Who is to blame for Sunderland's poor start? Fans have their say

The Black Cats are rock-bottom of the Premier League table after picking up just one point from their opening six games.

Dozens of supporters left comments on our articles in the aftermath of the Crystal Palace defeat, with David Moyes, Ellis Short and the players all coming in for criticism.

Here’s a selection of their comments:

Gary Rowell is No10:

“Could we have bought better players? I’m sure we could have, had Short released more funds. But we’re cash-strapped some will tell us, and maybe we are, but can we always blame the previous managers for wasting cash. Again probably yes, but who appointed them? Short. He also sacked them – Keane, Bruce, O’Neil, Di Canio and Poyet. 5 managers sacked with their contracts paid off no doubt, at probably £2-4 million each. £15 million Short has wasted himself! Dick probably got a payoff as well.

“Ultimately the buck stops with the man at the top, but he seems Teflon coated and not interested.”

19Fabster73:

“I’m not one of those calling for Moyes’s head, there’s no point, no-one could come in and do any better among those we could attract in our situation. Short is the biggest problem, still refusing to finance any signings of decent quality.”

Pallionjon:

“The Moyes apologists will be out soon but in my book he has shown incapable of identifying talent, motivation, tactics, presenting a reasonable game plan, or getting players to improve.”

Dan1984:

“Yes, England being useless, forced us into changing managers just over a month before the season started, but every club has problems. We can’t keep blaming the FA for everything, no matter how clueless and incompetent they are.”

KL9:

“We have a very poor team of players at SAFC and have done now for 6 seasons. Until vast sums of money is made available to buy top defenders, midfield generals and strikers then no progress can be made. It’s all down to one man and has been since he took over the club – Short.”

Stanleybornandbread:

“Watching the Palace I could spew and Moyes has to take a good part of the blame – WHY? It’s his new defence tactic of Zonal marking which the players do not know how to operate. This allowed Benteke to run 10 yards and to head the ball home unchallenged. Previously it was man marking and Benteke would never have had that space.”

Stuart Scott:

“Some of DM investments make Rodwell look like a bargin. Kone looks disenchanted as do a few others. Changing the winning combination because it was not your invention seems a poor excuse.”

Ausmac:

“Poor performance in the transfer window has much to do with our troubles. With the exception of N’Dong we have purchased badly and insufficiently. Furthermore, those that we let go, such as Yedlin and (especially) M’Vila, are a class above most of the new recruits. However, this conceals another more worrying fact – that our players from last year are performing below themselves.”

Proffessor Moriarti:

“It’s far too early to be calling for the managers head, the players need to respond.

JB88:

“I would not suggest that Moyes should be sacked at this stage. I concede that he has not had enough time to put things right but I would also state that he has made some obvious mistakes.”

What Would Shack Do 54:

“Calls for Moyes to go are ridiculous. Towards the end of last season it looked like finally we were making progress and we had a solid foundation to build from. For whatever reason we did not manage to maintain that foundation. That certainly was not the fault of Moyes. The summer TW was always going to be a challenge and this was compounded when Moyes arrived late.”

Ezza:

“I like others have said a poor window will cost us our premier place this year, people blame the FA for our present plight over the Sam issue but I don’t. Moyes had time to scout players,”

Jojowad:

“Problem? Mismanagement at all levels. Buying rubbish, has-beens and journeymen and selling whatever real quality we had.”

Woody says:

“Confidence has been destroyed by a manager whose first public comment categorised the players as relegation fodder, then blasts the team for the unacceptable defeat to Palace.”