Gus Poyet: The man to save Sunderland?

Gus Poyet

On Tuesday morning, Sunderland announced the appointment of Gus Poyet as their new manager. The British media had been abuzz with reports on Monday evening saying he would be given the Sunderland job, so the appointment of the Uruguayan came as no real surprise to anyone. However, the main question that is on everyone’s lips is: can Gus Poyet somehow turn around Sunderland’s season and make sure they avoid the drop?

Poyet’s experience as a manager is somewhat limited (he’s only managed Brighton and Hove Albion prior to this). However, he has had spells as an assistant manager before the Brighton job. He served as the assistant to Dennis Wise at Swindon Town and Leeds United, and he was also Juande Ramos’ assistant at Tottenham. His spells at Swindon and Leeds were successful; his time at White Hart Lane, however, wasn’t quite as fruitful as his previous two jobs.

During his time at Brighton, he managed to get the side promoted to the Championship from League One. At the same time, his side earned a reputation for playing attractive, free-flowing football that was very different from what one would normally expect from a lower division English side. His spell at Brighton was a very successful one; however, his acrimonious sacking and the suspension placed on him prior to it will no doubt overshadow what was a very good time for Brighton and Hove Albion.

Poyet had the chance to manage at other clubs (he was linked to the Reading job, among others) but he chose to wait for a Premier League club to make an offer. He got his wish and is now the manager of Sunderland. However, he has his work cut out for him at the Stadium of Light.

Poyet’s first job will be to unite the dressing room. Di Canio brought in 14 players this summer, most of different nationalities and the fact that results didn’t exactly go their way wouldn’t have helped them bond very well. His second major job would be to bring about a change of style in their play. Di Canio employed an old-fashioned 4-4-2 formation that often appeared flat at times and didn’t seem to give some of his more creative players a chance to impress. Kevin Ball switched things up a bit and it seemed to work slightly better. Poyet nows has to take matters into his own hands and ensure that Sunderland can do enough to get the required results in order to stay up for another season.

He is undoubtedly a good manager, but the one thing that might be his undoing is the fact that he’s never managed a Premier League team before, let alone be in a Premier League relegation battle. The only thing he can do is formulate a plan and then stick to it to begin with, later on changing his methods depending on the levels of success or failure he achieves. Sunderland’s decision to employ him is a bold gamble, almost as bold as the decision to bring in Di Canio last season; will this particular gamble pay off? Only time will tell.