SLACK CATS
Mackems’ play-offs hopes take hit in Stadium of fright
SUNDERLAND are trying to be too clever for their own good – without getting the basics right.
You can sack managers, change formation, talk a modern coaching game, but if your players don’t put in an aggressive, competitive shift you’re in trouble.
You can buy young, build squad value and assume there is a rosy future, but unless you tackle, squeeze space, bully and win duels, the play-offs will be out of reach.
The Black Cats looked like amateurs in the first half set up in a 3-4-2-1 formation, leaving spaces everywhere for Swansea to exploit.
The Championship needs a dose of experience, but the Mackems have a team of kids, who looked lost during a terrible first 45 minutes.
During the week Michael Beale was sacked after just 63 days and 12 games in charge, but it solved nothing apart from a public relations problem with the fans. Michael Dodds is at the helm supposedly for the season, but that may depend on results, while they assess all their options with Reims’ Will Still, 31, the top target.
Dodds seems bright and suited to the tactical intricacies of the game and has all the lingo.
A language problem with Ukrainian striker Naz Rusyn, for instance, is a “speed bump for us”. A discussion on new formations was explained: “I am not gambling on decisions. I am not a roulette table.”
In their current model Sunderland won’t sign anyone approaching 30… like Swansea’s Joe Allen, 33, who ran the show and still looks class. Likewise Matt Grimes, 28.
That leaves them vulnerable – talented though 16-year-old substitute Chris Rigg is, he can’t be expected to take a game by the scruff of the neck just yet. This was also a glimpse of what Sunderland look like without “the best winger in the league” Jack Clarke, who was injured. It was severely limited.
A first-half double from Brazilian Ronald grabbed the points with Luke O’nien replying on 77 minutes.