Even this many years after it was named, I still cringe when I hear the name
‘The Stadium of Light’.  Stealing name of one of Europe’s iconic
stadiums will always jar with me a bit. Roker Park just sounded so much
better.  We could’ve called Saint Mary’s the Camp Nou or the Bernabeu
but thankfully, we called it the Friends Provident Stadium before seeing sense.

Sunderland have generally struggled over the past few years, doing the well
trodden trip from the Premier League down to League one and now trying to get
back again. Having got out of League one, they had as very good first season in
the Championship and sneaked into the final playoff place last season before
being knocked out by Luton, who are of course completely drowning in the
Premier League right now.

Sunderland have made a solid If unspectacular start this season and have been
struggling for goals a bit this year, probably down to their main striker Ross
Stewart having been injured. More on him later I suspect.

So, what’s gone on this week? The final week before the end of the transfer
window started with a couple of outgoings with Lyanco departing online for a
year to some club in Qatar whose name I can’t be bothered to
learn.  He was one who always tried his best but there was always one
too many calamities just waiting to happen and you knew that he was never going
to be able to string together a few games without one happening. Good defending
is all about consistency and doing the right things often, and Lyanco was never
gonna do that. He was however a completely mad bastard and there were times last
season when he seemed incredibly valuable because he at least showed the
determination required in a relegation battle that others could’ve learned
from.  He’s going out on loan for the season but I suspect he is
never to return

I’ve heard it said that all the celebrating tackles and bringing the crowd into
play was a little bit of a bluff to distract from the fact that he wasn’t very
good and I can’t possibly comment on that. Good luck to him – he tried his best
and wanted to be here but he just wasn’t good enough. The bottom line that his
signing from Torino was a cheap punt for £6 million quid and for that outlay,
he did okay.

Next out the door was Romain Perraud who moved on a season long loan to Nice in
France. This one is slightly different because He didn’t really do anything
wrong. He has fallen down the pecking order this season with the signing of
Ryan Manning and the emergence of Jayden Meghoma means that it’s probably okay
to let him go for the season. Again, I wish him well because he always put in
100% effort despite being messed around quite a lot last year by a variety of
managers who picked players out of position, rather than play our only senior
left back. It was all rather weird. Put all that together and this is probably
a move that will benefit all parties.

And so we get to deadline day with a number of issues up in the
air.  One was sorted with relative calm early on in the day with
Taylor Harwood-Bellis joining from Manchester City on loan. The deal is that we
have an obligation to buy at £20 million, if we get promoted. As a player who
got promoted with Burnley last season, Harwood-Bellis will most definitely be
hoping to do the same again. The most important thing about him is that even at
21, he’s already established leadership credentials by captain in the England
under 21 side. I expect him to be a regular in the team sooner rather than
later.

We were heavily rumoured to be signing the Sunderland striker Ross Stewart and
we were also heavily rumoured to be losing Che Adams to Wolves. As the day went
on it became apparent that Che was going to sign a new contract with Saints but
move to Wolves on loan for the season which means that we would still get the
£15 million quid for him this time next year plus a loan fee for this season.  

As the day went on, Ross Stewart still hadn’t happened and then some news
spread by bellend Internet ITK wannabes suggested that the Stewart deal was off
which probably came from the very definite news that Saints has decided that
the Che deal with Wolves was a load of shit and they pulled the plug on it. At
the end of the day, Stewart signed and Che Adams didn’t go anywhere so we now
have the striking options sorted, even though Che is understood to be somewhat
pissed off with his move to Wolves not happening. Hopefully when everything
settles down, he will see it as a blessing in disguise.

Ross Stewart – Before and After the Game

When the transfer window finally closed, everyone realised that no one had
bought Kyle Walker-Peters so we have by far the best right back in the
Championship and also, no one had come in for Kamaldeen Sulemana , despite his
agent desperately pushing out at the last minute that he had a £30 million
release clause. No one was ever gonna pay that because Sulemana has not
remotely done anything to warrant it. That one will be very interesting as it
still wouldn’t surprise me at all if he sits on his hands until January. If he
does get his head down and play then he’s the Nathan Tella replacement we
needed, until January at least.

The other minor footnote regarding those brought in in the great Rasmus Plays
Scattergun Football Manager Bullshit Transfer Window of January 2023, was that
Tall Paul didn’t find an escape route, so the poor bugger is stuck with us with
no prospect of getting anywhere near the match day squad. With a few countries
still having open transfer windows, I hope a solution can be found for the big
man.

