Skipper's time is up - View From The North Stand
11:00am Friday 14th March 2008
FORGET all this claptrap about controversy at the Stadium of Light - Everton beat us fair and square on Sunday, and we only have ourselves to blame.
Like so many games this season for Sunderland, we were always in the game but could not find the breakthrough.
It was easy to see that a few players were not firing on all cylinders. Kenwyne Jones, for all his aerial prowess and physical presence, looked to be uninterested and was out of the game for large spells.
Grant Leadbitter and Dean Whitehead needn't have bothered turning up - I'm not one for sticking the knife in, but with the quality we have coming back into the midfield, what chance do they have?
Deano's the captain, he's served us well through tough times, but in my opinion, his time has come and gone and we should move forward without him.
His passing is suspect, defensively he is weak, and he doesn't inspire the troops like you would expect a captain to do.
Roy Keane will probably disagree with me. Many fans will think the same. But Whitehead's a deadweight and we can ill-afford to drag him behind us as we lead the charge to safety.
Leadbitter, for all his local charm and endeavour, has never looked the player he did in the Championship last season. I'm confident his time will come for us, but that time is not now.
We've played better with a five man midfield when Dwight Yorke or Dickson Etuhu sit in front of the back four, allowing an attacking foursome to push on and create chances.
Carlos Edwards is knocking on the door after a successful return in the reserves, while Kieran Richardson and Andy Reid are approaching full fitness after a couple of first-team games under their differently-sized belts.
We're still chopping and changing, but Everton have a settled team, rough diamonds that David Moyes has spent the last few years buffing up and are just starting to shine now.
It's an admirable blueprint. Moyes has been given time to build a team. Now that is bearing fruit.
Everton are years ahead of us. Our objective is to retain Premier League status, and then maybe European football could be on the agenda.
I'm getting carried away now.
As well as the ludicrous handball claims against Andy Johnson (anyone who saw that in real time wins a prize of my car and my house), some supporters have been talking our chances up against Chelsea tomorrow.
Using the schoolyard pundit style of "if Barnsley can beat them, so can we", consider this.
Chelsea beat Derby 6-1 on Wednesday. We couldn't even beat Derby the other week, so using my super-powered calculator, erm, Chelsea are going to score lots and we're not going to score any.
Cup competitions are a different kettle of fish. The Premier League and the Champions League represent Chelsea's only opportunity for silverware this campaign. They aren't going to roll over for this one.
If you prefer to read the optimistic preview of tomorrow's game, you're going to be disappointed.
I'm going down to the ground to enjoy the football. Anything we do on the pitch, be it a goal, or winning a point, will be a bonus.
It's the games against West Ham, Middlesbrough, Fulham and Newcastle where we have to pick up points.
Commiserations to the Sunderland Academy side, who won the second leg of the FA Youth Cup Semi-Final down in Manchester but still went out 2-1 on aggregate.
It would have been a different story if we weren't denied a clear goal for offside in the last minute.
The cynic in me would have thought that such miscarriages of justice are simply preparing our young cubs for life in the professional game. Especially if they continue their careers at Sunderland, that is.