Best performance for me that I've seen is also against Chelsea but was the 4-1 win at the sol. I genuinely had tears of joy when phillips volley hit the back of the net, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It had a beautiful symmetry about it having conceded 4 at Stamford Bridge on the opening day. Gotta say I don't think I've felt that holy shiihiite what are we playing at untill last seasons 3-0 win at Chelsea. It really got the country talking about us and I remember ssn showing the goals over and over and I enjoyed each showing as much as the first.
100% agree mate. I'll admit that I was starting to lose faith in Bruce towards the end like many of us but he did what we wanted him to do and get top 10. This is a massive season for him IMO. Make or break. Top 10 is the absolute minimum. Europe could be a step too far but we have to aim for it. 8th would be tremendous! And that last statement really puts into perspective how we've changed. 4 years ago we had a back 4 of Harte-Higginbotham-McShane-Nosworthy and a strikeforce of Chopra and Jones. Now we have the African player of the year leading the line with some of the top clubs sniffing around for him. Bruce has made a few debatable decisions but between him, Quinn and Short we are in a FAR better position than recent years!! KTF
That was a great match too, but that Chelsea side weren't a patch on their current team, which makes last seasons game even better...in my opinion like
Yes, Bruce is among the top managers when it comes to recruiting players and proves it SEASON AFTER SEASON (which is Bill's point). During the transfer periods, it really is great to be a Sunderland supporter under Bruce. From August to mid-January, it really is great to be a Sunderland supporter under Bruce. Great foundations are laid and, AGAIN, are being laid. The problem is, building a good team on those foundations, and this is where Bruce has been found wanting in the past. Please, let's not count our chickens. Bruce is being given another chance. OK, something I would not have done (Sir Niall has more faith then me) but please wait until February/March to throw this back in my face when we are 6th/7th in the league and in a cup quarter-final, which I (and I'm sure Bill too) sincerely hope will be the case.
We definitely are - prior to any activity we were £20m in profit - 8m up front for Wickham, reported £4.5m (undisclosed) for Gardner and just over £1m for Ji so we're still in profit. Steve Walton even said that this season will be important as the new financial fair play rules come into play next year so if we spend more than we make this year then that'd be the reason.
Some peoples glasses are always half empty, that's just the way they are. If we finished top of the league, they'd be saying we could never do it the following season rather than enjoying the success.
"Seriously, you could give an anadin a headache".. Davros: I hope you don't mind, but I do intend to use that line in the future...
I think your points are fair however he still hasn't proven to me that he has the tactical knowledge to play more than one way (from the keeper, hoof it to elmo on the right and try to get the knock downs - and this was all the time). Against Chelsea at home (and many other games) the plan was simple and so easy to read and Chelsea sussed this out within 3 tries. Thereafter there was no second plan - The players are also at fault for this for not figuring out it didn't work. I really hope that Bruce comes up with another playing style for this season and really opens teams up because watching that pap for most of the season wasn't nice.