Overall, on the face of it, I think the transfer window was a success. There
was a lot of work needing doing and a decent percentage of it has been done.
Some players who didn’t wanna be here have moved on and unfortunately, the real
top level talent has inevitably moved on also. We have also got rid of some
dead wood.  We have brought players in quite astutely and have two
players for every position now so on the face of it, it’s not bad. Financials
are boring obviously but we have balanced the books regarding the money wasted
last season and mitigated a lot of the loss of income from getting relegated to
the Championship.

So with the transfer window done and dusted and the squad all settled, what
would Russell Martin’s first team selection be.  Interesting – on the
face of it it’s a bit fucking weird with four changes from a winning
side.  Out of the team go the injured Jack Stephens along with Charly
Alcaraz, Sam Amo-Ameyaw and Shea Charles, the latter of whom has definitely not
done anything to warrant getting left out. In came Mason Holgate, Will
Smallbone, Flynn Downes and …. FFS Sekou Mara.

It’s the first time I’ve looked at a Russell Martin Championship team selection
and wondered what the fuck is going on. Chucking Holgate in for his first game
seems like a massive risk and I can’t help but feel that Smallbone would be
better off coming off the bench in his first game back from injury. Mara didn’t
exactly do much last week when he came on and with the 11 names on the
timesheet today, I guess it’s either going to be him or Adam Armstrong playing
out wide right.

The referee today is David Coote who like us, was so shit he’s been relegated
down into the Championship but unlike us, he’s only there for a week.

Sunderland start the game on the front foot and build at their right and under
no pressure, the cross comes in, bending behind our defence and under no
pressure, Clarke nips in front of Edozie and has a free header at Baz from
about 6 yards. 1-0 – Jesus Christ that’s pathetic.

Plenty of time to sell into the game let the next action is more
unopposed Sunderland play down our left with Bellingham being allowed time to
set the ball back for a simple pass across the top of the penalty area to Ekwah,
who takes a touch and under no pressure drills it across Baz, into the far
corner. To be fair to Baz, it was going wide until it flicked off of Flynn
Downes but I would ask, what exactly are we trying to fucking achieve here and
what do we expect if we just stand off all the time ?

We finally get a bit of possession until Holgate gives the ball away
on the halfway line to send Sunderland away on the right. Again there is no
pressure on the ball as Ba just advances to the edge of the penalty area before
curling a shot just wide of the far post. You just sense that unless we get the
next goal, which we don’t remotely look like doing, that this is going to be
absolutely horrible because Sunderland are now just sitting in and playing on
the break, which is the luxury but the 2-0 head start has given them.

We decided to try and put them under pressure a bit in their own
half and our first chance comes because of it with Ekwah presenting the ball
straight to Edozie 25 yards out and he barrels towards the edge of the penalty
area and slams it just wide.  He really
had to hit the target there and it’s a poor effort.  The game should change a bit soon after that as
Edozie’s cross from the left is picked up by Manning and Dack runs across the
back of him.  Looks like a penalty but
not in David Coote’s eyes.

We’re back to our worst soon after though as Clarke is allowed to
break through the centre of our midfield with players jogging alongside him
before he gets carted over on the edge of the box by Holgate, who to be fair,
had to do something. From the free-kick, Bradley Dack hits it and Baz manages
to parry it away. Again, there is no reaction from any of our defenders and it
takes an air shot from Sunderland forward before we managed to get a boot to it
and clear it.

With a couple of minutes to half time, and Holgate on the ball, he
gets closed down by a Sunderland striker and passes it 10 yards straight to Ekwah
in midfield. Holgate goes charging after the ball and leaves the striker who
closed him down but Ekwah however doesn’t need the striker because he jinks
past Holgate as if he is not there, advances a few yards and then smashes it
low into the bottom corner of the net under the wrist of the diving Baz. 3-0,
game completely fucked.

Russell Martin has no choice but to ring the changes at half-time, with the
ineffective Stuart Armstrong and Sam Edozie replaced with Ryan Fraser and Che
Adams.  To be fair, he could have subbed
any of the outfield ten and not many could have complained.  Any thoughts we may have had about any sort
of unlikely come back I completely fucked within the first couple of minutes of
the second half as a cross comes in from the left, a free header parried out by
Baz but when the ball comes back in, Holgate swings at it and misses, and
Bradley Dack stabs into the net from 5 yards. Our defending is so shit it is
unbelievable. Mason Holgate is showing Alan Bennett levels of debut calamity.
He is not alone in the air-shot stakes though with Ryan Manning having also wafted
at fresh air when the ball has come back off of Baz in the first place.

Jack Clarke is proving to be a real handful on the left wing for Sunderland but
then if you give any player acres of space that they are going to be a problem.
Clarke drives straight to the heart of the defence before anyone could get to
him and gets about 8 yards out before poking a shot which Baz does really well
to get down and save. Our desire to get near them in midfield is non-existent.
Downes is trying his best but Smallbone looks like he is running in treacle and
is never near any Sunderland player.

