MOYES: WE HAVE GONE BACKWARDS
DAVID MOYES admitted yesterday that Sunderland had gone backwards since Sam Allardyce steered them to Premier League safety last season. The division’s bottom club are yet to win after eight league matches going into today’s game at fellow underachievers West Ham.
And Moyes was forced to agree with his striker Jermain Defoe’s assessment this week that the club were not a patch on how they finished last season. ‘I thought Jermain’s piece was a wee bit taken out of context,’ said Moyes. ‘But comparing where the team finished at the end of last season to how we have started this season, yes, you’d have to say that (we’ve gone backwards).
‘ The same players were in the same position this time last season, but compared to where they finished they were winning a few games and picking up some points. At the moment we’re not doing that.’ But the former Manchester United manager insisted he has the experience to get Sunderland back on track.
‘I’m big enough,’ he said. ‘I know what it’s like. The plan is to first of all make everybody realise there is a long-term plan and get away from the thought that it’s going to be something other than that, so we are working together to change things.
‘What you will really judge us on is what you see on the grass. I’m the one who has got to get that bit right.’ Sunderland have become perennial strugglers, which has led to club chiefs insisting on clauses in many of the players’ contracts that would see their wages halved if they are relegated.
The club want to avoid financial meltdown should they fall out of the world’s most lucrative league, while the manager is hoping to avoid such a situation by strengthening his squad in January.
Moyes hopes to have a mini clear-out to raise funds once the transfer window re- opens. But he will find it difficult to bring in enough cash to significantly boost his squad for the second half of the season, not to mention trying to attract the right players willing to scrap for survival.
Even if Moyes does strike agreements with rival clubs for his main targets, Sunderland’s reluctance to pay attractive wages is likely to prove another stumbling block.
And it remains to be seen whether Moyes will still be in a position to make those decisions in January as his job comes under increasing scrutiny. The Scot, who signed a four-year contract in the summer, is not understood to be in any immediate danger, but the Sunderland hierarchy are alarmed by results.