Should only Managers be kicked out when teams perform poorly?

Former Sunderland manager, Gustavo Poyet was relieved of his duties a few days ago after Sunderland's dismal performance at home in last weekend's premier league game at the Stadium of Light where resurgent Aston Villa trounced Sunderland 4-0.

The Sunderland team as a whole were dire especially the defence parading seasoned professionals in John O'shea and Wes Brown. Seb Larsson coming on 3 minutes after the second half had started is a fair reflection of the discipline and state of affairs in the Sunderland camp. This type of sloppiness by Seb Larsson would never occur under the watch of a manager like Jose Mourinho.

What makes this defeat particularly frustrating for Sunderland fans is that Aston Villa prior to this game were the league's poorest attacking team with just 15 league goals prior to that game. This game's performance was surely not as woeful as their performance at Southampton were they shipped in 8 goals. It was so bad that they had to offer their travelling fans a refund for all their troubles for that fiasco at St Mary's. What has upset many in Sunderland is that the team made Aston Villa look world class. Anyone who has watched Villa under Paul Lambert this season would know Villa are anything but.

This defeat was ultimately the last straw and Sunderland has since appointed Dick Advocaat to rescue what is left of their season. The big question is: is Sunderland's struggles this season the sole fault of Gustavo Poyet? If it isn't, should players also be held more accountable? 

If players are to be held more accountable, how should they be made more accountable? 

Even looking at Sunderland's performance under Poyet last season where they defeated City, United and Chelsea away from home in an amazing escape from relegation and also playing in the Capital One Cup final against Man City, didn't Poyet deserve to at least see this season out before being axed?

Of course, people will look at the impact sacking a manager and bringing in a new one can do to revitalise a team. Players out of favour are a given a chance to prove their worth, players are motivated to be in the new manager's good book, some even play like they are fighting for their future either at the club or elsewhere. 

A good example is the impact Tony Pulis had in his spell at Crystal Palace and is now having at West Brom. He took over from Ian Holloway and led Palace from rock bottom of the EPL to mid table safety. He even ended up as League manager of the year last season. He has worked his magic again at West Brom this season after taking over from Alan Irvine who was shown the exit door in January after a spate of poor results.

Another example is Tim Sherwood who galvanised Spurs last season after the sacking of Andre Villas Boas and now seems to be repeating the trick with Aston Villa after they booted out Paul Lambert.

Sacking a manager and replacing him however, doesn't always yield the desired effect. Felix Magath was appointed to save Fulham from relegation last season but Fulham still ended up relegated and now are facing relegation into league one!  Same scenario for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who had to leave Cardiff after failing to keep them up last season in the EPL and their poor form continued in the championship.

So back to the argument, is it fair to make only managers the scape goat when a team is playing poorly? What about the players who are often not held accountable by the fans or media? 

In my opinion, it isn't fair if a manager who has a proven track record to be sacked without some key or senior players being made to face the music in some capacity if their performances have not been up to scratch as well. The power players have  in determining the fate of a manager's position should be checked in some way. 

Villas Boas position at Chelsea was undermined by senior players at Chelsea when he was their manager. Chelsea only started giving their best after Di Mateo took over in a classic example in which players yield so much power. 

Why do they have so much power? Well some players are obviously untouchable and you can't just sack and replace players like you do managers who don't have a transfer window like players do. Besides quality replacements aren't easy to acquire after the summer.

Undoubtedly, there are bad managers, and they should be fired when they fail to perform or get the best out of a squad. But a situation where club directors sack good managers just because of the lure of big money that would be gotten if they retained their league status and not consider other mitigating factors such as player attitude or squad unity coupled with some bad luck to me is just unfair! 

It's sadly,the nature of the beast the game football.