No surprise Black Cats are doing what’s expected – losing at home

IT IS ALL VERY FAMILIAR FOR FURIOUS FANS

CHRIS Coleman said he “should have expected” Sunderland’s first-half performance against Brentford.

If he was genuinely caught by surprise, he must have been the only person in the Stadium of Light who was.

When the Black Cats conceded with less than 15 minutes gone and then found themselves 2-0 down before the half-hour, that ‘here we go again’ feeling was everywhere.

It has become the default state for Sunderland fans ground down by years of failure.

It could be detected in the defeatist body language of the players - it has seeped into the very fabric of the stadium and it was written large in the haunted expression on Coleman’s face on the sidelines. Sunderland were beaten already. They knew it, Brentford knew it, everyone knew it.

The Black Cats found a spark to come back from 3-0 down and salvage a draw at Bristol City the previous week but those type of rescue operations are the exception, not the rule.

Goals from Kamo Mokotjo and Neal Maupay were knockout blows.

Sure, Sunderland had enough chances to turn the game around – George Honeyman hit the crossbar right at the end of the first half and Aiden McGeady fluffed a great opportunity just after the break – but they did not have enough belief, nor enough quality in front of goal.

After enduring so much for so long, it is hardly surprising the atmosphere inside the half-empty stadium rapidly deteriorated and the fans ran through the now standard medley of boos and chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt”.

One smartly-dressed fan spoke for the overwhelming majority late in the second half when he headed towards the directors’ box, gestured towards the feeble fare on the pitch and asked chief executive Martin Bain if he was happy with this state of affairs.

It did not matter Coleman had changed formation from a back five to a back four, in the wake of that performance at Bristol.

What mattered was these players are simply not good enough.

Too many lack the mental strength and powers of concentration to compete at Championship level.

While some of Coleman’s own decisions could be questioned at the weekend – preferring centre-back Jake Clarke-Salter to Bryan Oviedo at left-back, for example – it was less a question of tactics, formations, and even team selection, more a case of players’ inability to do the basics.

If you cannot do the basics no formation or tactics in the world will save you.

This was the fourth game in a row Sunderland have found themselves at least two goals down by half-time and they have conceded 27 times before the break this season – more than any other team in the Championship.

At the Stadium of Light, visiting teams know they can exploit Sunderland’s defensive weaknesses and the crowd will turn against them.

It has proved to be a devastatingly effective tactic.

Even the new players Coleman signed in January have become quickly dragged down by the negativity and gloom on Wearside, Clarke-Salter and Ashley Fletcher both very poor.

On Saturday, Sunderland were reduced to giving the ball to academy product Joel Asoro and hoping the teenager could produce a moment of magic to lift the team.

Asoro was one of the few to come out of the game with any credit but it is too much to ask an 18-year-old to carry Sunderland’s survival hopes.

As things stand, with 14 games remaining and a gap of three points between the Black Cats and fourth-bottom, those survival hopes are still alive.

Yet the games are ticking down and the gap is not narrowing – if anything it will widen if Barnsley and/or Hull City take advantage of their game hand.

This was Coleman’s 1,000th game in professional football as a player and manager and it will not be an occasion he will want to remember.

He continues to stay positive, as he must, but even he sounds increasingly perplexed and frustrated by the failings of this team.

Sunderland visit relegation rivals Bolton Wanderers tomorrow night.

Unless things change, and change quickly, Sunderland will find themselves in the third tier next season.