Rowell on Cats ‘awful day’
Sunderland went into the Gillingham game with what seemed like the weight of the world on their shoulders and they played like it, producing a performance that just made a bad situation worse.
Of course it wouldn’t be Sunderland without a hard luck story, Charlie Wyke having a goal mysteriously disallowed and that scrappy 1-0 win that every struggling team needs to kick start their season was snatched away.
Over the 90 minutes though, it’s got to be said that Sunderland were woeful.
I could have lived with that in return for three points, even if we all would have known it wouldn’t have been deserved.
To be second best for much of the game, to a mid-table team in a mediocre league is incredibly difficult for Sunderland fans to accept, but that’s the reality because that sort of performance is becoming the norm now.
The odd good one, like the thumping of Tranmere that seems like a lifetime ago, is very much the exception.
There was a shock starting line-up for Sunderland fans to get their heads round when the teams were announced.
It took everybody by surprise and I think if every Sunderland fan had ten different picks for a starting XI, not many would have come up with the team that actually did start.
Maybe whatever team Phil Parkinson picked would have lost – it’s not beyond the realms of possibility - but when you make such radical changes to personnel and play a system that was tried and didn’t work under Jack Ross at the start of the season, you’ve really got to get something from the game.
If you don’t, you must know criticism will follow.
Saturday’s game, but for a controversial refereeing decision, could have been a shocker that we won 1-0, but it wasn’t.
It was a shocker that we lost 1-0 and the saddest thing is, nobody is really surprised any more.
So to Saturday, and Simon Grayson’s return with Blackpool.
I’m absolutely certain he will have had this game circled since the start of the season.
Grayson was sacked after only 15 league games and can reasonably claim Sunderland only got worse after his dismissal.
He’ll have a fair point; we did finish bottom and thoroughly deserved that shameful position.
They’re circumstances Sunderland could have done without, because there’s nothing like having a point to prove to focus the mind.
Ad I’m sure Grayson will be doing everything he can to pour even more misery on his former club and long-suffering supporters.
*The Sunderland Echo runs SAFC weekly podcast call The Roar!
Every Thursday our team of SAFC writers - Phil Smith, Richard Mennear, Mark Donnelly and James Copley - discuss the big talking points of the week, whether it be takeover, transfer or tactics-related - we discuss it all! With Sunderland strtuggling so badly, we also answer fan questions and read out the best and funniest reader anecdotes as fans share their memories of following the Lads home and away over the years. The podcast is published online and in all the usual podcast places every Thursday evening for readers to listen to.