Moyes should dodgyandgo
Icould furnish you with a list of everything that has gone wrong at Sunderland this season, but you won’t need it. You probably keep one about your person in case of emergency.
The main issue is what to do now. At times like this you look for leadership.
We weren’t expecting David Moyes to transmute into Henry V. Apart from anything else he’s Scottish.
But what he has said in the past week was more than a little desponding.
Back in August, just two games into the season, he undermined the confidence of the players on the pitch by saying that Sunderland would be in a relegation battle.
During a tortuous goalless draw with Burnley in the FA Cup he did not make any substitutions. He then undermined the confidence of the players on the bench by saying that they were even less capable of scoring goal.
Last week described the potential of January signings as “limited with a big L”.
As though capitalisation was not damnation enough, he added: “I’d be kidding if I said the players we’re going to bring in will massively make a big difference.
“We probably couldn’t get that level of player and probably wouldn’t have the finances.”
He thereby managed the extraordinary feat of undermining the confidence of players who haven’t even signed for the club yet.
In Moyes’ defence, it’s difficult to question the veracity of what he has said. But what’s that got to do with anything?
Surely the manager should be accentuating the positive; telling the players privately and the fans publicly that he has a great squad that can beat anyone on their day. If he isn’t saying