As ever, I break up the season into 4 parts and blocks of predominantly 10 games. A good start has never been more relevant considering our first 4 games. Liverpool (A); Scum (H); Swansea (A) and Chelsea (H). Here are my thoughts and predictions. 1st 10 - 17 points Apart from Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, I am very positive about the others, as Swansea, Stoke, Norwich, WBA and Bolton represent winnable games imo. The derby game I am taking as a victory of course. 2nd 10 - 12 points Again, 3 tough games in Man Utd, City and Spurs but again Fulham, Wigan, Wolves, Blackburn, QPR are winnable. Everton are a bogey team for us. 3rd 10 - 15 points Common trend here but another 3 very hard games in Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool but Swansea, Norwich, Stoke, WBA, Blackburn and QPR must represent points and then there is the little matter of setting the record straight up the road. That’s a game to exercise some demons. 4th 9 - 9 points Not an easy run in (mind we thought we have an easy one this last season and that didn’t work out). City, Spurs, Everton, Villa and Man Utd will be very difficult. Main ones we have got to look to get points are Wolves, Bolton and Fulham Total 53 points – and a season of mid table security?
Do not under estimate the Swansea away game. I know it's a tougher league than the Championship but they were exceptional at home for most of their games. Can not argue about you getting 3 points from us at SOL though.
Can not fault you for that but such games, as away games to lower sides in the FA Cup always have the banana skin potential if the team takes the opposition for granted.
Trust me mate, after our collapses last season I underestimate NO-ONE, not even the Canaries. I am in no way arrogant about this analysis and I bet every other team in the league will be looking at the fixtures and saying they fancy something from the Sunderland games. I am trying to break our season down into 10 game segments and look to see where our points will come from hopefully. There were so many coupon busting results last season that its virtually impossible to predict with accuracy but you have to have targets and these are mine. Good luck this season btw. Great manager you have there and he has earned this EPL season. Will we be contesting the 'friendly trophy' again this season, or has that gone now for good?
The problem is, whilst its easy to write off the tough games, its easy to write off the weaker teams. Yes there are runs of highly winnable games, but this is Sunderland we are talking about and we WON'T win them all. We need to still offer a challenge to the top teams, but without a talismanic striker to partner Gyan, we will struggle. This is why I miss Bent so much, every football fan knew no matter who we were playing, having Bent on our side always gave us a chance, even a small one, of winning due to his threat to any team.
Thanks for the kind words about PL Not certain if the 'Friendly Trophy' is still played for or not. It's been so many years and I guess this new generation of fans probably have little knowledge of it's existence. When it was played for I can not recall any Norwich or Sunderland fans actually getting excited by it, the actual game and points were always more important. It was a nice gesture at the time and I know most supporters from both sides had a huge respect for each other and each others teams, and those of us old enough to remember the friendly final carry that on. How this generation view our games now I have no idea but hopefully it will remain friendly between us
Not a bad assessment Cest mate, I would like us to go for the jugular more with the so called bigger teams mind. Getting beat is one thing rolling over and letting them have their way with us is another. Go out give 100% and even a defeat can be accepted. Fergie even complimented us last season if I recall correctly, that compliment came from the work ethic of the team. (Sadly lacking for most of last season, IMHO) I would pull you up on one point though. Exercising the demons! They looked fit enough to me.