Out of nowhere we came closest to scoring as we have done all game as Holgate
tries a potshot from 30 yards and the Sunderland goalkeeper Patterson is very
fortunate as he makes a complete bollocks of it but it bounces off his knee and
goes wide for a corner. In it comes from Manning and Holgate has a free header
at the back post but it goes well wide.

It’s more or less Holgate’s last involvement as he is taken off and replaced
with a man who should’ve started, Shea Charles, also off is Smallbone who also shouldn’t
have started, and he’s replaced with Alcaraz.

There is time for us to immediately add the dog leg offside trap to our list of
shit things that we’ve done in defence which gives another clear run at Baz
coming in from our left but once again, the goalkeeper is up to the task
producing an outstanding so have to keep the score down.

As we get into extra time with no further calamity, we then allow Burnett in
midfield to perform three or four roulettes and drag backs which really
should’ve seen him booted into the stand – but no one does anything and he is
allowed to swing over across and Rigg, a child, barely out of school, gets up
to head across Baz to make the misery complete. Fuck off. So shit it’s actually
funny.

Well fuck me we are shit again after that very brief four-game interlude of not
being shit. We got hammered in textbook fashion.  If you just look at
the timings of the goals then it’s the perfect recipe for getting
mullered.  Two down in the opening 10 minutes and then just when you
could think about regrouping at half-time, you let in another one. Though it’s
very unlikely, it’s not infeasible to have a much better second half at 3-0
down but if you come out and immediately let in a fourth then you are
completely fucked, so we did that. From then on it’s just damage
limitation.  Four goals can kind of be put down to have a horrendous
day but then you put a different slant on it all together by letting in a fifth
in injury time and the goalscorer is a schoolboy that they have just thrown on
for a laugh because the game is over and we are so shit that the schoolboys
development can’t possibly be harmed. The only good thing about that goal is
that a lot of your own fans will have left.

The tone was set by Russell Martin’s team selection. The negative headlines
will all go to Mason Holgate and he was truly horrific but he should never of
been selected because as was said earlier, Shea Charles deserved to start the
game and has proved to be a very capable central defender when called upon. The
other mystifying selection was that of Sekou Mara. He was 24 hours from leaving
the club if the rumours are to be believed, yet he starts and unsurprisingly,
he was shit, because he always is and consequently the attack had no balance.
It’s no coincidence that it’s the first game this season where we haven’t
scored. Will Smallbone also struggled massively on his return from injury so
you could argue that that’s another selection that shouldn’t have been made.

Balance is a key word with this team at the moment. I don’t like the make up of
our side in away games which is basically one defensive midfielder and five
attackers. We are always going to concede goals playing this way and I would
much rather see two number sixes, Downes and Charles and one other more attack
minded midfield player – one of Stuart Armstrong, Alcaraz, Smallbone or Adam
Armstrong in away games. We got away with it against Plymouth and Sheffield
Wednesday but we got found out today.

Another balance issue we have is in central defence. I don’t know too much
about Taylor Harwood-Bellis but I hope he’s comfortable playing on the left of
the central defenders because all of Holgate, Stephens and Bednarek prefer to
play on the right. That was probably the only mitigating factor for Mason
Holgate today.

The finger of blame will also be pointed at Baz again today and the third goal
was bad from his perspective as it sneaked under his arm. Again though, Russell
Martin’s usual defence of him that it is more about those in front of him,
largely stands up. He also made some very good saves today.

You can’t really blame the referee David Coote for much that went in today in
terms of the result but he was easily the worst referee that we’ve had so far
this season. All over the fucking place with a series of mystifying decisions
against both teams. It would’ve made any difference today because we were that
shit but the only thing you could maybe point out is the penalty we didn’t get
at 2-0 for the foul on Manning which could certainly have changed things. Premier
League referees who are used to operating with VAR shouldn’t be dropped into
the Championship for a week, where you have no back up from the goons at
Stockley Park and therefore have to referee the game differently.  Today though, we would’ve probably missed the
fucking penalty and even if we had been given one, we would’ve thrown in
another goal straight afterwards so it wouldn’t have ultimately made any
difference.

Today’s capitulation should actually do us good. It should give some major
learning points to Russell Martin and it should also instill in the players
that you have to be on it in every single game otherwise this can happen.
Everyone says the Championship is a tough league and I’m not sure that a lot of
the players believed it. They had better believe it now.

Regarding this game, it’s time to be all Nigel Adkins about it and draw a blue
line under it and move on. Next up is Leicester at home on a Friday night after
the international break. What could possibly go wrong?