New manager, nothing’s changed. Whilst the sacking of McCarthy did, indeed, come as a massive shock to everyone, surely no one could have argued that a change wasn’t needed. Things have been flat for a long time now and, whilst the appointment of Bally isn’t a long-term solution, far from it in fact, the least we could have hoped for was for the incoming manger to restore some minute levels of pride in this otherwise dismal, dreadful season.
However, it seems that even our adopted legend is powerless to stop Sunderland’s continuous slide to the even darker depths of the Premier league. This season has, for the past few months, only been heading one way and it seems that there is no-one who can turn it round, perhaps even no-one who can apply the brakes. We are going down, with little points, little quality, little pride and no manager. Happy days indeed.
And it’s hard to see things changing. Game after game brings inept performance after inept performance and yesterday’s match was no exception, against a team who, last season, we easily brushed aside in one of our most important games for ages. How long ago that now seems as we currently lie 12 places and 33 points behind them. Often not because of our overall performance levels, but through the stupid mistakes we consistently make. So when Nyron failed to clear the ball on the edge of the box and Henri Camara lashed it brilliantly into the far top corner after only 7 minutes, the Lads, once again, had it all to do. And, once again, they did react well but simply didn’t have the quality to claw themselves back into the game. Wigan’s keeper was forced to make saves from Elliott and Delap before Kyle saw his superb goal ruled out for a very narrow offside. And this was as close as Sunderland were to get to a goal as, after this, they lost the impetus somewhat. Wigan had a great chance to finish the game just before half time when Mcculloch found space in the box from a Wigan free-kick but Davis saved brilliantly to his left off a shot that would have counted, the offside flag only being raised after Davis had made the save.
Shortly before that, the substitution of the injured Arca would not have helped the Sunderland cause, as, whilst he may not be performing to the level we all know he can, he is still our best, perhaps only attacking threat and his substitution meant that the Lads lost all attacking edge in what was an extremely dull second half. The only real Sunderland chance of the half came in the dying seconds as the substitute Stead, who replaced Elliott with 5 minutes to go, tried, in vain to get full contact as he slid in to try and convert a parried ball. Instead, his effort was half blocked by the lunging Wigan defender who did enough to turn the ball wide. Same old story for a striker and Sunderland team whose confidence must surely be at an all-time low. The sooner this horrible season is over, the better.
Man of the Match: Rory Delap. He wasn’t crap.
Matthew Woolston