When weary, best to sleep. And in some ways that’s what we have done since I wrote last Thursday. The fallout from the run of defeats is still current and still relevant, thanks to the international break, however, we have had a bit of time to put old quarrels to bed and concentrate on what lies ahead. Don’t misunderstand me, come the final whistle on Saturday the vitriol and anger will bubble to the surface once again should we not produce a performance, or at least a result, capable of sweeping this sorry sequence of games under the carpet. If that is a 1-0 win the doubts will remain and let’s be honest with ourselves, we’re not exactly comfortable with nervousness and doubts as a bunch of fans. A few stray passes will have some of us jumping out of our seats and shouting for [insert player name here] to make an effort, or words to that effect. We’re football’s equivalent of angry drivers. Having said that, we’ve had our fair share of car crashes over the years.
And so Ipswich come rolling into the Stadium of Light again. A Premier League fixture not that long ago... well actually it was twenty years by my reckoning but you get the point. We were both Premier League clubs in recent memory and now we find ourselves battling in the sinkhole of League One. Both clubs have also been managed by Roy Keane, with varying success. Both clubs watch their local rivals battling to be the worst in the Premier League but pointing and laughing at that is fairly hollow in our predicaments. The question around this game is a what happens if… What happens if we lose? What happens if we draw? What happens if we win? What happens if we win by a narrow margin but are a little unconvincing? What happens if we absolutely smash them? That’s the bizarre thing with Sunderland at the moment, any of these scenarios is a possibility. So too is the scenario that Ipswich knock 5 past us and pootle off back to Suffolk with Lee Johnson’s scalp under their arm. Performances are inconsistent in the extreme.
In the past few weeks Sunderland have wilted faster than a snowdrop in the Sahara. A bit of that Northern Irish determination would not go amiss and, fresh from watching Stockport overcome Bolton with sheer grit and determination (and some skill) that goes a long way in terms of beating League One opponents. That is precisely wat I expect to see on Saturday. Obviously we would all like to see us romp home with rapier level passes and musketeer style finishing, but I would have a lot more satisfaction in seeing a bit of grit and determination return to the spine of the team. An arrogance, a swagger and an unwillingness to accept second best. We have been second best recently and that is where the leadership team need to lift heads. Get the chins pointing upwards and intimidating Ipswich. There are two ways to do that, you can outplay them and prove you are better than them, or you can outmuscle them and prove you’re stronger than them. In an ideal world you would do both but let’s not go back to a rant about the lack of a plan B.
I will walk into the Stadium of Light on Saturday not knowing what to expect at all, but I know what I am hoping for. I am hoping that the break has allowed the squad to regroup and the coaching team to have a think about this spell which has surely pushed them to the brink of deciding on Lee Johnson’s future. I am hoping that lessons have been learned and we will see an improvement in both attitude and aptitude. Failure in either of those areas will have the vultures circling once again and I could really do without the disappointing walk from the stadium trying to lift my son’s spirits once again so I’m hoping that Streaky Lee has ended his bad run. If he has then we can forget about this whole sorry episode and get on with chasing that 100 point target and having fun along the way.
As always FTM
