Sixer's Stoke City Soapbox: following Sunderland – a harsh form of community service
October 16, 2016 by malcolm
Malcolm Dawson writes……after another abject performance and the one result we didn't want, it looks as if the writing is on the wall. Well let's be honest, there were already a few daubings on the brickwork but now the whole thing is covered in graffiti and it doesn't make for pleasant reading. Unlike Pete Sixsmith's match report, which he manages to make a lot more entertaining than this match was for supporters of the team in pink and purple. Perhaps for Moyes and the boys it was fortunate that this game was at the ground formerly known as the Britannia, because I don't think a home crowd would have produced the same reaction that Pete describes happening in this match.
STOKE CITY (a)
I am now of an age where I should be making better decisions. I should be spending Saturdays doing something positive – maybe leafleting for Greenpeace or Jeremy Corbyn, maybe putting together food parcels for those in need or maybe helping to organise a clean-up of the litter spattered roads around Shildon. I would be putting something back into the community, helping those less fortunate, trying to change the world for the better, just like any Guardian reader would.
Instead, I spent the neck end of six hours on a coach (admittedly in good company), two hours taking in the sights of Uttoxeter (where Dr Johnson made a public apology to his father for being a bad son) and finally, two and a half hours watching another benighted, bedraggled and plain bad performance from the current representatives of Sunderland AFC.
This was yet another stinker and one from which I may not recover. Should we continue to play like this, we will be cast adrift by Christmas and will do well to reach that magic 15 points that we "achieved" ten years ago as Mick McCarthy's team slid away with a whimper.
We were beaten by a side that had one point more than we did prior to the start of the game, but who moved four points ahead of us by 3.07. Once Joe Allan, a man renowned the length and breadth of Wales for his heading prowess – a veritable John Charles is Joe , headed home from eight yards, the game was over. Any chance of a win had gone as we would need to score two and then not concede any more. There was more chance of Donald Trump being asked to present Woman's Hour than either of those two things happening.
But we managed to stay in touch until the 45th minute when more awful defending allowed the Wee Welsh Wizard to seal the points for the Potters with a crisp shot from just inside the box. As our team and management left the field, there were boos and jeers aimed at both from the sold out visitors' end.
David Moyes – the man for the job?
And then, something miraculous happened. Not on the field – absolutely no chance of that, but off it. Sunderland supporters showed that, while the club may mean little to the players, it means everything to them. For the entire second half, there was non-stop noise in the hope that it may inspire the kind of fightback that we saw at Anfield at the beginning of the year. That it did not come was indicative of the weaknesses that are all too apparent in the present line up.
This is a very poor team indeed. Take Pickford and Defoe out of it and there is precious little to admire or even warm to. The defence always seems to be seconds away from a mistake and the midfield is the weakest and least creative in the division. Up front there is nobody to support Defoe.
There are players who clearly do not want to be at the club. Lamine Kone said in an interview how disappointed he was that his move to Everton had fallen through. He made it clear to this reader that he could not wait to get away from Sunderland, new contract or not. There was a suspicion that his hamstring injury, obtained while on World Cup duty, was convenient.
Both McNair and Manquillo look as if they would rather be anywhere but at Sunderland. For Manquillo, he can always go back to Atletico Madrid in January, but McNair is stuck with us and vice versa. The Irishman produced a couple of decent passes but appeared to have no idea of what he was supposed to do or what role he was supposed to have. He got in the way of Khazri and Ndong and was mercifully withdrawn just past the hour mark.
More hoverfly than wasp – buzzing about all over the place but no sting
Not that the rest of the midfield was a great deal better. Khazri ran and ran but far too often either made a poor pass or gave the ball away. Ndong was busy and picked the ball up deep but there was no real end product and he ran out of puff long before the end. The transition from the far less intense game played in Ligue 1 to the hurly burley of the Premier League is difficult enough in a good team, so it must be well-nigh impossible when he is thrust in with this lot.
Rodwell continued his run – it is now 31 games that he has started for Sunderland and not a single win in the Premier League. There were some good touches, but he allowed Allan to get away from him for the opener. He is another player who has failed to offer anything in the two and a bit seasons he has spent at the club.
The body language from players and manager oozes negativity. At times Moyes looked as hapless as Steve McLaren did last year at Newcastle and he cut a disconsolate figure as he left the pitch at the end of the game. There is a growing swell of opinion against him and his tactics, which appear to be "kick the ball upfield in the general direction of Defoe."
Stoke have not made a great start to the season but they have players like Arnautovic, Shaqiri and Allan who take responsibility and try to make things happen. None of those three have come cheaply but neither have Rodwell, Khazri and Ndong and I know which ones I would rather have in our red and white stripes.
We are a club with no discernible character about us other than a remarkable ability to avoid relegation. That will certainly come to an end this season. A triumvirate of Ferguson, Clough(B) and Wenger would not prevent us falling into the Championship – and staying there for more than one season.
There are many questions that need to be posed even at this early stage of the season, viz:
Is David Moyes the man for the job? Has he done anything so far that inspires confidence in the support? Should he be encouraged to take the Scotland job when Gordon Strachan leaves after the England game?
