It was, one headline proclaimed, “the Stadium of Darkness”. Given Sunderland’s timid performance, perhaps it was the Stadium of Fright. Given the thousands of seats vacated long before the end, it looked like the Stadium of Flight.
Whichever, Sunderland’s ground appeared misnamed on Saturday. The Stadium of Light? A Stygian gloom has descended over Wearside. Sunderland have known some grim times – the farce of Paolo di Canio’s reign at the start of last season, the relegations with 19 and 15 points, respectively, the season they slipped into the third tier in the 1980s – but this probably merits a place on the shortlist of their lowest moments.
Their numbers are dreadful: 29 games have produced just 26 points and 23 goals, with a mere four wins. The reality has been even worse. The reasons why manager Gus Poyet’s position became untenable were ever greater. His sacking felt inevitable.
Arguably the three most embarrassing results in the Premier League this season have all been accomplished by his Sunderland. They lost 8-0 to a Southampton side that had seemed in transition after the loss of five key players. They were beaten 2-0 at home by Queens Park Rangers, whose other 13 away games have produced precisely zero points. They were thrashed 4-0 by Aston Villa, who had not scored in their previous six games on the road and were on course to become the least prolific side in the division’s history.
Ignominy has been heaped on indignity, humiliation upon embarrassment. It seemed to sum up Sunderland’s incompetence that they contrived to kick off the second half against Villa on Saturday without Sebastian Larsson. Having been utterly abject with 11 men in the first period, they retook the field with 10.
Villa, reinvigorated by Tim Sherwood after an era of dismal dourness, are a resurgent advert for the benefit of new managers. They are poster boys for positivity, whereas Poyet injected Sunderland with negativity in a season-long blame-dodging exercise that, besides being utterly unsuccessful, was aborted when he belatedly recognised the gravity of the situation and accepted responsibility for the Villa defeat. It was too late.
The Uruguayan oversaw a remarkable escape from relegation last season. Having spent virtually all of the season in the bottom three, he galvanised a team and displayed his tactical nous in a late charge to safety. This season threatens to be the opposite. Sunderland have never been in the drop zone, but now hover perilously above it.
The players didn’t look as if they wanted to play for Poyet. The game plan every match seemed to be to draw 0-0. However much he proclaimed his passing principles, only Paul Lambert’s Villa were duller to watch. Perhaps Poyet felt he was being pragmatic but, as the league table indicates, he wasn’t even doing that well. He displayed neither faith in his players to attack nor, seemingly, a tactical plan to get the best out of them. A talented manager’s temperamental flaws became more pronounced the longer he stayed at Sunderland.
They are bottom of the Fair Play League, not helped by the behaviour of Poyet and his preposterous parody of an assistant, Mauricio Taricco, on the touchline. That combative approach extended to in-fighting for control of transfers, yet his own recruits have ranked as major disappointments.
The way that Sunderland’s mismatched squad has been constructed by several managers and the regularity with which players fail to live up to their reputations or justify their price tags on Wearside indicate the culture of the club is wrong.
The problems at the Stadium of Light predated Poyet’s arrival and will probably last beyond his departure. Yet that should not camouflage his culpability. A manager who initially appeared a perceptive outsider who was determined to address the inherent underachievement instead perpetuated it.
Poyet’s ambition was evident. He seemed to see Sunderland as a stepping stone, an attitude that has gone down badly at a club of their size. It was little wonder fans were alienated to the point of revolting. But having long given the impression Poyet thought he was too good for Sunderland, this season suggested he was not good enough. He was required to clean up Di Canio’s mess. Now the cycle of failure has continued. Another troubleshooter is required now because Poyet piloted Sunderland into a dark depression.
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