Another week, another frustrating day at the Stadium of Light. After losing to Liverpool at the weekend, Paul Fraser looks at Sunderland's woeful home record in the Premier League
THERE’S no place like home ... unless you’re Sunderland.
When Gus Poyet reflected, following another frustrating performance against Liverpool, that Sunderland have tended to have ‘rubbish’ teams over the last 15 years, he had already done his homework.
He has the stats at hand to highlight there has only been one top ten finish to shout about and that goals – with the exception of the year Darren Bent scored for fun – have been something of a problem since Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn departed.
Such difficulties have been plaguing Poyet since he succeeded Paolo Di Canio 15 months ago too.
Despite trying to make his own plans work, Sunderland are still struggling to make inroads towards the upper echelons of the table. At this stage, fans would expect a greater gap to the relegation zone than just a solitary point.
While formations, substitutions and under-performing players are all used as sticks to beat Poyet with after this season’s latest frustrating run of form, the overriding fact remains that he has so far been unable to find a solution to their horrible home form.
Losing to Liverpool means Sunderland have won just one of their 11 matches at the Stadium of Light this season.
While Poyet must take a chunk of the blame for being unable to improve on that, he is right in suggesting the club’s problems appear to be more deep-rooted.
Poyet is not the first manager to claim that historical problems are helping to hold Sunderland back. Di Canio, Martin O’Neill and Steve Bruce all talked about similar concerns – and the home record over the last two years requires more than a quick-fix.
Of Sunderland’s 40 home games in the Premier League over the last two years only eight have been victories.
What started promisingly on January 12, 2013, with a 3-0 victory over West Ham was never maintained, with Di Canio, O’Neill and Poyet struggling to find an end to the slump.
There were just three further wins on Wearside throughout 2013 and there was also the same number (four) of home victories for Poyet during the course of last year.
SUNDERLAND’S LAST EIGHT HOME WINS
Sunderland 3 Stoke City 1
October 4, 2014
Steven Fletcher scored twice to give Sunderland the points for the first time in the league since May. Connor Wickham had put Sunderland on their way in the fourth minute, only for Charlie Adam to equalise.
Fletcher, who had been dropped for poor performances a couple of weeks earlier, found his scoring touch again and has often looked frustrated by the team’s shape with him leading the line.
Sunderland 2 West Brom 0
May 7, 2014
When things were looking a lot rosier, Sunderland clinched a fourth win in a row to preserve top-flight status in front of a relieved home crowd. Jack Colback put the Black Cats ahead in the 13th minute after turning in Marcos Alonso’s low cross.
When Fabio Borini applied the sweetest of volleys to Seb Larsson’s clever pass just after the half hour, Sunderland had done enough to clinch a much-needed win. Poyet’s side had picked up the same number of points (12) from their last four games as they had from the previous 13 outings.
Sunderland 4 Cardiff City 0
April 27, 2014
For the first time in months, Sunderland climbed out of the Premier League’s bottom three by crushing Cardiff at a crucial time in the relegation run-in. Wickham started and finished the scoring (26 and 86) with a Borini penalty on the stroke of half-time followed up by a rare Emanuele Giaccherini strike 14 minutes before the end.
Sunderland 1 Stoke City 0
January 29, 2014
At the height of Adam Johnson’s return to brilliant form last season, he scored the winning goal. He had been involved in seven Sunderland goals in a row when he beat Asmir Begovic from a narrow angle. Steven Nzonzi’s sending off shortly after half-time should have helped, but Sunderland stuttered over the line.
Sunderland 1 Manchester City 0
November 10, 2013
Sunderland secured a first clean sheet of the season against Manuel Pellegrini’s side and Phil Bardsley’s 21st minute winner in a spirited display condemned City to a fourth away defeat and continued the Black Cats' good run against the blue half of Manchester.
Sunderland 2 Newcastle 1
October 27, 2013
Borini might have infuriated Sunderland fans in the summer by turning down a £14m permanent switch, but the Italian was a firm fans’ favourite by scoring memorable goals during his loan spell. One of those was the clinical 84th minute winner against the Magpies, after Mathieu Debuchy had cancelled out Fletcher’s early opener.
Sunderland 1 Everton 0
April 20, 2013
Not content with a memorable win at Newcastle to get things rolling, Di Canio watched his Sunderland side take another big step towards safety by beating Everton at the Stadium of Light. Stephane Sessegnon stabbed a shot beyond Tim Howard on the stroke of half-time.
Sunderland3 West Ham 0
January 12, 2013
Seb Larsson struck a 25-yard beauty to light up a dreadful first half and that laid the foundations for an important win during another relegation fight. Johnson added the second shortly after the break when he capitalised on Dan Potts’ error before James McClean completed the win from a difficult angle.
SUNDERLAND’S WOEFUL TWO-YEAR HOME RUN
2012/13
SUNDERLAND 3 WEST HAM 0
Sunderland 0 Bolton 2
Sunderland 0 Swansea 0
Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1
Sunderland 2 Fulham 2
Sunderland 1 Norwich 1
Sunderland 0 Manchester United 1
SUNDERLAND 1 EVERTON 0
Sunderland 1 Stoke 1
Sunderland 1 Southampton 1
Seasonal record: P10 W2 D5 L3
2013/14
Sunderland 0 Fulham 1
Sunderland 1 Arsenal 3
Sunderland 1 Liverpool3
Sunderland 1 Manchester United 2
SUNDERLAND 2 NEWCASTLE 1
SUNDERLAND 1 MANCHESTER CITY 0
Sunderland 3 Chelsea 4
Sunderland 1 Tottenham 2
Sunderland 0 Norwich 0
Sunderland 0 Aston Villa 1
Sunderland 2 Southampton 2
SUNDERLAND 1 STOKE CITY 0
Sunderland 0 Hull City 2
Sunderland 0 Crystal Palace 0
Sunderland 1 West Ham 2
Sunderland 0 Everton 1
SUNDERLAND 4 CARDIFF 0
SUNDERLAND 2 WEST BROM 0
Sunderland 1 Swansea City 3
Seasonal record: P19 W5 D3 L11
2014/15
Sunderland 1 Manchester United 1
Sunderland 2 Tottenham 2
Sunderland 0 Swansea 0
SUNDERLAND 3 STOKE CITY 1
Sunderland 0 Arsenal 2
Sunderland 1 Everton 1
Sunderland 0 Chelsea 0
Sunderland 1 Manchester City 4
Sunderland 1 West Ham 1
Sunderland 1 Hull City 3
Sunderland 0 Liverpool 1
Seasonal record: P11 W1 D6 L4
Overall record: P40 W8 D14 L18
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