We’re in trouble. Big trouble. If Quinn wasn’t aware of the job he had on his hands before today then he’s well aware now. I don’t think performances like this or the start of the season we‘ve had were in the plans when he bought the club. Yes, he’s talked about time to turn the club around but I honestly think he thought he’d get off to a decent start and have a good chance of promotion at the first attempt. That appears to be a long, long way off at the moment. 3 games in, joint bottom and if you can’t beat Plymouth at home then where are your points coming from?
The same side started again apart from Clarke coming in for the injured Caldwell but Lawrence swapped sides with Miller so was at least playing on his favoured right. The game couldn’t have started better, with 30 seconds we were one up. Murphy got the ball of the left hand side of the box and fired low into the corner. It was a great start and I thought this must be the kick-start to the season we needed and I expected us to go on and get more goals and win quite comfortably. I should have known better. 5 minutes later a cross that beat everyone went out to Norris on the right and he volleyed past Alnwick to equalise. It was a great finish but the guy got too much space on the right and it was a set-back after the good start. It was only 1-1 but they had the impetus now and Sunderlands players heads started to drop, obviously scarred from last years games when similar things happened and several players just never stepped up to the mark after that.
The defence was struggling, every time their front 2 were getting in behind and causing problems with their pace. I could forgive them if these were top class players but they weren’t, one was Barry Hayles who got released from Millwall and the other a young kid called Ebanks-Blake. Cunningham reads the game very well but does get caught out with pace occasionally and Danny Collins just isn’t good enough.
An injury to Clarke after 20 minutes meant further disruption with Wright coming on to the right but Delap now moving over to the left – even further out of position. Clarke has had as bad a start to a career at a club as is possible really, he doesn’t look great and you can only hope he settles down with time but as it stands the McCartney/Clarke/money deal doesn‘t look a good one. However by this stage it was clear who was going to score the next goal and a poor back-pass from Cunningham let in Hayles and Alnwick was left scrambling on the edge of the box as Hayles put it into an empty net.
Another capitulation threatened. The crowd started to get on the players backs even more which made them more nervous and simple passes were going astray. We were exposed at the back and weak in midfield. Whitehead again was poor. Lawrence despite being put back on his favoured wing did nothing, last year he did the stupid tricks and falling over but often had an end product, this years he’s missing the end product but we still get all the rubbish from him. Miller is a mystery. He must have some talent, he scored bags of goals at Ipswich but he’s just been hopeless since moving up here. Today was as bad as it got from him really. Every time he got involved (which wasn’t often) he was slow to the ball, gave it away and epitomised everything that’s wrong with the current crop at the minute. Leadbitter and Murphy were the only ones who were playing well, Murphy wins headers, has a good touch and has decent pace with the ball at his feet. Elliott seems to be lacking pace and confidence. Near the end of the half, Collins went close with a header but nothing else of any note came from a very poor half and the whistle came with boos ringing round the stadium.
The 2nd half started a little brighter but we still never looked like scoring then Stead and Brown were brought on for the Lawrence and Miller with Elliott and Murphy going wide. Almost immediately we had more width and balance and had an outlet up front with Brown who looked up for it from the start and was winning balls in the air. The crowd started to get behind them well and after a few minutes of pressure on their goal the equaliser came, Stead played the ball out to Murphy who did really well on the left, got to the touchline and put a great ball in for Elliott to easily head home.
It seemed the tide had turned and only one team would go on and win this and if a Chris Brown header that hit the bar a minute later had gone in we would have won but Plymouth weathered the storm and the counter attack, with us having so many attackers on, was always a threat. Sure enough it was a ball over the top that caused the problem again, Collins seemed to have it under control and just needed to head back to Alnwick but he let the ball bounce which gave Chadwick a sniff, he got ahead of Collins and slotted past Alnwick. It was a dreadful goal to give away especially given that we’d got back into it and were looking more likely to get the winner but this ended it all. Heads dropped again and they saw the final 10 minutes out easily. Plymouth are an average side with average players but they looked streets ahead of Sunderland today and that’s very worrying. Final whistle and more boos followed. I’m not going to criticise anyone for booing but I’m not sure what it achieves apart from making the players more nervous.
As bad as this start is, its still early days and although promotion looks a long way off now the play-offs never are. Monday apparently is when Quinn gets some answers on players he wants in, particularly Phillips and the more we get the better. With each passing defeat, the big players like Reid and Davenport seem harder to get. They aren’t going to want to come to a club that seems from the outside to be fighting relegation in the Championship when they can sit on the bench at Spurs. It may be that Quinn has aimed a little too high initially at the players he wants. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting decent championship players in even if its just for a season then going for the big boys if and when we get back to the premiership. At least these players won’t have the mental scars that the current crop do and they’d be given a fair crack of the whip by the fans.
The crowd? 2,000 down on Wednesday and an indication of what might come if things continue as they have. St Nialls day was non-starter.
A week now until the next game so hopefully time for Quinn to get a couple more in and sort out some glaring problems on the training ground. Southend away next and I can’t really keep on saying the next game is a must win but it is.
Man of the Match – Daryl Murphy