On This Day (14th March 2009): Sbragia’s Sunderland edge closer to drop zone!

The Lads’ desperation play against Wigan Athletic during the 2008–2009 season caused them to lose further ground in their struggle to survive.

You can tell something is awful when your manager calls a performance the “worst performance of his tenure” and the crowd jeers you off the field at both halftime and full time.

On this day in 2009, Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia was the target of criticism following a performance that was characterized as “lethargic and lacklustre” in a number of match reports.
After Roy Keane’s shocking resignation, Sbragia had replaced him, and he could understand the animosity at the conclusion of a game that Steve Bruce’s Wigan team didn’t actually need to play at their best to win.
They have the right to express their annoyance as they paid their money. Sadly, we failed to meet our obligation to deliver.

I believed that we were not doing well overall and that this was most likely the worst show we had given since I took control.

We were slow to react, made poor decisions, and suffered the consequences of our careless defense.

The last sentence encapsulated Sunderland’s performance, which brought us closer to the relegation zone.

At this point, Sbragia’s tenure was starting to deteriorate despite his initial success and subsequent run of wins that had given him full-time employment.

A week earlier, Robbie Keane’s last-minute equalizer against Tottenham Hotspur made the tie feel like a loss. thou were the second best

 

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