Is Ellis Short now coming to the end of his tenure as owner? If so, how on earth will he sell the club? Will the support heap the blame on him as they did on Bob Murray?
Why is it that successive managers cannot attract the players that they want to Wearside? Those on Tyneside and Teesside don't appear to have those difficulties.
Next Saturday we have to go and do it all over again at the Olympic Stadium. Twelve hours on a coach, numerous renditions of the most boring song in football and a probable hiding on and off the pitch.
As Peter Glaze said to Leslie Crowther on numerous occasions "I don't know why I bother."
Categories Content Tags David Moyes, Ellis Short, Jack Rodwell, Premier League, SAFC, Stoke City
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12 thoughts on "Sixer's Stoke City Soapbox: following Sunderland – a harsh form of community service"
I was at the Stoke game and would like to make a couple of points that depart from some written above.
Firstly, our fans were, in general, good, as they always are and as I have written in praise of many times. However, we were in the game in the first half and were only behind due to two individual errors, both by Ndong. That did not warrant booing the team from the pitch at half time. How on earth is that going to help a side bereft of confidence?
Secondly, what kind of moron lets off a flare in the concourse BENEATH our fans? A Sunderland "supporter" of course, which probably explained the heavy police presence upon exiting the ground.
Thirdly, I know we are in trouble but considering the players who are out injured and the number of games left to play, isn't it a bit early to be writing us off and blaming the manager, owner etc., etc. ?
We have made no progress under Short's tenure. In fact we are going backwards. Criticism of him is based on the past four years not the last eight games.
I cannot understand anyone booing their own team. By all means be critical [ for instance by outlining your thoughts on this site ] but how can booing help a struggling side?
I suspect that this practice is mainly indulged in by people who have never played themselves – if you have played, at any level, you know how devastating it can be.
I do have sympathy with your final point. I don't accept that DM is a poor manager. I think he is one of the best British managers available [ Sir Alex clearly thought so too ]
I believe we have a very average squad, but we have had a really savage run of injuries, and I think that if we can get some of our more experienced players fit, and given a decent January window, there is a slim chance that we can avoid relegation.
Fortunately, there are several clubs in touching distance. We are not yet cut adrift.
As a Stoke fan I would like to congratulate the supporters at the Stoke match, they were in great voice and a credit to the away team.
It is frustrating being a football fan in this modern age of overpaid players and clubs being taken over by foreigners who have no love or respect for that club and its heritage.
Talking about Sunderlands performance it was poor but agree with previous comments that sacking the manager is not necessarily the answer but the players on the pitch have to take responsibility and earn the respect of the paying fans by at least trying their best when out on the pitch.
We were shite. We've been shite for years now. We will continue being shite while we sack managers as a kind of annual sacrificial ritual. We should stick with Moyes even if we go down, the revolving door policy JUST DOES NOT WORK!
TheOklahomaKid
Get rid of Moyes,he is clueless,just pay off his 4 year contract and get in touch with Big Sam,,,,Hes done it once for us and we had a good team being built under him,just needed a few more GOOD PLAYERS and we would have been competing instead of being bottom.For gods sake SHORT get Sam back quick,no-one cares why he lost the england job,just get him back for our next match and let him sort this mess out.
Alec McAulay
Re Dr Johnson – it was Lichfield, not Uttoxeter: Mr Johnson Sr never got that job at JCB.
Remember the team spirit against Chelsea, Everton and Watford? Even with Allardyce about to go the team looked ready in the preseason match at Hartlepool.
What has gone wrong! Moyes has had an awful lot of injuries to deal with and that's part of the problem. But summer recruitment was slow and didn't improve the squad.
The plummet from a position of relative strength and positivity to where we are now is the result of Short's philosophy and method of running the club. In my view we will only go in one direction while he retains control.
Well there is trouble for others too, eg Hull 6-1 at Bournemouth….. ouch.Long ways to go yet and we should learn by now not to make a call before Christmas.It is possible to turn to turn around we just need a break and a lift for the players.The supporterswill still be there,Nice to see Kahzri and Moyes praising the away fans ,it's all they have going for them right now
Rutland Mike
Fortunately, I can't go to West Ham so I will be spared that misery, but that performance was utterly woeful. Given both the lack of skill and organisation on the pitch and the evident lack of enthusiasm of the owner, it's difficult to see any possibility of significant improvement. I really can't envisage a rapid return to the Premiership once we are relegated.
My one hope is that Short has managed to balance the books ,and a championship club with parachute payments and huge potentialwill be bought by someone with genuine ambition . The shower on the pitch ( I exclude Defoe and Pickford), the shower in the boardroom and the shower on the touch line offer me nothing but despair .
"A triumvirate of Ferguson, Clough(B) and Wenger would not prevent us falling into the Championship"
Neither would ones made up of David Nixon, Penn and Teller or Dynamo, David Blaine and The Great Soprendo.
Can't see another miracle this year, though following Sunderland does result in the transformation of vast amounts of alcohol into water.