It can be difficult to determine when the right time to move on from the manager is. Tottenham Hotspur and Daniel Levy made the difficult decision to part ways with the Mauricio Pochettino last week despite all the success that he has had in recent years (Tottenham Hotspur). But they figured that the Argentine had taken a team as far as he could.
Sunderland, while in a completely different scenario to Tottenham, must make a similar decision right now. Manager Phil Parkinson isn’t getting the job done. He has achieved just two wins in 11 matches since taking over the squad (WhoScored.com). But having only taken over the team in the middle of October there will be many who argue that he needs more time, as it is never easy to walk into a team and achieve instant success.
But the problem is, not only are the team failing to improve and find success, they appear to be getting worse. They have only managed to score more than one goal once since Parkinson has been in charge (WhoScored.com). Since then, they haven’t done enough to test teams. In fact, during their FA Cup match against Gillingham, the team failed to register a single shot on target in 120 minutes of football (The Sunderland Echo).
Are Sunderland getting worse under Phil Parkinson?
Yes
No
It is time for Sunderland’s board to face the facts. Parkinson is not the man to take this team forward. Whether it’s because his tactics aren’t good enough or because the players have down tools, something needs to change. It is easy to scapegoat the manager, but right now there are limited options for the club. If they continue down this path, a relegation battle is not completely unrealistic.
With there being 10 days between their last match against Burton and their next match against Gillingham in the league, the club must consider making a change now (WhoScored.com). The timing seems right, and the consequences, if they don’t, could be dire.