. . Bruce: Still needs to replace Bent . .TEAMtalk's Mark Holmes reckons there is still a glaring weakness in the Sunderland squad, despite the rash of new signings made by Steve Bruce. Sunderland have been comfortably the most active Premier League side in the transfer market so far this summer, having already completed nine signings. Steve Bruce has captured a highly-rated goalkeeper in Keiren Westwood; two hugely-experienced defenders in John O'Shea and Wes Brown; two energetic midfielders in David Vaughan and Craig Gardner; a dead-ball specialist in Seb Larsson; and two young forwards in Connor Wickham and Ji Dong-Won. He has also completed the permanent signing of Ahmed Elmohamady, who impressed on loan at the club last season. On the other hand, the Wearsiders have lost their four other loan stars from last term - Nedum Onuoha, John Mensah, Sulley Muntari and Danny Welbeck - while Jordan Henderson has joined Liverpool. Bolo Zenden has also left the Stadium of Light. So, while Bruce has added eight new players to his first-team squad, he has lost six and could yet say goodbye to more with Steed Malbranque, Craig Gordon and Anton Ferdinand all in the final 12 months of their contracts. Come the end of the transfer window, it is unlikely the Black Cats boss will have a bigger squad than he started it with - and remember he bemoaned the lack of depth in the squad when injuries struck last season. Bruce will certainly be hoping for more luck on that front this time around, but he will surely be aware of the risk he has taken by so dramatically overhauling the squad. He will need the new players to integrate quickly - the fact seven of his signings are from these shores should help - but the most important question is whether he has actually improved the overall quality of his squad. Goalkeeper Westwood could find himself in a three-way fight for the number one jersey if Gordon does not move on - Simon Mignolet is Sunderland's other goalkeeper - but the 26-year-old will be confident of nailing down the spot. He established himself as one of the Championship's best stoppers in his three years at Coventry and should at the very least prove the equal of his contemporaries, although there is always a question mark over a player making the step up to the Premier League. Defence Replacing Onuoha and Mensah with Brown and O'Shea has widely been hailed as good business, but it remains to be seen whether Brown will be an upgrade on Onuoha at right-back given his dwindling pace. Furthermore, the man O'Shea is likely to replace is Phil Bardsley, the fans' player of the season last term. Bruce, however, will be glad to have added players of such versatility after seeing both Titus Bramble and Michael Turner struck down by injury last season. Certainly both Brown and O'Shea are more assured centre-halves than Ferdinand, who started 27 games last term despite initially being behind Mensah, Bramble and Turner in the pecking order. Midfield It is in midfield where the biggest overhaul has taken place, with Henderson, Zenden and Muntari effectively replaced by Larsson, Vaughan and Gardner. The quality of Larsson's deliveries from the right and from dead-ball situations will certainly improve the team, while Vaughan's engine, awareness and tackling ability made him a stand-out player for Blackpool last season. Gardner's goal threat will also be welcome, although it must be said the new arrivals face plenty of competition for a midfield place with Lee Cattermole, David Meyler and Stephane Sessegnon already at the club. If injuries strike again, such options will be welcomed by Bruce - but he will find it tough to keep everybody happy when all fit. Attack Bruce has added Wickham and Dong-Won up front, but Asamoah Gyan is the only other senior striker currently available to him with Fraizer Campbell a long-term injury victim. Bruce would like to take Welbeck on loan again but Manchester United may not sanction another short-term move - and it is unclear whether Bruce has the money to buy another forward unless offers come in for unwanted players such as Matt Kilgallon or George McCartney. It would be a big ask for Wickham, Dong-Won and Gyan to score the necessary goals if Bruce has to go with what he has got - the first two are completely untested in the Premier League, while Gyan scored just three goals following Darren Bent's move to Aston Villa in January. Summary Despite clearly working under financial restrictions - Sunderland's outlay this summer is dwarfed by the fees received for Bent and Henderson - there is a feeling Bruce is under pressure to deliver this time after successive seasons in which the Wearsiders have failed to justify the pre-season hype. They are being tipped for big things again ahead of the new season but, despite added options in defence and midfield, their chances of matching expectations this term could rest wholly on whether they replace Bent. The Black Cats took just 13 of a possible 45 points following the England marksman's departure last season - and neither of their new strike stars are likely to fill the void. Wickham scored a modest nine goals in 41 appearances for Ipswich last season, while scoring in the Premier League is quite different to doing it in South Korea, as Dong-Won will surely find out. Persuade the board to buy a replacement for Bent, and Bruce could have Sunderland challenging for Europe. Fail, and he could find himself out of a job before Christmas, crippled under the weight of expectation. ...... Over to you
'despite clearly working under financial restrictions..' What a ****ing nugget. Apart from that, i think he's written a pretty solid article, we DO need another striker, everybody knows that. I have to take issue with 'Gyan scored just 3 goals after Bent's departure' as well, as Bent's departure coincided with the injury crisis, and Gyan was often left isolated or feeding off scraps, the changes in midfield SHOULD rectify this, and who knows, Whickham and/or Dong might take to the Premier League from the off, many have in the past.
