On This Day (27th Nov 2012): Bardsley Calls On Sunderland Teammates To Lose ‘Fear Factor’

In a season that was bordering on entering the abyss, Sunderland full-back Phil Bardsley has called on his teammates to show more character and personality in Sunderland’s upcoming games in 2012. The style of football under manager Martin O’Neill had turned horrendous, where the team appeared to lack direction and structure, leading it to looking muddled and individualistic.

In one passage from the Sunderland Echo, the writer aptly describes the insipid nature of Sunderland’s display in their disappointing 0-0 draw with QPR.

There was a moment, with around ten minutes to go in Tuesday’s desperately disappointing draw with QPR, when Sunderland had possession close to the halfway line.

They passed the ball four times quickly in succession, but two of the passes went sideways and the other two were directed backwards.

Eventually, the ball ended up with Simon Mignolet, and he booted it upfield straight down the throat of QPR centre-half Clint Hill.

There, in a nutshell, was the problem.

In the aftermath of the draw, O’Neill stated that his team were playing with a ‘fear factor’ in their play, a reluctance to try anything too adventurous or daring in case things went wrong.

Furthermore, he insisted that it was something they had to lose if they wanted to turn around some of these disappointing performances. These sentiments were echoed by his full back Phil Bardsley, who stated his team needed to start playing more forward passes and not be afraid of losing the ball.

“The work ethic’s there for everyone to see, but there are times where we’ve got comfortable possession, and the opposition’s got everyone behind the ball, so at times we need to force that pass more and create something.”

“That means giving the ball away sometimes, which can be frustrating at times, but we’ve got to try and pass the ball forward and get it to the players with a bit of guile and flair.

“We’ve got to get them on the ball in the right areas and, at the minute, we’re just struggling to do that. If it’s not going great, it’s difficult to do that, but it’s for us to keep plugging away and I’m sure it will come.”

Truthfully, it is likely that some of it was down to the coaching on the training pitch. One could have wondered whether O’Neill and his coaching staff were doing enough to promote forward thinking and attacking play, whilst it can also be suggested that the players O’Neill had at his disposal were probably not amazing.

Unfortunately for all Sunderland fans around that time, when the O’Neill reign began to unravel, it happened at a rapid pace, with the football being diabolically poor and barely watchable at times.

This was the start of it, and it was only going to get worse.