hello all, this is my first thread since the switch from 606, i have been close to posting several times only for someone else to post exactly what i was thinking. so like a voyeur on the outside looking in i have enjoyed the banter and exchanges between you all... but after the recent disappointments and the shared ill feelings about this and that (and the fact i've had a drink) i feel brave enough to voice my opinions and give my 2 cents, for what its worth! firstly i must say i was against the selling of Henderson but with the money raised i was pleased (not blown away) by the aquisitions of the new players as his replacements (gardner in particular) i felt like everyone else we needed a LB, LW and FW none of which we got but still kept the belief we would come good purely because we had bult a squad capable of deaing with a full season of injuries and suspensions. now i know we all start the season with high hopes but i am trying to keep my feet on the ground here and say we are still very much an emerging club on the up and our signings prove that. mostly unproven but bags of potential that we havent seen the best from yet but we have bought experience in the 2 from MUFC, which in the past maybe would have signed for the likes of Villa or Everton and its a bit of a coup that we got them (especially if you believe the national press) we know its hard to attract players to the NE and as much as we want certain players even if they become available, we have a harder time to attract them but is getting a little easier as we get more established. every club is looking for a genuine prolific striker and i think if you look across most teams in the prem there are actually only a small handful which you would consider out and out goal scorers. i recognise we need a striker fairly sharpish so if we were to get someone like Crouch i would be very happy as he would score the odd goal but would also increase the chance of goals coming from throughout the rest of the team and be the perfect foil for Gyan and take some of the pressure away from the lad. we are 4 games in, we dont look great but we haven't been totally outplayed in any game yet! yes we are all hurting after the derby but i feel there is a slight knee jerk reaction to it all and in my opinion the Bruce out brigade are a little premature (no i'm not one of the famous happy clappers) but when you bring in so many new players there's bound to be a bedding in period for whatever reason. we are a solid and steady mid table PREMIERSHIP football club and we will get the odd big result and we will lose a few we shouldn't but that still excites me! yes i would love to go striding forward and get into Europe and mix it with the big boys at the top end of the table but we still aren't ready for that! i honestly believe we are getting a little ahead of ourselves, i would take another top 10 finish! slow progress is still progress, and lets face it if we ever reach the heights its better to do it on strong foundations rather than burning ourselves out like Leeds did chasing the dream!! in closing (and i am sorry i have rambled on) i know despite what everyone's opinions are on here, we all want SAFC to succeed... i feel we have moved forward, we still are moving forward and we will continue to move forward as Bruce and the club have continued to put the building blocks in place for us to do so. tactics and team selections apart we can all agree we are in a much better place now than we have been for a long time and certainly what i have ever experienced in my life time (i'm 29) i dont usually like being too optomistic in case it jinxes our chances but ths time i feel we need some positivity and relax... we will finish around 10th or above this season and continue to improve... lets just enjoy it, who are we kidding if we expect too much. keep the faith!!!
I just think we were all hoping/expecting the team to be as fired up and excited as the fans and it looks like they're maybe not quite as excited as going back to work as we are to see them go back.
Good post...the thing, I think have all the "Bruce out" brigade up in arms,isn't the derby defeat but the Brighton defeat. I said after seeing the team he picked that the **** would hit the fan if we didn't get a result.The thing that gets me every time though,is that people say sack Bruce but never say who we should replace him with.Martin O'Neil being the only manager I can remember being mentioned...but he isn't the man to take us forward in my opinion.
Good post Darlo, dont agree with everything but it would be a strange world if I did. Like you I'm not worried just impatiant to see us start winning games. I'm not a Crouch fan and TBH cant see him coming but we all know that someone is needed, not long now before we all know for better or for worse. The good news is we cant lose next Saturday.
Im still pretty annoyed at Bruces attitude to the league cup, as others are because a lot wanted to have a real go at the cups this year. I'm not convinced he is up to the job, but he is here for the forseeable future so we might as well back him rather than make his job completely impossible by clamouring for his head. Getting another striker in, plus Gyan fit again will be enough to get us performing well. 2 points from the first 3 games isnt ideal but not a disaster.
Good post, and i agree with the broad thrust of it, at this stage in the window any proven PL forward would be a useful addition but Crouch wouldn't be top of my list . Again however i agree he could be the key that unlocks the potential of others.
Excellent post, I think Crouch would be perfect for us Van der vart enjoyed most of his success last season due to Crouch's hold up play and knock downs, we know Sess, Gardner and Gyan can shoot we just need that focal player to play off. I'm not happy with Bruce just now but when have we had it better in the last 30 yrs? We are a good team the players will gell and we will have more good times than bad Bruce has earned some time.
I watched henderson yesterday,,its strange watching him for another team.......but you can see why liverpool bought him... its the speed and accuracy at which he moves the ball on....( its like hes decided where the ball is going long before it reaches him and you cannot practice that its.... instinct)he he is going to be a very good player hes just not going to be another gerrard.I also think we underestimated his value to us,watch the sunderland chelsea game if you want an example of how to be a good modern day midfielder........our midfield of gardner cattermole and ginge looked very pedestrian in comparison.I agree that we need to realise the progress we have made over the last few years and also we must adopt a pragmatic aproach to our ambitions ......are we ever going to aim for top 4 if not what is really left.three cup competitions that are being devalued by each ticking second(fa league and europa cups)............we may have to accept to be an "also ran"like 16 other premiership clubs....can we as sunderland supporters accept this?
Very good post, BUT when will you start worrying? After Chelsea? After Stoke (worst case scenario I know). When the Titanic hit the iceberg I'd have been worried - its too late to do anything when the deckchairs are sliding past you at a rate of knots. Bruce slavvered on about the importance of the cups then played THAT eleven! Crazy. Lets give him £15m more before Wednesday and then until January. I think not. x
in all honesty Bobby i'm not going to start worrying after Chelsea because lets face it a point out of that game would be nice and a loss potentially could be on the cards, we have had quite a strange and tough start to the season in terms of fixtures. so i think we should really look towards the 5 games after that and focus on those performances and results. Stoke (h) Norwich (a) west Brom (h) Arsenal (a) Bolton (a) these are 5 games that aren't going to be easy by any means but i feel we could gain between 9-12 points out of a possible 15 from those games. if for whatever reason we do exceedingly badly then i will join you in a mild panic!!
