i have seen a lot of posts recently that have a common thread.....get past this tough couple of weeks and then the run in should bear some points. I actually think that our run in is going to be extremely difficult! You look at the teams that we have to play over the course of the last 7 weeks....West Brom, Birmingham, Wigan, Fulham, Bolton, Wolves and West Ham. Out of those 7 games, 5 teams are at the foot of the table, fighting desperately for survival. Take yourself out of you red and white shirt for a minute, and try and predict the results from an outsiders view. Who is going to put in a more dedicated performance? A team battling for safety and Premier League survival? Or a team safely in mid table..... Granted, at the moment we are still in with a long shot at a European spot, but in two weeks time that may not be the case. We could well and truly be that mid table team with nothing to play for. Don't mean to be the voice of doom on this one, but I think there may be a few of us who have forgotten that there are no easy games in the Premier League!
Completely agree - and look at some of our results. Home to Blackpool, away at West Brom, Wolves etc -there are some feisty team scrapping away at the foot of this league
At the start of the season i remember looking at the fixtures and thinking we had one of the easiest run ins. But your right Aussie i think its going to be incredibly difficult against these teams fighting for their lives! I think our chances of europe are very slim currently so i'm hoping the team dont get too comfortable settling for mid table mediocrity as we could find ourselves on the end of some poor results.
true mate, reckon the hardest game in the run in is bolton away, west ham and fulham both hitting form, still dont see any games where we cant get at least a point, but 7 wins out of 7 games, forget it. but still rexkon 7th place is for us. also were going to have a big say in you stays up and who doesn't. our plus is we have several players returning with a point to prove so we should not become stale
Spot on Aussie - fighting desperately for survival, So glad we're not in amongst it (again) this year.
That's the difference between a steady team and a good team. Being able to beat teams at the bottom fighting for survival when you, realistically, don't have a lot to play for. If we don't get another 12-13 points we'll miss the chance of having had a great season.
West Brom - Playing well at the moment, particular away. However they leak goals (Sunderland 2-1 West Brom) Birmingham - Not playing well but I feel this is a game where we will just not turn up (Birmingham 1-0 Sunderland) Wigan - Failed to beat Wigan for a fair few seasons now and no change this year (Sunderland 1-1 Wigan) Fulham - Campbell, Welbeck, Gyan all on fire (Sunderland 3-0 Fulham) Bolton - Thriller but we end up on the wrong side - (Bolton 4-3 Sunderland) Wolves - Revenge (Sunderland 3-1 Wolves) West Ham - Wouldnt be Sunderland if we didnt loose the last game of the season (West Ham 3-2 Sunderland)
I think we have a lot to play for still. Realistically we need a couple more wins to guarantee safety first and then we can concentrate on getting up the table. We are not out of the mire yet no matter bout all this talk of europe .
Now this piece reflects one side of SAFC supporters views and outlook. This view is a bit of a spectrum; starting with uncertainty, graduating to pessimism, then gloom, doom and abject depression. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I'm NOT going to have a go at anybody who holds this one, I would rather proffer the alternative.... We are 8th in the PL with 38 points.... There are 9 games to go - with 5 of them at home.... Quality players are returning.... We have a young, hungry team A number of loan players with a point to prove.... A chance of European football as a carrot.... A manager who wants to succeed.... NQ as Chairman, ES as owner, SW as CE.... Passionate fans.... Great Stadium and Acadamy.... I could go on, but do I need to? As Kimmacat put in a 5 article yesterday "We Are Sunderland!" KTF
The run in games would probably give us some easy points if they weren't "run-in" games. At this end of the season some of the run-in teams are desperate for points and will go all out to get them, we've been there many times so we know what it's like. Pretty football isn't the order of the day, just get the points at any cost is. All i'm saying is that there are no easy games in this league and especially at this end of the season. We're just as likely to pick up points off the top teams as we are the strugglers. In our favour is the fact that we have some key players coming back from injury which will give the squad and the fans a boost.
The BBC keep referring to our poor run of form, bottom of the league for the last 5 games but in there was Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal - Stoke was a shock and everton was a dissappointment to say the least - we didn't turn up. We are definitely going to struggle against Liverpool who looked really good against Man U and who knows which Man C will turn up. But with cattermole, cambell and welbeck returning we should get enough from the other 7 games, if we cant we dont deserve to be in the premiership anyway. I'm keeping the faith and expecting a top 10, 7 or 8 at worst.
Typical Sunderland supporters. Always pessimistic, try being an optimist and look on the bright side. These are all winnable games. Teams fighting for survival may get one or two good results but it does not last
exactley thats been my point we have to beat the so called weeker teams first before we can make a statement to the rest of the league
We don't always do that well against the teams at the bottom end of the table so this is a great opportunity to remedy that. It's true it won't be easy but if we are to have aspirations for better things next season then we really must finish this season strongly. Send the fans home happy at the end of the season, sign up as many of the loanees as possible and add a couple of quality new players and I suspect we will fill the SOL and begin to talk about increasing the stadium capacity.
i think this is a good thing personally, every team it seems is fighting for something, never an easy game against any team anyway, hence why i never win my coupon