If our new look midfield pulls together and gets half the amount of goals it should, then this will cover the missing Bent goals. We then have Gyan, who I'm sure is going to give us a class season, Wickham a powerful youngster who I'm sure will prove himself, Wong who's bound to chip in now and then and super Sess, who it appears Bruce is going to play either as a striker or just behind. Watch this space, he could be the player of the season! We then have a couple of kids in the reserves trying to push through alongside these. I would love another marquee striker but truth be known there isn't a great deal out there at the mo and some of the ****e we've been linked with upfront doesn't really excite me, bar Defoe who I think would be just the man to replace Bent. Either way, without another striker things aren't looking too bad upfront imo. I'm sure Quinn & Co are keeping their eyes peeled for a big name striker but for the time being, have added goals elsewhere to account for this. I trust their judgement .... for now
Added to the fact Gyan is away for the ACN (which he fails to mention) we need another 2 strikers I rekon. Maybe just the one this transfer window and another in January (loan) to cover Gyan
. That's the big concern for me, the ACN. Surely Bruce wouldn't be so short sighted as to miss the significance of it, Whickham could conceivably take 2 years to be ready.
As well as possible permanent signings, SB stil has 4 potential loans up his sleeve ( 2 EPL and 2 overseas i believe?) - he's already said that he fully intends to go down this route again ("where can you pick up an £8m defender like Onuha or a £10m striker like Welbeck"), so wouldn't be suprised at all if we see some 31st August 11.59pm pieces of business ! Citeh have a few cast offs I would love ...
Exactly mate, still plenty of time to go. Only problem with leaving it late is the fact they don't get time to 'bed in' (does that sound wrong?!) like the others. Sure there's lots of work going on behind the scenes we know nowt about yet!
Clubs panic with a few days to go so cheaper deals and decent loan players come into play. Welbeck has "1 minute to go" written all over on deadline day and maybe the return of Onouha. Im looking forward to some exciting foreign additions now that Bruce has up his sleeve, remember the excitement at Muntari even though it didnt work out.
Or, loosely translated: The black cats took just 13 points from a possible 45 after Bent and Villa worked underhandedly to treat Sunderland like ****. Also during this time the side were hit with an injury list bigger than any other in the division and Bruce's ability to strengthen the squad as a whole has been well received by most Sunderland fans. We all know that we still need a couple more additions but it is only 2 weeks into July with 7 weeks of the window left. A lot of people on here (the forum not the thread) are saying we have no money left to spend - I'd like to know how we know this? Surely the people who know how much we have left to spend are the people running the club, not the posters on here. Still looking forward to the season regardless of TeamTalk's ramblings
I think its really funny when outsiders make the 'stars' comment about players. How many games did Zenden, Mensah and Muntari actually play? I bet it wasnt much more than 20 games between them the whole season. Henderson and Welbeck did have more game time but both are just 20 year old kids and neither are 'stars'. Nedum is a player who I liked and would love to see replace Anton on a full time basis if the truth be known. We are still 2 players away from the finished article and EVERYONE knows it including the manager. I expect at the very minimum to see another striker added before we play Liverpool and the filth in August.
OP- Despite clearly working under financial restrictions - Sunderland's outlay this summer is dwarfed by the fees received for Bent and Henderson - there is a feeling Bruce is under pressure to deliver this time after successive seasons in which the Wearsiders have failed to justify the pre-season hype. What was our pre-season hype last season, was it top4, top 6 or was it top 10 pushing for 8. Just to remind you we finished 10th last year only 2 points off 8th spot, and lets not have the we only finished 10th because WBA scored a late goal. We finished 10th because we took 3 points at stamford bridge , we took 3 points from City and were unbeaten against Arsenal, did the double over Bolton and Villa took points of all the top 8 from last season. We also finished with 3 wins from our last 5. We have strengthend our squad with some good prem quality experienced playes and some young potentail. I don't hear too much hype this year I hear an expectation that we will higher than last season and I see a management team delivering the tools to achieve that expectation.
