Sunderland’s miserable season may not yet be beyond repair but a ninth defeat, at Bournemouth on Saturday, would leave most remaining optimists resigned to relegation.
The problem for manager David Moyes is that with the gap between bottom place and Premier League safety now stretched to nine points, taking account of current goal differences, even the customary end of season scramble for survival would be insufficient to save his side.
Despite speculation Moyes will be sacked if Sunderland fail to record their first victory of the season at the Vitality Stadium, club sources have insisted his job is not in immediate danger.
But such assurances must always be treated with caution. In the absence of a clear statement from owner Ellis Short that he backs Moyes to rebuild Sunderland even if the drop cannot be avoided, doubts will persist. It is not even certain that Short wishes to prolong his ownership, having seen no return but plenty of criticism for his annual investment in the transfer market.
Last season, Bournemouth won the same fixture comfortably, with goals from Callum WIlson and Matt Ritchie in the first nine minutes, and few of the large travelling support from Wearside would be surprised to witness a similar 2-0 outcome on Saturday. Unless Short remains committed to both the club and Moyes, whom he had targeted even before appointing Sam Allardyce for last season’s rescue act, it is difficult to see how long the current run — two points from 10 games — can continue without forcing a painful decision.
Moyes says he feels “lousy” about the wretched results but insists he does not feel under pressure from the boardroom. However, he may feel he cannot even win with the supporters. After being criticised for showing negativity in tactics, substitutions and public comments, he found scant agreement on fan sites and message boards with his insistence that the 4-1 surrender to Arsenal, three away goals coming in under seven minutes, did not represent a collapse.
He did have a point when arguing his players gave all they could and looked capable of holding an excellent Arsenal side for the first 70 minutes. But that merely confirms the inadequacy of those players. His defence was reduced to a shambles as the rout began soon after Jermain Defoe’s penalty equaliser and only some desperate goalkeeping throughout the game by Jordan Pickford and inconsistent Arsenal finishing prevented a heavier margin of defeat.
The Football Association has rightly been condemned for giving Sunderland the worst possible close season with their protracted and disruptive process of hiring Allardyce for the England job. But there is a limit to the realistic extent to which blame can levelled in that direction.
Moyes still had plenty of money, if hardly a generous amount of time, for team strengthening and the harsh truth is that he ended up with a squad inferior to the one that ended last season fourth bottom. The most damaging piece of ill-fortune to confront him has been the loss of several key players through injury.
Fabio Borini, Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchhoff, Adnan Januzaj, Jason Denayer and Sebastian Larsson all have their critics. They also all have top-level experience that might have produced better results had all been available. Of that list, only Januzaj has returned — he played an indifferent 23 minutes a substitute against Arsenal — and the others are at different stages of recovering full fitness. Of the new signings, only Didier Ndong has impressed, without ever properly justifying his record £13.6m price tag, and only Jermain Defoe and Patrick van Aanholt have scored league goals.
Leaving aside the real or supposed threat to Moyes’ position, those still clinging to hope for Sunderland must regard defeat at Bournemouth as unthinkable. Even a draw would seem acutely disappointing given the club’s predicament.
Whatever happens on Saturday, the final weeks of 2016 will then play a hugely significant part in determining the Wearsiders’ fate.
If visits to Liverpool and Manchester United, and the home game to Chelsea, seem unlikely to produce points, wins simply have to be recorded at home to Hull City, Leicester City and Watford and from at least one of the remaining trips, to other relegation battlers Swansea and Burnley.
In most recent seasons, Sunderland have proved incapable of winning key matches, irrespective of the opposition, at least until the final countdown. But the points tally from those seven games between now and New Year’s Eve will almost certainly decide their fate.
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