‘Since we sacked Tony Mowbray..’ - Ex-Sunderland ace gives brutal verdict about club’s downturn in form

Former Sunderland hero Marco Gabbiadini has slammed his former team for their lacklustre performance in Monday’s 5-1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers and claims that the warning signs of such a result had been coming for the last few weeks and months.

The 56-year-old fan favourite, who scored 74 goals in 157 appearances in Red and White between 1987 and 1992, described the current team as ‘average’ and believes the turning point in their season was the decision to sack Tony Mowbray. The retired striker also claimed that the existing team has a number of key deficiencies which the club has consistently failed to rectify in recent transfer windows.

During a heated rant on BBC’s Total Sport North East he said: “Sunderland could beat a lot of the teams around them [in the league table] because they're probably in a similar position to us in many cases. They're average and get it right some days but get it wrong other days. The problem is since we sacked Tony Mowbray, we've got it wrong far too many times.

"You look at the deficiencies in the squad which we've talked about for ages. We haven't got a forward who we can trust to play, so [Mike Dodds] is having to play one of our better midfielders [Jobe] in that position, but it doesn't work like what happened on Monday, he looks toothless as well. We never got the ball to him.

"At least Rigg, Aouchiche and Ba, at least they passed the ball to Bellingham on Friday in the Cardiff game. They got the ball to the forward who made good runs and made himself available, and we got further up the field and did some damage. We just didn't take control of the game at any stage on Monday. It was terrible. Terrible. That's where we've been heading for weeks and months really."

Sunderland currently find themselves 13th in the league table - 13 points adrift of the play-offs and 11 points clear of the drop zone.  They have managed just one win from their last nine matches and will look to return to winning ways at the Stadium of Light when they face Bristol City at the weekend.