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Dear Roker Report,
I am sure you, like me, had the misfortune of watching our two most recent league performances against Brighton and Bournemouth, respectively. Our previous defensive stability and fighting spirit seem to have completely gone, and, unless I am mistaken, I counted a total of one shot on target across both games. This isn’t just not good enough; it’s so far from being good enough that it’s bordering on disgrace. By the time you are reading this, I suspect we will be rock bottom, and after five defeats from seven, that is currently where we belong.
I have no doubt this will elicit some of the usual inane responses from the happy-clapping masses: ‘It’s only been two bad games’ or ‘We were in League One a few years ago’. To the first point, I’d say that aside from scraping a win against a Fulham side who, on the day, were even worse than us, a fortunate penalty against AZ and hobbling across the line against a side fourth-bottom of the Portuguese second tier, what have you seen from our output this season that gives you any cause for optimism? A decent performance away at City, in which we conceded five, largely through our own defensive incompetence? Ah yes, there was the midweek win against Hull’s reserves as well, where the only goal was scored by a player who appears to have become a pariah, for some reason.
To the second point, I’d say that if you want to judge success against the benchmark of the lowest point in the club’s history indefinitely, then fine – I don’t. We’re no longer cobbling a team together with academy prospects and free transfers; we’ve spent close to a hundred million quid on wingers since we’ve been back in the Prem. Of the three still at the club, not one was trusted to come on when we desperately needed a goal, nor have any of them consistently looked like Premier League quality. In fact, I’d argue our wide options were stronger under Tony Mowbray than they are now.
So what’s my point? My point is that we’re in crisis, and there is no point in pretending that we aren’t. Le Bris has earned the chance to put this right, but he must do so immediately or the club’s hands will be forced. Please tell me I’m being overly dramatic or pessimistic, or that there are some positives to take from somewhere, because right now, I can’t see any.
Matt Laidlaw
Ed’s Note [Gav]: No, I don’t think you’re being overly dramatic – we have reached a point where valid concerns are being raised and you can feasibly tell that a couple more bad results this week and we’ll be looking at a change of manager, and that’s something I really do not want. Kyril is ruthless and has shown this plenty of times in the past, so we could well have reached the point whereby we need to beat Leeds in particular to turn our season around, and that doesn’t seem like a particularly appetising prospect right now.
I really hope that Sunday’s game was a line in the sand moment for these players and they seriously buck their ideas up ahead of the Poznan game. Let’s go there and win and then do the same next Sunday.
Dear Roker Report,
I’ve supported SAFC since 1954 (aged 10). Most seasons have been bad to awful, with a few bright spots in between, e.g. 1973 and 2025-26. Why do I (now aged 82) continue? Simple – no other club can match the highs and lows we experience.
So far this season, injuries, tiredness from the World Cup and some inexplicably bad defensive errors have led to a rapid deterioration of any hopes or dreams I might have harboured. I would like to write a bit more.
P.S. In the event of relegation, keep RLB and rebuild like Ipswich have done.
Jeremy Ward
Ed’s Note [Gav]: Hello Jeremy – first and foremost, please feel free to write even more, as I’m sure you’ve got plenty to say given your many years of support! I guess if one thing being a fan for that length of time has taught you it’s that you should never expect anything other than pure chaos from Sunderland.