Mick McCarthy is warning his players they risk derby humiliation on Saturday unless they show a drastic improvement on their dismal display at Manchester City.
The Black Cats slumped to their 12th successive Premiership defeat as a Robbie Fowler goal was sandwiched between Marc-Vivien Foe's double in City's 3-0 win.
It left McCarthy still searching for his first point since taking charge at the Stadium of Light last month, and with a Wear-Tyne derby looming at the weekend, he has left his players in no doubt they risk the wrath of their own supporters unless an improvement is made.
"I am looking for some character, some moral courage and some fighting performances," said the ex-Republic of Ireland manager. "We played all right for 35 minutes but I do not accept that as being good enough.
"If we play like that on Saturday we will get absolutely spanked. If that happens, there will be hell on - and justifiably so.
"Our supporters have been fantastic this season. They have had enough disappointments and don't deserve another poor performance.
"It looks like there have been so many bad days this season, some of the players can't wait for the season to end so they can start afresh. The problem is we can't just start afresh, there needs to be changes.
"But with the transfer market the way it is, a lot of them might still be here next season. If that is the case, they need to be a lot better because getting out of the First Division is not going to be easy."
After having their relegation confirmed nine days ago, Sunderland will go down as the worst side in Premiership history unless they can scramble six points from their last three games.
Their miserable campaign was summed up by the departure of striker Kevin Phillips with a groin injury 10 minutes from the end, by which time McCarthy had already used his three permitted substitutes.
"Kevin had been struggling during the week but he said he was OK so I made the last couple of changes," said McCarthy, "then he suffers a reaction. He has got to be rated as doubtful for Saturday."
|
