Sunderland, eh?
There’s no other football club like it; an institution capable of making you feel ten feet tall before breaking your heart or a more exposed part of your anatomy, as American aerospace engineer Kelly Johnson once said — and often in very, very quick succession.
If last Sunday’s unexpectedly bonkers 4-3 loss at the hands of Aston Villa was a tale of noble failure amid a last-gasp push for glory, Friday evening’s shellacking by their fellow Europa League semi-finalists was just a little
bit rubbish — and the worst thing was how unexpected it was, as well as the speed at which Sunderland collapsed.
With the sun beating down, feelings of optimism running high, the new Welcome To Sunderland sign greeting match goers in the spirit of Roker Park and the Lads seemingly well-placed to bounce back from Villa Park and give their European credentials even more heft, it felt like it could’ve been one of those classic Stadium of Light evenings akin to Coventry City during the 2025 playoffs or perhaps even that iconic clash with Burnley back in 2007.
Problem was, the match itself then kicked off. And that’s where it all started to go wrong.
By the time the final whistle blew ninety-plus chastening minutes later, it felt like we’d been put through a spin cycle as Nottingham Forest —anchored by the brilliant Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliott Anderson and with Igor Jesus and Chris Wood in no mood to mess about — resurrected the 4-4-2, allowed us no time to breathe and headed back down to the shires with three points and five goals after the ultimate Robin Hood-style pillaging.
For the Lads? A night to forget. Nobody really turned up and although you could at least say that we played our part against Villa, this was far more straightforward. Sunderland’s players let themselves — as well as their head coach and the fans who’d turned out in great numbers — down big time.
That’s nine goals conceded in two games for the Lads and it’s hardly the greatest time for what was once a granite-tough defence to start taking on water. Even the return of Dan Ballard made little difference to a jaded-looking red and white backline as the problems encountered at Villa Park were amplified to a worrying degree — could Lutsharel Geertruida’s time be now?
A crushing loss, without a doubt, and the second game in a row during which the Lads have seemed unable to deal with sustained periods of opposition pressure. We can play, we all know that, but the once-solid foundations have looked far weaker recently, the midfield isn’t packing any real punch, and it must be said that our lack of threat from dead-ball situations is borderline criminal.
Of course, the clashes with Villa and Forest were bisected by a rumour that Régis Le Bris’ position may be the subject of scrutiny during the summer.
Whether that played a part in the build-up to Friday’s comedy of errors, only he and the players know, but it wasn’t welcome and the fact that well-connected journalists all reported variations of the same dismissive response spoke volumes.
Fundamentally, that’s a discussion for another day and in my view, it would be ruthless bordering on arrogance for Sunderland to part ways with the Frenchman, even if overseeing our heaviest home league defeat in a long, long time was hardly something to crow about.
Nevertheless, the season is by no means over and fifty points remains an achievable target, but a win at Molineux is a non-negotiable as we aim to crack it.
This weekend’s hosts are already condemned to the drop and with fans of the Old Gold seemingly not entirely convinced by Rob Edwards, Saturday’s clash needs to be a no-excuses, “get the job done and get out” affair — and let’s hope that the likes of Geertruida, Chemsdine Talbi and possibly Wilson Isidor have greater roles to play in our penultimate away fixture of the season.
All season, and certainly at home, the Lads have taken tremendous pride in being hard to beat and willing to travel great distances in the pursuit of victory. Friday’s loss was the ugly reverse; an example of what can happen when you get it badly wrong and you encounter an opponent that isn’t willing to be charitable, yet it can’t have the effect of dropping the anchor on the campaign and preventing us from ending it on a positive note.
The criticism dished out the wake of the loss to Forest was fair. The players need to deal with it, but they can feel confident that if they take care of Wolves next time out, the fans will give them due praise. That’s the way it is; the way it has to be.
