Beale or no Beale?

In reaching the hour mark at the Stadium of Light on Friday evening it was becoming increasingly evident that not even a winning goal for the home side would diminish the rancour felt by a sizeable section of the home support.

The game, then deadlocked and goalless, had become a procession of possession - akin to an exercise where you would be forgiven for thinking the laws of the game had been altered, to bring it into line with boxing and a winner could be declared on points and without any knockout blow having been administered.

This is the modern game and whilst possession is important the outcome is never determined through one side having outpassed the other.

It was tidy in parts, turgid in others. It was risk averse and, arguably at least and if a conscious strategy, goes some way to a process where creative players are deindividualized.

Sunderland were - in ball retention and territorially at least - better than Hull. Then again, that was not merely through elevated quality but through the away side's design and being seemingly content to work hard, find positional discipline and shape, all in the knowledge that in a few seconds they would have ten men behind the ball with a collective body language that said this is acceptable.

As it was, and perhaps adding insult to injury, the game was decided by a Hull City loanee - the deflected effort of Fabio Carvalho. His standing at Liverpool, his parent club, is one of potential but who will benefit from games elsewhere in the meantime.

Nothing new in a Championship club securing the services of Premier League nearly men. In the context of Sunderland, however, there is more than an irritation that loanees arriving at the Stadium of Light tend to emerge from the categories below those on the periphery of a Premier League first team squad and where expenditure is less of a consideration.

Games have been lost but all is not, and whilst the wishes of a growing section may not be sated this side of the club and Michael Beale agreeing to a decree absolute, there are troubled days ahead without something tangible to pacify the emotional angst.

The best thing about the Sunderland support is their loyalty. The worst, perhaps the same.

It is illogical to think that what prompts the good won't manifest itself in a manner that hones in on individuals with significant responsibilities when things go awry.

In the immediate aftermath I was hoping, for his own sake, that Michael Beale would avoid any tendency for misdirection - the inclination to speak of attempts at goal, the number of passes and whatever else has entered the norms of post match interviews, particularly when the critical parts, the outcome and overall performance, have been sub-standard.

This is how managers mimic the political establishment, their own contrived strategy to, partly at least, exculpate themselves from what thousands have seen with their own eyes.

Whilst they may not feel the interrogation of prime Paxman, they are conscious of blame being apportioned by those beyond the immediate glare of the interviewer and camera.

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Michael Beale will not be able receive a more universal trust in the short term. It is going to take something that is not always available, that precious commodity, time.

It may be, however, that his tenure is somewhat prolonged simply because the restless natives are looking at the clubs' decision maker(s) as much as the primary occupant of the dugout and those in positions of power would not want to, in effect, admit they got it wrong by parting company any time soon.

Whatever transpires, the coming weeks and months won't merely determine the longevity of Beale's time as manager but very possibly the legacy of those who brought him to Wearside.