Kenwyne in the wrong R&W stripes
Picture: Darren Sumner

Salut! Sunderland is in turmoil. After all I said at the Blackcats forum about us being desperately unlucky at West Ham, Pete Sixsmith weighs in with a completely different view

Disappointed…yes. Frustrated…definitely. Unlucky? Absolutely not.

Looking like a Premiership side at times. But heading back to the Championship, possibly, if we continue to waste opportunities like this.

Make no mistake, West Ham were there to be beaten. They were low on confidence, their fans are muted after last seasons shenanigans and they have resorted to signing ex-Mags who, as they always do, came back to haunt us.

I am loath to criticise Roy in case he comes to my house and stares at me in an even more intimidating way than Yosser Hughes. I don’t envisage Roy ever having to say “Gissa a job” but I do think he got his tactics and selection wrong on Sunday. There I’ve said it.

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If this picture* – no prizes for guessing when it was taken – captured our only moment of joy at West Ham, there would be no reason NOT to despair.

Losing 3-1 to a very average team at this stage of the season, with so few points chalked up, would normally inspire deep misgivings about the months to come.

But we know, and this is a view that must be shared by all neutrals in the watching world, that the game ought to have ended with not one but three points to Sunderland. If West Ham continue to enjoy the sort of luck they had on Sunday, they can look forward to qualifying for European competition.

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