KEEP THE FAITH

Sunderland are in Europe, but what can be said of La Vita Bella?

One thing is for sure: if Sunderland win the Europa League this season, we will be in the Champions League in 2027/2028. So why worry about the league? It's almost a mirror image of going up via the play-offs having checked out of the race for automatic promotion two seasons ago.

It's sometimes good to look at the possibilities for success and try to put short term disappointments into perspective. But I’ll save that for the club's own apologists: my job is to be glass half-full! A distracting pre-season tour in the USA (in which results were not good, similar to the current league form actually); an underwhelming transfer window, in which multiple opportunities were missed to sign players of quality and experience (and added to this the significant exit of Lutsharel Geertruida in order to waste money on wingers that could have shored up our defence); chaotic e-ticketing of our home friendlies; and the sudden departure of the club's Interim CEO, Tom Burwell whose CV was probably better suited to running a ladies volleyball franchise. Why was he even appointed?

Some fantastic work was done by the club in the build-up to our first European match, which was one of the greatest occasions in living memory on Wearside. However, for me there was also too much "big talk" from certain figures. When players and management talk more than they keep their heads down, and imagine they are succeeding in front of the microphone, but don't pay attention to delivering on the pitch, it often heralds the arrival of complacency and basking in the limelight. This can quickly become damaging.

The wonderful occasion that saw us edge out AZ showed that we lacked clinical finishing and the brief positivity also largely bucked the trend that things are not as pulled together as they should be at all levels of the club, given the challenges of competing for a second season in the Prem, coupled with the demands of being in Europe.

I do wonder whether the run of games Brentford-Arsenal-AZ-Man City where we actually played well, but didn't gather as many points as we deserved, led to some discouragement (football's apex clubs continue to exercise unbreakable dominance) - and I wonder whether the manager saying every week since when we started to play badly that the games were "intense" and we just missed out by "fine margins" is the right message for the players to be hearing. Better he tore into the poor performances (and admitted his poor team selections and tactics) than added to the general sense of complacency and "aren't we great" attitude.

On the field, we look not only toothless but increasingly without "identity" after five defeats in seven (plus two in pre-season against Prem opponents), we continue to see that the final third is a forbidden zone - consequently we have almost the lowest number of goals for in the League; our wingers (apart from the one who is never picked) are noticeably timid, passing back rather than beating the defenders; some dubious transfers have weakened not only our defence but also our midfield and we run less than our opponents week in week out.

It is not unique to Sunderland. Prior to Sunday’s disaster, both Sunderland and Bournemouth were hovering around the relegation zone. Both teams won their first two Europa League ties, but were playing poorly in the league.

Sunderland have conceded 12 goals in the last 4 matches for 3 scored while Bournemouth let in 5 against Chelsea alone, of which two Jordan Henderson (whom we couldn't have signed could we?) yet recorded 24 shots against us to our 3, all of which were off target.

For two teams that are new to European competition, it is conceivable that committing 100% to Premier League games sandwiched in between unique and memorable European ties is not a realistic expectation. Let's forget for a moment that clubs are supposed to build depth in their squads - something that Sunderland have ostensibly done.

I have said before that the club needed a five year plan in order to remain competitive. No plan survives contact with reality. But the above merely evidences the inexperience of our ownership dealing with the challenges of growth and consolidation.

I worry that managing Sunderland is rather like a glorified MBA assignment for KLD, who is younger than any other Premier League CEO and does not clearly have experienced advisors to act as sounding boards for his decision-making. I wonder if KLD will be brave enough to recognise his limitations and bring in outside help? I give KLD full credit for being hands-on with the business and I wonder what contribution Juan Sartori makes in comparison. But being able to take the right advice and set the right standards throughout the club are things extremely difficult to get right.

In conclusion, I would genuinely love to know how these guys see the future. Is the objective a top half finish? Yo-yo back and forth to the Championship? Silence is always the standard policy, but it would be worthy if respect if they would come out and tell us what the hell is really going on. Specifically I would be asking them the following questions:

- why did the club decide not to sign Geertruida permanently after his fantastic loan performances last season?

- why is Talbi not being selected and why was he excluded from the Europa League squad?

- why did Sunderland not sign a ‘senior’ replacement for Eliezer Mayenda in the summer?

- why did the club not sign players with proven Premier League experience this season (Geertruida again, strategies that have been successfully employed by Brentford, Everton, Palace, Forest to name but a few...)? Why did the club prioritize unproven young players albeit at high valuations?

- why has the club not brought in new investors since promotion?

- why did the club sack its Interim CEO? When is a permanent replacement planned?

- why was the club prioritising the USA in pre-season (like West Ham did, only to be relegated last season for example)?

- what do you understand to be the key success factors for consolidation in the Premier League?

- do you have a plan for accommodating stadium expansion alongside playing success?

At the risk of stirring controversy, some answers would be very welcome before a full-blown crisis breaks out.