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How Difficult Can It Be To Observe A ONE Minute Silence?
Very, apparently. Whatever the reasons for it, the noise that emanated from the Everton end during the one minute silence to remember those who lost their lives at Hillsborough 25 years ago was very disappointing. It was greeted by boos from the Sunderland end, which led to further noise coming from our support, before a lone shout of "Ha'way the Lads" just before the whistle brought the silence to an end. I'm not pointing the finger of blame here; it's just a shame that the silence was not impeccably observed. It was a moment for reflection and remembrance, which was ruined by either idiocy, foolishness, ignorance or more than likely a mixture of all of these factors. Either way, it was unacceptable.
Typical Sunderland
What an infuriating set of players we have. Where was this level of performance when West Ham rolled into town? Why didn't we see this commitment and drive against Norwich at Carrow Road? And even then, against an underperforming on the day, but otherwise in form Everton, we still contrived to lose by once again shooting ourselves in the foot. It was fitting that this defeat came as a result of a Wes Brown own goal. With us playing so well, even pushing for a winner, it was in many ways an inevitable conclusion. In fact, the past three to four games have encapsulated the season as a whole. Typically bloody Sunderland.
What's Left To Say?
We've seen these players time and time again, they've failed time and again. We've tried four at the back, five at the back, one up front, two strikers, three strikers, inverted wingers, Giaccherini in the hole, Johnson in a free role, Altidore, Fletcher and Wickham and no matter what combination Poyet utilises, we lose. Against Everton, it was back to four defenders, three in the middle and two wide forwards supporting Wickham as a lone striker. It was better, but ultimately made little difference. It's a lost cause. At this stage, if we had enough squad depth, I get the feeling Gus would be tempted to ditch all of those without a future at the club. Unfortunately, we'd only have about five to start plus a few kids.
Support The Club, Not The Players
That's very much what I took from the atmosphere on the day. There were moments of almost deathly silence, but then the fans rallied and got behind the one thing that unites us all; Sunderland AFC. The players might not deserve us, but it's our club and we continue to do it proud. If we're bowing out of the Premier League and it very much looks like we are, then at least we're doing it with a defiance the players could do well to learn from.
