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Oh, to be a Sunderland player.
No matter how bad you perform - or, in the case of Jack Rodwell, don’t perform at all - it appears that there’s absolutely nothing in the way of accountability amongst the players that, week after week, let this club down with their unprofessional, insipid displays of shoddy workmanship.
Chris Coleman spoke in the aftermath of our latest defeat - on Saturday at home to Preston - about the players needing to get away from each other for a few days, and as such it would appear that they’ve been granted the opportunity to do what they want whilst the rest of football heads into a two week international break.
And for Lamine Kone - who has been left out of the Ivory Coast’s squad for their upcoming games with Togo and Moldova due to his awful recent form - that has meant he’s got an excuse to get himself abroad, relaxing around a swimming pool for a few days.
The reward for persistent failure isn’t an all expenses trip paid jaunt abroad like we’ve seen in the past (New York 2017, anyone?), but still, it rankles somewhat that a player whom has come under such considerable criticism in recent times from supporters has the audacity to show off the fact he’s sunning himself abroad whilst the rest of us sit pondering what on Earth is going to happen to our football club over the coming weeks and months.
I’ve no doubt that people might think this is over-critical, but to me it shows a chronic lack of understanding once more from a player who is clearly too thick to be anywhere near social media, and really should be one of the first bombed out of this football club once the summer comes around.
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Surely he knows the reaction such an image will get, particularly when you have such a large following on social media and the fans of the unfortunate club you play for can see it in plain sight? I don’t understand why, in his position, you’d be so tactless.
As mentioned earlier, Chris Coleman made no secret that the players would be afforded a few days off work over the break but to rub it in the faces of the supporters is just foolish, particularly when the club are sat rock bottom of the Championship without a hope in hell’s chance of staying up.
To me it shows that Kone has no humility, no dignity and just doesn’t care all to much what people think of him. The Sunderland players live inside a comfy little bubble where they don’t have to face the fans unless it’s a Saturday, and because of that they can get away with doing whatever they want with their money. And that’s their prerogative, of course, but it doesn’t mean we should be happy for them.
There are just over six weeks until the season ends, and the sooner this rolls around the better. Sunderland need to rid themselves of these pathetic wasters sooner rather than later, and one of those at the top of the transfer list should undoubtedly be Lamine Kone - a man who, in the past, has shown us up in the public eye far too often for anyone’s liking.