Sunderland finished 20th in the Premier League in 2016-17, but what grade do they get for their overall performance?
After nine years of near-escapes, Sunderland were finally relegated in 2016-17, finishing 20th on a measly 24 points.
That is, needless to say, bad.
And not only did it end bad, it also began bad, and was bad for most of the middle as well. The only lasting light in an otherwise dark, dark season for the Black Cats was a run of four wins and three losses across November and December that saw them rise as high as … 18th.
David Moyes, who arrived at the club after Sam Allardyce’s unexpected and ill-fated (and hilarious) departure for the England job in July, continued the downward spiral he’s been on since leaving Everton in 2013, failing to impress with his signings — which included several of his former players — and struggling to implement any sort of coherent tactical system.
Moyes prefers a defense-first style, and that seemed to be the case at Sunderland, too, as his team sat deep and looked to play through Jermain Defoe on the counter. But of course the efficacy of such an approach depends on a well-drilled defense, and the Black Cats conceded 69 goals in 38 matches, the second-worst mark in the league.
Their record at the other end of the pitch was just as bad. They scored 29 goals, fewer than every team other than Middlesbrough, and an even worse indictment of their attack when you consider the 34-year-old Defoe accounted for 15 of them.
There was a small glimmer of hope when Sunderland thrashed fellow relegation candidates Crystal Palace 4-0 in January, but the result was followed by eight losses in 10 games, a run that all but ensured their demotion.
In many ways, it’s a wonder Sunderland stayed afloat in the top flight as long as they did. They were the longest-serving Premier League team outside the top seven last season, a staggering fact given they’d never come higher than 10th, and finished with under 40 points seven times.
Perhaps, then, this relegation was inevitable, but it is nonetheless a shame a club that had become synonymous with miraculous escapes went down in such uninspired fashion.
The manager
The squad Moyes took over last summer wasn’t exactly fearsome, but there was a real sense of optimism after Allardyce guided the club to safety in 2015-16, when they lost only once in the last 11 matches of the season.
Big Sam’s departure for the England job less than a month before the start of the new campaign was deflating, but Moyes’ signature felt at the time like something of a coup. Even after bad spells at Manchester United and Real Sociedad, the feeling was the Scot’s skill set was well-suited to the challenge facing him at the Stadium of Light. If only he could recapture that Everton spark.
He couldn’t. From his signings to his tactics to everything in between, Moyes failed. In the summer, he brought in Papy Djilobodji from Chelsea and Didier Ndong from Lorient for over £20 million combined, but neither strengthened the spine of the team as intended.
His other transfer business involved a bizarre collection of former players, many of them obviously past their primes. Steven Pienaar, Victor Anichebe, Joleon Lescott, Darren Gibson, Bryan Oviedo and Adnan Januzaj (on loan) all came in. Outside of a two-goal performance by Anichebe against Hull in November, none of them were good.
There were, to be fair, mitigating factors for Moyes — he inherited a bad squad, owner Ellis Short was loath to invest, he didn’t get a full preseason with the team — but none of these should have been unmanageable for a club entering their 10th consecutive season in the division.
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The players
Defoe excelled, his 15 goals accounting for more than 50 percent of the team’s total in the league. But as much credit as the Englishman deserves for his season, he was never going to be able to hide the deficiencies of the haphazardly assembled squad around him.
Jordan Pickford was another bright spot. The 23-year-old was about as good in goal as it’s possible to be on a team that concedes almost twice a match, and was a deserving inclusion on the PFA Young Player of the Year shortlist. He will surely depart the club in the near future, if not this summer.
Lamine Kone and Ndong both showed flashes of top flight quality, while Duncan Watmore, who appeared in only 14 matches in an injury-hit campaign, would be a good player to build around in the Championship if he can stay fit (and no one buys him).
As for the rest, they’re all either too old or too young or simply not good enough. Moyes walked away at the end of the season, which is hardly bad news, but the club must now focus on establishing some kind of stability. The short-termism inspired by the relegation battle has left this squad in a mess. Whoever takes over next season needs to start thinking more than a season, or even a game, in advance.