We need to talk about Sunderland

Whenever I watch, read about or listen to football these days I always end up annoyed, frustrated and alienated. This is to do with a number of factors. Firstly, being a Sunderland fan things aren't going too well on the pitch for my team at the moment. Not only do we look unable to win a game, or even score a goal, we don't seem to be able to create chances. Football is a frustrating, and extremely expensive game at the best of times. But when you are forking out a hell of a lot to watch something which provides you with no excitement, no joy, no pleasure and only frustration, you do sometimes feel that somebody up there is taking the mick.

You have to wonder what is wrong with Sunderland at the moment. The situation is not dissimilar to that of last season during Steve Bruce's final days at the club. However, something is different in the fact that most of the club is behind O'Neill and there is a belief there that the remedy isn't going to be the removal of the manager, but a recovery from within. Players such as Johnson, and last season's revelation, James McLean will start to provide the kind of impetus and drive that can lift the team and produce better performances, and therefore results.

The team itself lacks a creative heart - someone to read the play in the middle of the park, pick out clever passes that can put an opposing defence under pressure. The fact is that Larsson, Cattermole, Gardner, Colback or Vaughan do not offer this kind of role, as it is not part of any of their games. In turn, the wide play needs to have more movement, more invention and intelligence. Too often there are players who receive the ball standing still and before they know it two or three players are covering them. It's probably the most one dimensional way of playing football. And while this allows for a team to be solid and maintain a shape - which perhaps is the one positive about Sunderland, that they are still fairly solid - it certainly does not make for good football.

I am confident that things can be turned around. Players must start showing their ability. There is talent in the squad there, without a doubt. But this doesn’t come easily. It’s a favourite thing to say by the pundit who can’t think, however it is true in this case – in the Premier League it is very difficult to score goals, and at the moment Sunderland are finding this to be the case.

~Ian Bendelow