"Typical Sunderland" - Simon O'Rourke blog

It's one thing identifying a problem. Finding the solution is something else entirely.

The problem is "Typical Sunderland". The problem is a football club who see the accident coming, but never seem able to avoid it.

Before last night's game at the Stadium of Light, Queens Park Rangers hadn't taken a single point away from home this season. This fixture was everyone's home banker. Sunderland were in decent form. Logic suggested they'd win.

But they lost and no one in the home crowd was in the least bit surprised. They were wretched in the first half, especially the first 20 minutes. Tactically and mentally all over the place against a team they should have beaten. So now they're back in the thick of the relegation battle.

Typical Sunderland.

The Head Coach, Gus Poyet, said much the same thing.

But there's another problem.

Some sections of the crowd don't like what they're seeing. They aren't comfortable with Poyet's football philosophy, which is patience, patience and more patience.

And Poyet isn't happy that the crowd aren't happy. Poyet thinks they're wrong. He switched to a more direct 4-4-2 style in the second half, which he thinks is what the public want. It made no difference to the result. He made that point after the game.

Awkward.

But what if Poyet's right? Part of the "Typical Sunderland" problem is possibly a certain something in the club's DNA that desires old fashioned, physical football and is damagingly impatient of any attempts to change the culture on the pitch. Poyet wants to be the man to change the culture.

It's an interesting, big picture, opinion. But there's another side to this coin. Time waits for no man and you can't keep complaining about the problem unless you come up with the solution. Poyet has yet to do that. He clearly doesn't trust his players to play the traditional 4-4-2 system, or even the more fashionable midfield diamond version. He wants extra protection in the middle, which leads to less penetration up front. The signing of Jermain Defoe has altered the balance, but not yet in a convincing or sustainable way.

Maybe this is just Gus Poyet's difficult second album. His challenging follow up to Wembley and the Great Escape. Maybe it'll be better next season.

But they've got to survive this season first and "typical Sunderland" aren't safe yet.