Sunderland are in some woeful form right now; not only in terms of the Championship, but also in Europe.
Sunderland have endured something of a fall from grace in the past few weeks.
The story started when Sunderland sacked Tony Mowbray earlier in the season, going on to replace him with Michael Beale who was immediately an unpopular figure.
He became more so after making some antagonising comments in the press, eventually leading to his dismissal after just 12 games in charge.
Beale was sacked after back-to-back defeats and since then, Mike Dodds has taken charge and has overseen three defeats from three.
Sunderland rank among Europe’s most out of form teams after five-straight defeats
Five-straight defeats in the Championship and in all competitions has left Sunderland closer to the relegation zone than the top-six.
They were in the top-six after a 3-1 win vs Plymouth Argyle last month, but now the Black Cats are 10 points behind Hull City in 6th and only one ahead of Stoke City in 22nd.
And it’s now been revealed by Sky Sports journalist Dougie Critchley that, of all the teams in the Premier League and the Football League, as well as the top tiers in Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and the Netherlands, only three teams have lost their last five games.
Those five teams are Rotherham United, Sunderland, and Dutch side Excelsior.
Rotten form is only temporary setback for Sunderland
Despite the madness of this season and the state of current results, Sunderland certainly seem to remain a team on the up.
Everything is in place for the Black Cats to earn promotion to the Premier League; all they need is a good coach.
Expect Dodds to be kept on the staff going into next season but expect the Sunderland owners to be keen on hiring a fresh face, with work on finding that person no doubt underway already.
Will Still still seems like the best man for the job, though whether or not Sunderland can tempt him from Reims, especially with European football potentially on the cards next season, remains to be seen.
First and foremost, Sunderland need to halt this run of form.
Matters don’t get any easier with a long-haul trip down to Southampton on the agenda this weekend, and with Southampton in some patchy form of their own, they’ll be desperate to claim a win against an out of form Sunderland side.
Kick off at St Mary’s is at 3pm on Saturday.