The Martin O'Neill thread (with added sacking #2188)

[Meanwood Villa]

I hope they win on Sat. Don't want QPR getting any momentum.

[eastie]

I hope they win on Sat. Don't want QPR getting any momentum.

Strongly fancy qpr to turn sunderland over here, agree Gardner would walk into our current team.

[Dave]

As ever, F365 is one of the few sources of football media who are actually aware of reality rather than reputation:

"Over the course of the season we might lack a lot of things - we lack real true ability in the team. We need an improvement in the ability in the squad. I think that's obvious" - Martin O'Neill, ahead of Sunday's clash with Norwich.

It's obvious to anybody with eyes that Sunderland lack 'real true ability'. It was certainly obvious against Norwich when they huffed, puffed and utterly failed to break down a Norwich side reduced to ten men after half an hour. They were gifted a controversial red card, gifted a penalty for a non-deliberate handball and gifted a let-off when Norwich should have had their own penalty. And yet they still conspired to draw 1-1 without ever carving open the Canaries.

Alternatively, it's obvious they lack something from a Premier League table that shows they have scored just 17 goals in 15 Premier League games at the Stadium of Light. And it's obvious from statistics that show they are in the bottom five teams in the division for shots per game, average possession and average pass completion.

Whether you choose to trust your own eyes, a series of numbers or the words of the manager himself, you have to conclude that they are rotten. What none of those things tell you is the money that has been spent to make them this rotten. There was talk on Sky Sports before the game that the manager has 'only' been allowed to spend money on four players. What they didn't say was that those four players have - according to local newspaper The Northern Echo - cost £30m in transfer fees alone.

Those four players - Steven Fletcher, Adam Johnson, Alfred N'Diaye and Danny Graham - have been bought by the club in the last two transfer windows. Only eight clubs (the biggest six clubs in the country plus QPR and Southampton) have spent more than Sunderland in the last two transfer windows and yet only five clubs sit below them in the Premier League table.

On Sunday they played Norwich, who spent just £9m in the last two transfer windows after finishing last season two points ahead of the Black Cats. They now sit three points ahead. Those are not great maths for any Sunderland fan who has just sat through their seventh successive game without a victory in which right-back Craig Gardner looked their most dangerous player.

You have to feel for Sunderland fans. Can any set of fans in the country currently be at a lower ebb? QPR fans have long since grown accustomed to being a laughing stock, Reading fans never expected to survive, Wigan fans have been here too many times to worry and Villa fans are seeing a buoyant and bouncing young side. Sunderland fans are watching dire football from a team with an average age of 27 and there's little sign that things are going to get any better. They will probably scrape together enough points to survive but it will be hollow success.

If it's a terrible team to support, imagine being chairman Ellis Short. Last summer he said Sunderland were "not happy with 13th - not happy at all". Right now, 13th for Sunderland would require a dramatic improvement in their performances. And the manager is still saying they need an "improvement in the ability in the squad" to prevent a repeat next season.

[dave.woodhall]

Aren't they one of the ones he's sued?

[Dave]

They are indeed.

[not3bad]

QPR have Sunderland and then Wigan so they're not out of it yet.

[tomd2103]

Heard an interview with MON on the radio earlier in which he was complaining that the squad was too small.  Even if he had a squad of 50, he'd still use the same 11 players until they were exhausted or injured so that argument doesn't stack up really.  It was also pointed out after the interview that he has had a lot of money to spend at Sunderland, so it's his own fault if the squad is too small.

[eastie]

Noticed on their fans forum that a huge 94% want mon to go either now or in may, popularity waning to say the least and making Steve Bruce look good.

[Steve R]

More worrying for them, they are going to have to rely on players like Adam Johnson, John O'Shea, Wes Brown and Titus Bramble to find something extra to stave off relegation.

They have 8 defenders average age 30+ in addition to loanee Danny Rose. From what I saw yesterday only Craig Gardner seemed to have any real taste for the fight in him.

[maidstonevillain]

2 points in March so far. They don't know how lucky they are.

[Jockey Randall]

The thing I don't get about MON is him signing Danny Graham? I can see where his other signings fit in but Graham leaves me perplexed. At Villa he had a decent mixture of pace, power, height and strength in Carew and Gabby, yet he's decided he wants 2 big men up front, neither of whom are that quick. I remember us playing Heskey and Carew together a few times and it was virtually hide behind the sofa stuff. Admittedly Graham is a bit more agile and pacier than most bigger guys but anyone can see it's far too samey up front for them. It's almost as if he just panicked and thought "I need a striker, who is a available?" without any thought for exactly the type of player he needed to fit into the team. His situation reminds of when SGT came back here a 2nd time. I think the game has swallowed him up and is moving forwards at a faster rate than he can maintain. He needs to get out quick before his reputation is damaged further.

[damon loves JT]

He will quit this summer and spend the rest of his life as a pundit with everybody fawning over him.

Hi reputation far exceeds his actual achievements as a coach.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We were told ad nauseum that O'Neill was a 'motivator' yet recently he said that his Sunderand squad 'has little real true ability.'
I bet his players were revved up after hearing that.

[Steve R]

Never bought the 'motivator' bit. In his time at Villa the only player I saw him stir out of a slumber was Nicky Shorey at Fulham.

[damon loves JT]

Yes, I would love to hear myself described by my boss as having 'little true ability'. That would really make me walk through fire for him.