David Moyes pre-match press conference: Has the SAFC manager hinted he'll leave in the summer?

During Wednesday night's defeat at the hands of lowly Middlesbrough there were repeated chants from the travelling Sunderland supporters in the away end at the Riverside Stadium against David Moyes, Ellis Short and the players.

And since that game there have been calls for Moyes to resign from his post as Sunderland manager, something which he was asked about during today's meeting with the press.

An interesting response - could this be the strongest hint yet that perhaps David Moyes' position as Sunderland manager isn't as Teflon as first presumed?

You have to question his reasons for remaining in the post should Sunderland be relegated. Whilst the bumper contract that he has afforded to him will go a long way to keeping Moyes around, he's lost the support of the majority of Sunderland fans and - as shown by the mass of messages put out on Twitter after Wednesday's game - even sections of the local media are showing signs on losing patience with the former Everton boss.

I suppose that we will have to wait and see.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

Here's the run-down on what else was said ahead of tomorrow's game.

On injuries:

Cattermole, Gibson, Rodwell and Denayer have injuries which we will have to take a look at later today.

All four of the players mentioned have been given regular game time by Moyes when available this season and should be involved in some way if any of them are passed fit for tomorrow's game - that said, with Sebastian Larsson still banned this could leave Moyes without the majority of his central midfield options, giving him a huge headache when it comes to selections.

On our survival hopes:

I think we will need a really good run of results for things to go our way, but while there's a chance we will try and win.

Who's he kidding?!

He continued:

I'm here and my focus is winning the next game. Our focus is making sure we're prepared.

While we still have a chance we will keep fighting. We want a winning momentum and we want to rediscover that winning feeling.

Whilst it's patently obvious to anyone that has had the misfortune to watch Sunderland play recently that many of our players lack the motivation to score goals never mind win games, it would be nice if we could at least go down fighting.

That said, we had a great opportunity when up against a very poor Middlesbrough side on Wednesday night and came off second best - despite Bournemouth's record on the road being awful, only a mug would bet against the Cherries winning the game tomorrow.

On tomorrow's game:

Its at home and we have a chance because we've played quite well in recent games. We'll take that into it and hope it goes our way.

If we can win tomorrow it will give us an opportunity to go again. But I've said that week in week out and we haven't won.

The moral of the story here? Not even David Moyes believes his own bullshit anymore.

On the supporters:

Supporters are entitled to vent their frustrations. Frustrations have been here for 4-5 years, the manager takes the brunt of that.

Now this isn't the first time that David Moyes has given this answer when asked about fan angst towards him, and it makes me wonder if he's prepared to take any of the blame for the mess that he has presided over this season.

He appears to allude that the reasons for the frustration coming from the fans aren't necessarily due to the fault of the manager but of something more deeper rooted. And whilst I can certainly agree that many bad decisions have been made at Sunderland in recent years to ultimately get us to this point, that doesn't mean that the fans are wrong to find fault with David Moyes and his tenure in charge of the club.

All I want is the supporters to get behind the players to give them every chance of winning the game.

It's easier said than done. Expecting more of the 40,000+ supporters that turn up for every home game seems unrealistic given the fact that they are so used to losing - sadly, the last time this fan base seen a home victory was almost five months ago.

If the players give the supporters something to cheer about then they'll be met with adulation and love. It's down to them to do something about it.