On This Day (21st December 2013): Poyet unhappy as Sunderland draw with Norwich!

Today at 06:34 AM

A draw with the Canaries left Sunderland marooned in the relegation zone, and the Lads boss feeling distinctly unimpressed

After an exciting extra time victory against Chelsea in the League Cup a few days prior, hopes were high that Gus Poyet's Sunderland could carry that momentum into a crucial clash against Norwich City at the Stadium of Light.

The Lads were struggling immensely and appeared incapable of garnering any sort of momentum necessary to carry them out of the drop zone and into safety.

A 0-0 stalemate against the Canaries was therefore particularly disappointing as it left us five points from safety, despite no wins for any of the clubs directly above in Fulham, West Ham, Crystal Palace and West Brom.

To quote one match report, 'The game was full of endeavour but quality was sparse', andit showed why both teams were near the bottom of the table.

In a game during which Wes Brown was sent off in added time for a 'reckless challenge', the Lads had nineteen shots in the game but only four of them were on target, and the lack of quality shown by the team was bothering Poyet as he lamented our lack of quality.

The Uruguayan seemed baffled as to how his team were going to find the eleven wins he desired to stay up, given the fact we were struggling to score goals, never mind win football matches.

Displaying very little in the way of Christmas cheer, he stated that he thought time was running out for his team to stay up and wondered where the goals were going to come from, given the best chance fell to the aforementioned Brown from a corner.

We are losing time, we are losing games.

I said we needed to win eleven games to think, 'Can we get to 40 points?', and we can't win a football game.

This is where we are. The quality is what you see, there is no more.

I was not expecting this. I have always said I hate excuses. Until now for some reason, we have always had an excuse and people can use it.

Today, we have not. Today was a day to win and we didn't, so we are responsible for where we are.

It's getting more and more difficult, so who are you going to blame?

It would be very nice if somebody could tell me why we are at the bottom, and if you think it's because of me, I'll take it if it's not personal.

A lack of goals was clearly an issue and with Sunderland's big-money striker Jozy Altidore struggling to find the net, the reliance on other players to chip in was another contentious issue for the manager.

Phil Bardsley, Ki-Sung-Yeung and Fabio Borini had provided big goals for the new manager since joining the club in October, but he bemoaned the contribution of others and suggested that we couldn't rely on the same players to get the team out of trouble.

I expect somebody to score. It doesn't have to be Ki [Sung-Yueng] all the time, but it has to be somebody.

The decisions in the last thirty metres were scary, and that was unexpected.

Players who needed to have a shot were taking three touches; players who needed to take a touch tried to shoot when their backs were to goal.

Ultimately, this game was another missed opportunity for Sunderland, especially following our victory over Chelsea in the cup.

With his team cut adrift at the bottom of the table, the signs were ominous for Poyet and he certainly had his work cut out for him given how poorly we were playing.