Friday’s result and performance is the sort that makes you want to lock the doors, close the curtains, and pretend football doesn’t exist anymore.
And it’s the sort of performance that makes you question a few things you didn’t think needed questioning, and reassess where we actually are.
We’ve praised the team and the club to the hilt this campaign, and rightly so – we’ve had a superb season that’s exceeded our expectations.
However, that Friday night horror show was a diabolical performance, and as much
as we’ll praise and defend the team when it’s needed, we’ve got to criticise too if it’s warranted – and that was an absolute shambles.
It’s such a shame too — Forest are a good team, albeit not a great one – but they absolutely destroyed us on a night that should have been one for celebration as the new Welcome to Sunderland signage was unveiled.
But the only welcome was laid out for the Forest attack by our chaotic defence – and the manner of the defeat really caught me by surprise.
Because that performance was completely at odds with what we’ve seen from Regis Le Bris’s teams so far. We’re used to a side that’s disciplined, motivated, coherent and intense. We’re used to seeing a side that drags each other along, motivates each other and has an enviable tenacity. We’re used to seeing a strong defence, and a pragmatism to deal with the threats the opposition poses.
On Friday night, none of those things was in evidence – and that’s a real concern.
The past few weeks have been strange. The Newcastle victory put us on a real high, but since then, there have been a few things happening that don’t sit quite right.
The speculation this week about Le Bris’s future almost seems too bizarre not to have something in it, while the departure of David Bruce came out of the blue and seems a really strange decision by the club.
And look, we don’t have much of a clue as to what goes on behind the scenes, but the difference in the club’s approach off the field since Bruce’s arrival has been astronomical.
Some things have happened off the field that someone who’s not got red and white running through their veins simply wouldn’t think of, and I’m not sure the club realise just how much of a connection point Bruce’s presence was between the supporters and the hierarchy. Having someone like that in a senior position brings a level of trust – and my gut feeling is that’s been seriously underestimated.
Time will tell on that score, but when that’s followed by some seemingly diabolical handling of season ticket renewals, and the interim CEO Tom Burwell doing interviews name-checking club legend ‘Michael’ Ball, while talking about the need to make more money overseas, and saying that we’re one of only two clubs in the Premier League with a physical ticket office (something disproved comprehensively with a two minute Google search) it doesn’t quite sit right.
Of course, a slip of the tongue is easy – we’ve all done it. But someone who knows Sunderland just doesn’t make that mistake, and the connection that’s been built up between the club and the supporters mustn’t be neglected or taken for granted.
The ticket office line is not as easily overlooked. Sunderland fans aren’t daft, we can see through BS, and we have plenty of experience seeing through corporate bluster. Neglect the local fans at your peril. The current ownership has got away with a major gaffe once – people have forgiven, but not forgotten – and, to cut a phrase right out of the corporate playbook, we’ve all got to be taken on this journey. Together.
Whether any of that off-field stuff is at all connected with the on-field shambles we saw on Friday is impossible to say – but a team doesn’t turn in that first-half performance if everything’s A-OK. Maybe the bug that was around pre-Villa was still around, and that’s an explanation. I’m sure we’ll find out this week – but regardless, they’ve piled the pressure on themselves with that display, and need to respond fittingly this week.
We simply cannot let this season tail off with a series of awful performances. I thought we were poor at Villa for a couple of large spells of the game, and the scoreline actually flattered us despite us almost snatching a win. That display on Friday was almost too bad for words.
Thankfully, we’ve got another game coming up in relatively quick succession, and we must respond in the right way.
And we’ve got to regain some trust off the field, too.
Because, if we don’t, the questions that get asked will get louder and louder – and after such a good season, we don’t want negativity hanging over us as we head towards the summer.
