The unwelcome piece of history Sunderland will be desperately trying to avoid vs QPR

It never rains on Wearside. It only pours. As I sit and write this piece - shell-shocked, deflated, a touch baffled; like a gerbil trapped in a tumble dryer - Sunderland find themselves in the midst of a veritable monsoon.

Last weekend, the Black Cats lost a sixth successive match for the first time since 2006. They have never lost seven in a row outside of the top flight. On Saturday, they will host QPR at the Stadium of Light, a side eight places and eight points behind them in the Championship table. Don't be surprised if history is made.

You see, Mike Dodds and his doddering duds are presently as much a victim of a mounting injury crisis as they are a rotten streak of form. This week, the club confirmed that Nazariy Rusyn had become the latest player sidelined after picking up a knock during the chaotic defeat to Southampton. The Ukrainian joins a lengthy list of absentees that now includes Jenson Seelt, the suspended Luke O'Nien, and possibly Dan Ballard too. As the flooding verges on the biblical, Dodds wouldn't even have two centre-backs to put on an ark, were somebody to build him one.

And there are more concerns besides. Aji Alese, Niall Huggins, and Dennis Cirkin - remember them? - are still ruled out, while it could be the end of the month before we see the likes of Bradley Dack, Corry Evans, Patrick Roberts, and Jack Clarke back in a match day squad. As Dodds himself quipped in a press conference on Friday: 'I've never known anything like it.'

The reality is that on Saturday, Sunderland - who have already set records for the low average age of their starting XIs this season - will be pressed into fielding a side which is as threadbare as it is inexperienced. If Ballard is indeed unable to feature, for instance, don't be too shocked to see Trai Hume shunted into the heart of defence alongside the shaky Leo Hjelde, with Timothee Pembele parachuted in for a full Championship debut. It's almost enough to give you anticipatory palpitations.

Yet in a way, the panic is dulled, the sting is growing ever number. To watch Sunderland at the moment is to feel as if you are being threatened from behind plexiglass; you know there is cause for alarm but it is vague and a little unreal. Sometimes, it is to feel nothing whatsoever.

This is, predominantly speaking, the same squad of players who thrilled so frequently and so readily last season, and yet now the Black Cats have started to make a habit out of putting the pathetic in apathetic. Onwards they drift, like a dandelion seed in a drab breeze, no great compulsion to speak of other than the hazy menace of a relegation zone nine points beneath them. Promotion is unthinkable at this stage, and the best case scenario is likely to limp into the summer before enacting a notable rebuild. It is almost remarkable how swiftly things have soured.

In no way is this a blinkered attack on the dressing room, though. At the risk of peddling boring cliches, Sunderland's recruitment has not been up to scratch in recent months, while the club's decision to roll the dice on Michael Beale looks more and more dunderheaded with each passing toxic mutation in the aftermath of his departure.

While the current ownership must be praised for so much of the good work they have done in bringing the Black Cats to this point, there are considerable factions of the support whose patience is rapidly wearing thin. It would be disingenuous to dismiss their frustrations entirely.

As such, the summer transfer window may prove to be the most significant Sunderland have faced in quite some time. Between now and then, however, they are staring down an immediate future in which the only history they are likely make will be wholly unwelcome.