What a strange managerial tenure that was. He was very optimistic about how they'd fare in the championship. No problems there you think, except that he was saying this in late March when the battle to stay up was still anyone's. I don't know what the fans actually think of him but i'd have been looking to hunt him down and slap his blase chops.
don't see why you'd quote my post with this. everything DOES go back to the owners mike. I'm not going to criticise Benitez just because you think i don't criticise him enough. Benayoun had disappeared by the time he got dragged, so had dirk, aurelio, masch, lucas, everyone who had previously been linking ngog with the play.
agree with all that except the bit in bold. everyone went up there half expecting to lose, including some of the team and seemingly the manager (hence the damage limitation setup). sunderland are playing well, and torres has been the difference the last few times we've played them even without their new good manager and players.
Saturday was one to put alongside Stoke away and Reading away from the season before. Games where the manager and team have the wrong attitude, set up in the wrong way, and are punished for it. All 3 had extenuating circumstances, but not extenuating enough to save the manager from criticism.