David is not a bad boss... he is simply in a bad job
THIS is the weekend they dread. Every manager whose team are stuck in a rut hates the fixture immediately before the international break. This is prime sacking time.
David Moyes won’t need reminding. Bottom of the table after a disastrous start, his new team are yet to win in the league. Another defeat at Bournemouth and many Sunderland fans will believe all hope has gone.
The situation is loaded with pressure. Moyes, after all he’s been through the last couple of years, will know exactly what conclusion those looking in from the outside will be drawing: Manchester United — sacked; Real Sociedad — sacked. Sunderland…
So what happens next? Sunderland, after all, are a sacking club.
But here’s the issue. Moyes hasn’t become a bad manager. Far from it. I’ve long regarded him to be a great Premier League manager and his work at Everton was outstanding. He knows how to get out of tricky positions and get results.
Being in the bottom three at this stage shouldn’t faze him. In 2005-06, Everton had an appalling start. They lost 12 of their first 17 games, including a Champions League play-off against Villarreal, and found themselves in the bottom three in November.
It was a position in which a club could have lost touch, particularly as his main striker was injured. But Moyes planned the remainder of the campaign out and set a predicted points target for each month. He made Everton resilient and they comfortably finished in mid-table.
Resilience was also required when he first arrived at Everton. He had nine games to save them from relegation in March 2002 and exploited the presence of Duncan Ferguson and Kevin Campbell up front to get the results. Moyes made no excuse for playing long.
That came to mind when Niall Quinn suggested last week that Sunderland need to play more direct to stay up. Can Moyes go back to that style? After all, he has evolved as a manager from when he first set foot in the Premier League.
He used to be regarded as one dimensional but by the end of his time at Everton, he had changed. They played good football and he wanted to play with style when he managed United and Real Sociedad, too.
The perception, however, of his teams being dour — which was unfair — cost him jobs elsewhere, but given the current position, wouldn’t it be better to go back to what served him so well at the beginning?
Sunderland’s problems are not down to Moyes. His problem comes down to the fact he’s taken a bad job.
Gus Poyet, who had 18 months in charge at the Stadium of Light, summed it up recently when he said: ‘There is something at Sunderland’s very core’ that makes managers fail there.
The only blemish on Martin O’Neill’s CV is Sunderland. Steve Bruce was a potential England manager before he failed there. Dick Advocaat has managed all over the world but couldn’t make it work. Sam Allardyce (left) only won nine of his 30 games in charge. Moyes is the 12th permanent boss at Sunderland since Peter Reid was sacked in 2002 and no one has found the formula to turn them into a club that sits comfortably in the Premier League, rather than one that clambers out of the bottom three in May.
It feels as if he has been on the back foot ever since he replaced Allardyce in July.
Managers start to prepare for a new season in April or May, but Moyes was left to scurry around for late deals, hoping to entice players to a club and an area that, with the greatest of respect, has never had pulling power.
So he went for players he knew, of which only Adnan Januzaj has come close to doing enough.
The other big issue was the fact he managed to hang on to Lamine Kone.
It has proven to be his worst decision. Kone has been a disgrace. His body language and performances have been dreadful and he has made it quite clear he wants to move.
Sunderland of 2016-17 has the potential to eclipse Aston Villa as the worst Premier League team I’ve seen. I fear for their future. But to hold Moyes responsible? I’m sorry but that just isn’t the case. He is managing the club that is almost unmanageable.