The current situation at Sunderland is a great example of how quickly football can change. In the first half of the season, Sunderland was looking like a club going places and pushing on to challenge for a place in Europe. But now Sunderland finds themselves near the bottom of the table with just 1 point from their last six games. So what exactly has gone so dramatically wrong at Sunderland?
Well injuries have obviously played their part and it’s typical for teams to have a difficult period at some point during a season. But is this simply a blip? Or something of a much more serious nature? Well I have to say that it seems to be more than just a blip, because Sunderland have gone from the top half of the table to edge of the relegation zone. Bearing in mind that the bottom 3 hasn’t exactly been in superb form that really shows how badly Sunderland has slipped of late.
It may be a little unfair to look at all this with at least not mentioning Darren Bent. It should be remembered that Bent was on fire for Sunderland in the first half of the season and the decision to sell him in the January transfer window has surely been a factor in Sunderland’s poor run of form. It is believed that the decision to sell did not come from the manager. Therefore, are the board paying the price for a lack of ambition? I simply find it hard to believe that Sunderland would be in this position, if Darren Bent was still at the club.
However, the Sunderland board must now sit down and decide if Bruce is the right man to push Sunderland forward. In my opinion Steve Bruce is still a top class manager and should receive some level of loyalty from the board. However, how satisfied they are with Bruce will depend on the expectations for the club and obviously relegation would change everything. Steve Bruce laughed off the suggestion he could get sacked. But he should bear in mind that managers are only as good as the results they get and any manager that has had the run of results Bruce has rightly should be under pressure. And the suggestion his job is safe no matter what shows a level of arrogance that may contribute to his downfall.
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