Sunderland Jack Ross has reacted angrily to criticism of his side’s performance after they left Accrington Stanley on Saturday with all three points.
The Black Cats fell behind to an early goal but responded well with goals from Gooch, McGeady and McNulty securing a decent away win.
However, Ross fired off angrily when asked in the press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s home game against Rotherham when asked to comment on ‘a good result, but poor performance’ at Accrington,’ as reported by the Chronicle.
He said:’ One defeat in nine this season, six wins in the last seven. That’s rubbish.’
‘It’s tiresome, and it’s part of the problem at this club. We win 3-1 away from home, and always want to improve on what we do, I just fail to see sometimes what will make people satisfied.’
‘To continue to be critical of any sort of performance and result is negative and is almost like an anchor stopping the club moving forward.’
‘So I take issue with it. I sit here often enough, and I’m polite and pleasant, and I’m courteous. But we’ve won a game 3-1 away from home in the league, and that should be it.’
‘If you win football matches, it’s how you win leagues and win promotion. It’s an absolute fallacy to believe a team that wins promotion or a league title plays well every weekend. It’s absolute nonsense. In reality, they probably play well in 50% of their games and then grind out wins in the other games.’
‘Nobody should ever forget we’re in absolute results driven business. It’s about winning football matches and gaining points, and to date, we’ve done that reasonably well.’
Sunderland have made a decent start to their League One campaign and currently sit in fifth place just two points behind leaders Coventry City having played a game fewer. Accrington is never a comfortable place to go, and the win was an excellent response to their first defeat of the season at Peterborough United a fortnite ago.
However, the report claims some fans are still unhappy at the performance and the start the team as made to a season most fans expect nothing less than promotion after failing in the playoffs last time out.
Our View
A small minority of Sunderland magnificent fanbase and sections of the local media are still struggling to come to term with the fact the Black Cats are in League One.
They expect to win every game easily and refuse to accept sides such as Accrington deserve to be on the same pitch as the famous red and white stripes never mind compete with them.
This attitude serves to inspire ‘lesser’ teams to improve their performance levels when Sunderland are in town; it is like a cup-tie.
Sunderland have no right to get promoted just because of their Premier League past, and it will be easier to achieve their goals if the club’s fantastic support stay with the Lads through the many awkward moments they will have the season.
Ross might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he is right on this one, a 3-1 away victory in any league is a great result and should be treated as such.
Well said Jack Ross. Somehow some of our fans prefer to criticise rather than encourage. They prefer to look for the negatives rather than the positives. After the last few years and, bearing in mind that this squad is put together on a shoestring (other than Grigg) Ross has been doing a very good job. He was happy to do without Grigg rather than have the club pay a ridiculous fee for a player who was not even a regular starter for Wigan. Fans should consider the effectiveness of the recruitment before slagging off the manager. The last thing we need is another round of managerial uncertainty and turmoil. That’s what has contributed to our downward spiral.