football when its confined to your own half. If Gus wants fans to cheer when we score or win. Go oooh at near misses. Then he has to put up with Aaargh at mistakes and frustration of lack of forward momentum. Gans with the job. And this possession shit is Sky and Co bollocks stats to discuss ower. The goals count at the end is the only one that puts points on the board".
There's no doubt Gus has a 'signature style' and it's playing out at Sunderland exactly as it did with us. Need to find another couple of strings for that bow, eh Gussie!
Err, no. It's the gutless players Poyet's having no choice but to play we're restless with.
I find the hatred towards someone who took us from relegation threatened in League One to the Championship playoffs somewhat staggering.
Especially as I imagine 99% of people who seem to dislike him don't even know the reason why he was dismissed.
Very odd but then this is football so I suppose logic goes out the window.
I find the hatred towards someone who took us from relegation threatened in League One to the Championship playoffs somewhat staggering.
Especially as I imagine 99% of people who seem to dislike him don't even know the reason why he was dismissed.
Very odd but then this is football so I suppose logic goes out the window.
I find the hatred towards someone who took us from relegation threatened in League One to the Championship playoffs somewhat staggering.
Especially as I imagine 99% of people who seem to dislike him don't even know the reason why he was dismissed.
Very odd but then this is football so I suppose logic goes out the window.
Could it be that some people resent the way he bahaved (or at east the way they believe he may have behaved) around the time of the March Palace game and the semi-final and thereafter?
He did well - with a decent budget - and then shat on his reputation - a number of times - from a great height. I can understand the resentment.
I find the hatred towards someone who took us from relegation threatened in League One to the Championship playoffs somewhat staggering.
.
Interestingly, I find the blind allegiance to "The Ego" by supporters of his ex-club - one he left acrimoniously under an uncontested gross misconduct charge - astounding. So, yes, logic does seem to have gone out of the window.