It’s so tough on our fans, says Rodwell
IT’S not much fun being a Sunderland supporter right now — and even the club’s players agree. Jack Rodwell has done little to lift the gloom on Wearside and the £10million midfielder has now started 35 Premier League matches without victory since joining from Manchester City in 2014. The 25-year-old has sympathy for those who headed for the exits as Sunderland trailed 3-0 to Stoke after 34 minutes on Saturday. ‘It must be tough being a supporter at the moment,’ said Rodwell. ‘It was a terrible result. When you are three down, where do you go from there? ‘But we all have to fight together until the end. We have been here before. We have to fight in adversity. ‘Last year’s January window was good for us but whatever happens in the window is out of our hands. We have to go out and play as the XI the boss puts out.’ David Moyes, in fairness, was missing an entire starting XI. He would prefer not to start with the likes of out-of-form defender Papy Djilobodji, who seemed to stop playing at one point in the first half and had to be cajoled by skipper John O’Shea. ‘There are moments I’ve seen in Papy in other games as well which maybe haven’t been as noticeable,’ Moyes said. ‘There are some of the games he’s found difficult, but at the moment we don’t have other options. But he stuck at it on a difficult day against Peter Crouch.’ Sunderland fans are refusing to turn on Moyes despite a return of one point from four matches. The Scot said: ‘The supporters know what the situation is. I appreciate their support greatly. I don’t want them to go through this every year. ‘Of course you’ll lose games and sometimes make mistakes and don’t play well, but it’s too much. We want to change that.’ Stoke boss Mark Hughes was understandably happier after seeing his side win at the Stadium of Light for the first time. He said: ‘We disappointed ourselves last weekend in the Cup and I needed a response. They didn’t surprise me because I have got an honest group, a group that reacts when they have disappointments. It was exactly what I expected to happen.’