Sunderland are experiencing a distinct blip in form. Prior to the international break our win over Birmingham left us in a very decent position just inside the playoff places. But since the league re-started we have suffered defeats against teams we would have been expected to take three points from.
But now we sit in ninth place with 27 points. The reaction on social media has certainly become more pronounced in their criticisms. “No plan B, an over reliance on Clarke, too much possession and not enough punch.” And some have focused on Tony Mowbray with one or two speculating that if this form continues he will be gone by Christmas.
But let's try and put things in perspective. Do not all teams suffer a loss of form at some stage in the season? Preston were top at one stage and Southampton were an a very uncomfortable position after heavy defeats to the Lads and Leicester, and as for Norwich...
Then there is The Model which the owners have defined for Sunderland. A team that must stand on its own feet financially and must do so by bringing in new young players and try to develop them and sell them at a distinct profit. KLD is not prepared to act as some kind of Saudi wealth fund and we saw this brutally when the club sold Ross Stewart to Southampton. For the most numerically and fanatically supported team in the Championship this is a hard concept to accept. How are you every supposed to advance to promotion if you sell some of your best players? A warning there about Clarke's future in the January transfer window stands out here.
Mowbray has done wonders at this club. Getting us into the Play Offs last season, often delivering wonderful attacking football and encouraging results from the youngest players in the League. One wonders how things might have progressed if that referee had not overreacted and sent off Dan Neil in the game against Boro, where Sunderland were playing so well up until half time. So, what next? Do not sell Alex Pritchard even if a buyer emerges in January. His nouse and experience are desperately needed to help these young and experienced players on the pitch and in general. But then there is the elephant in the room. A striker who can score, can hold up play and let wider players get into the box is, as we all know, desperately needed. But not one goal from our strikers this season says it all.
Certainly, Speakman in implementing The Model has to ask himself a few serious questions on this front with the January transfer window approaching. In the meantime, don't panic back a manager who has given us so much to date and who seems the best equipped to get into the psyche of the young squad and get the best out of it. We are, after all, just three points off the play offs and there is a remarkable similarity between the Championship last year and this year in terms of its sheer fluidity.
Some luck on the injury front will also help all round. But above all I hope KLD appreciates that in Sunderland he has a diamond of a club in terms of the fanatical devotion of its supporters and might deviate somewhat from the straight jacket of his Model to truly allow this club to advance as it deserves to. Just occasionally in football emotion needs to trump the logic of the accountant without being reckless.
