Stephen Elliott: No excuses for Lee Johnson and his Sunderland players - this form is unacceptable

After losing to Mansfield in the first round of the FA Cup at home last season, Sunderland suffered exactly the same fate almost 12 months to the day.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

It wasn’t a huge surprise looking at Sunderlands recent form and probably sums up where the club is at the moment.

Who would have thought it after such a positive start?

It’s amazing what a few defeats can do to a team's confidence, and I include the manager and staff in that.

Sunderland boss Lee JohnsonSunderland boss Lee Johnson
Sunderland boss Lee Johnson
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Last week I said losing to Sheffield Wednesday would be detrimental to how Sunderland’s season could fare and it’s starting to look that way right now. I mentioned that losing was a habit and it's becoming an unpleasant one for Sunderland.

Three defeats on the bounce in League One and another embarrassing early FA cup exit is not acceptable for this club, no matter how you dress it up.

Lee Johnson spoke about how certain things away from the club are affecting his players confidence. He mentioned social media, public comments, fans forums and a few other things. For me this is making excuses; the player and the manager need to move their minds away from these supposed distractions.

They need to get together as a group and find a way to start putting results on the board. All those things mentioned above by Johnson won’t matter if the team can start playing well again.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There is more than enough quality in this Sunderland squad and this season has to finish with a promotion. Unfortunately, as we have seen over and over again, ability can only get you so far when trying to achieve that goal.

For me the squad have looked physically a little bit behind their recent opponents.

Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday and even Charlton to an extent bullied this Sunderland team and this is something that should not be happening.

These teams have looked fitter and stronger than Sunderland and this has to change quickly.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Johnson and his staff have a couple of weeks now to try and find a way to get these players back up to the pace needed to win games.

He'll also have to pick them up mentally, because as he alluded to himself the team are very low on belief.

The next few games after the international break are huge and if the team can’t get their mojo back then it could be a worrying time for the manager.

I’m not one for calling for manager’s heads, and I do like Lee Johnson, but as we've seen across football this weekend, this is a cut-throat business.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The club can’t afford to be in this division much longer and if the manager doesn’t find a formula to stop this rot then then the club may have to act. The club is too big to spend another season in League One.

To be fair to Johnson, I think he is aware of what is required and I would like to think he has the tools to fix it.

It will be a very important few weeks at the Academy of Light and I hope everyone can pull together to get back to the early season form. Bounce back with a win against Ipswich and it could be the start of another good run.

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Sunderland AFC coverage 365 days a year.

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor