We face a really tough test at the weekend in MK Dons. They are above us in the league now and in much better form. They also have Connor Wickham up front who is absolutely nailed on to score against us.
We have been in turmoil but at least we have stopped run of three straight defeats with a draw against Wimbledon. That said SAFC drawing against Wimbledon in League One is a rubbish result, no matter how you look at it. I won’t argue that it is positive; I cannot put a spin on a result I am so apathetic to. It is banished to the back of my mind, filed under that extensive back catalogue of forgettable 1-1 League One draws.
But by our incredibly low standards at the moment, it isn’t as humiliating as results over the previous two weeks. We have conceded a lot recently and but for a really harsh penalty, we would’ve had a clean sheet at the weekend. We looked more competent and solid, if not completely unremarkable. It was just one of those typical Sunderland things, Alex Neil has won each of his first games therefore, a draw or defeat in his first game for us is a foregone conclusion. These instances are as inevitable as an average League One forward doing a Shearer celebration after scoring against us.
There are still glaringly obvious problems within the squad, some of which cannot be rectified. The depth of the squad will not suddenly be altered ahead of this weekend’s game. No doubt we will have to turn to the free agents’ market shortly, where we simply have to recruit another centre half as we have no real cover there.
Callum Doyle is sluggish at the moment and on his best day, when fully fit, he is still slow for a young lad. Likewise, Bailey Wright is also exceptionally slow and for being rushed back five days early, he looked pretty solid against Wimbledon. Any delving into the free agents’ market is a risk, people are free agents for a reason after all. We should never have allowed this situation to arise; in fact, the way that it has come around is insanity.
But, we cannot alter these circumstances. Neil had only 40 minutes in training on Friday to assess his new players, ahead of the game just gone and now he has a full week to evaluate the squad. We will see what he can do with this extra time with the players. A good result against MK Dons this weekend will stem a bit of negativity and fingers crossed, our fortunes can be turned around. It is not impossible.
Negativity is inevitable. To be honest, negativity and mediocrity are inextricably linked. The more you look at the club, the more rational it is to be extremely negative, to be wholeheartedly pessimistic. However, completely irrationally, I have a cautious optimism for the weekend.
Let’s see how many of the variables that are within Neil’s control can be changed ahead of the weekend. He obviously sees what is wrong with the team at the moment and it was incredible to watch his post-match press conference. I feel as if I haven’t seen a manager speak so frankly about SAFC for years and he really seems to grasp the challenge at hand.
Who knows what performance we will get at the weekend? What changes to the starting 11’s composition will be made? Optimism cannot abound on the back of our form, but whoever plays at the weekend needs to put in a hell of a performance. Perhaps Fortuna’s Wheel will finally spin in our direction. We have suffered the slings and arrows of poor fate and form for weeks and I am choosing to go into the weekend with blind faith and predict a win!
If it all goes wrong, I’ll head for the pub afterwards and drown my sorrows…
