As ever, I will enter my 37th season with a heart full of hope and expectation. We have bought well this summer and as we have all said several times, hopefully with the addition of at least one more maybe 2 more attacking players to complement the rest, this could be a really important season for the club. We've still lots to prove on the pitch but we have the personnel now to do our talking for us IMO. Our squad has a nice robust feel to it and cover is provided in droves this time round. 3 good keepers in Gordon, Westwood and Mignolet. Defenders of the calibre of Brown and O Shea have come in to bolster the return form injury of Turner and Bramble. I've been a little harsh on Turner to be honest but now he is fully fit, I expect to see those clean sheets he presided over return too. Bardo, Anton (I'd keep him as he covers central and full back positions), Muhammady and Richardson can cover full back positions too. Midfield looks good too and the arrival of Gardener, Vaughan and Larsson will be ample replacements for the departed Jordan Henderson. Catts back from injury, Colback and Meyler, Richardson and Steed. Up front, the mercurial Asamoah Gyan will have a choice of the little pocket rocket Sessegnon who looks to have really got to grips with the EPL now, new boys Ji Dong Won and Connor Wickham (when did we ever buy an £8m footballer who might not make the first team starting line up this side of Christmas) and maybe Ryan Noble will have a spell on loan and then come back all guns firing too. I think the obvious addition of N'Zogbia and another striker would be perfect but honestly speaking, if we started against Liverpool with 11 from these 20 or so players, we wont do so badly. Add the Zog and another good striker and I think we will have a really good season and top NE club status for the 4th season running will be assuredly ours again. I feel extremely excited to see this squad and team get out there and do their stuff. If we can keep players fit and carry a bit more luck this coming season, then I say bring it on. The Black Cats are ready rumble.
If this doesn't make Newsnow I'll eat my pants. Got a funny feeling Mr Bruce ain't finished yet Cest.
I will be going into my 5th season, give or take a few, and again its full of hope, a home win in our first home game would be a very nice start.
I started following the lads in the early '70s so I reckon I've suffered (apart from '73) nigh on 40 seasons now. Reckon 10 were good ones though (the upside of yo-yoing)
Aye. I'm around the 40 year mark. In which time my hair has thinned and what's left is going grey. Still no beer belly (yet) so not all bad. Anyone like me new skirt (left). I don't like to be unfaithful but she just kept on and on.
This is only my 5th season, but I'll start it the way I've started the past four - blind optimism and loss of touch with reality!
Fairly optimistic about this season with the additions we have brought in, still not feeling O'Shea or Brown for that matter (insert weirdness here) got a feeling they'll be millstones round our neck for the next 4 years. However I'm willing to give SB another shot at moving us up a level and FFS a cup run would be a nice distraction as well. Midfield looks solid and has a good mix of passing, deadball and hard but fair tackling in there so should be able to hold their own this time out. The front line I think will be our biggest problem (SAFC has not been renowned for goals galore) but, we do need another top quality striker just to be on the safe side. Goalkeepers are fine, the defence is a work in progress and with luck should get better with every passing game and, although I don't rate the Man Utd pair I hope they prove me wrong.
Talc - O Shea and Brown bring that vital ingredient to the SAL party mate. A wealth of experience. You can only get that from playing at the very top level for many years and both these two have it in bucket loads. They will be big players in those tight games when the team that can hold its nerve takes the spoils. We blew some major opportunities last season to win games (Blackpool, Wolves, WBA and Stoke come immediately to mind) where I think these 2 would have been invaluable. That could have been another 7 or 9 points to our points total and a totally different outlook for us all at the end of last season. Steve Bould brough it to us all those years ago mate, albeit he was 35 at the time and I am very pleased they are both here. Hopefully, you will be too in a few more weeks.
loss of zenden is worth a mention aswell, he was to our midfielders what brown/oshea will hopefully be to our defenders
Have you ever read the book 'Gullible's Travels'?.......I think Syd might just have been teasing a bit there mate..
