5 games in now ups and downs for many teams including us and still very early to judge but take away the obvious 3 relegated teams from the question can people name 3 stronger teams then us ? i think we'll be right amongst it for the top 6
Leicester look good, think they are the only team I'd say are definitely destined for top 2. Ipswich seem to be finding a way to win games which is an excellent habit to get into Having said all that - how the **** are Preston top? I thought they were awful when we played them
i agree i think your top 2 will be Southampton and Leicester and on paper you expect leeds to be one in the top 6 that to me leaves 3 places was trying to have a look last night and i think you have probably about 7 teams who will be be fighting for the other 3 spots and i really think we are amongst that 7, i can't pick out 3 teams who i think are stronger once you take away the top 3
Doesn't that put into perspective how unfortunate we've been both at Preston and home to Ipswich. We shouldn't have lost either and an extra 2 points would put us nicely placed, not that 9th isn't handy. Still early have another look after 10 games.
Sticking with Leicester as Champions, but not as clear as Burnley last season. I genuinely don’t see a clear 2nd, similar to last season. Sheffield United weren’t well clear there till the very end. Nobody has an obvious goal scorer who is going to bag for fun this season which is interesting, there are a lot of good sides and some major curve balls like Brum (brilliant recruitment) and Hull. We are right up there. If any one of these forwards is a hit we have a ****ing great chance. What I do wanna see is Seelt and later Triantis and Alese keeping CB fresh. I guarantee we all shat it when Ballard went down Saturday cos it looked bad, we need another lad ready for if he gets a knock. We in great shape.
I think that there are probably 15 or 16 teams with ambitions to get promoted this season and whilst Leicester have started well I am not sure they are guaranteed a top spot, Southampton are an attractive looking side but if Saturday was anything to go by they will need to defend a lot better than they did, Leeds I am not sure about could be great or could be a disaster. you then have Preston Blackburn Middlesbrough, Hull Swansea Birmingham Huddersfield to just name a few who will all fancy their chances. Out of all of them there are probably a couple with arguably a better fist 11 but not many with better squad depth than us. I really think with a bit of luck and a steady managers hand on the tiller we have a great chance this year. the only problem is us finding some consistency in performance which is where I think TM was coming from in reference to Dack and Pritchard. what we do have though is young players like Dan Neil who you can now consider as an experienced professional with almost 100 league games under his belt and he is only 21/22 years old. quite an exciting time to be a Sunderland fan
Blackburn do look decent. Preston I think haven’t got enough to maintain it. Norwich before Saturday looked surprisingly good, personally didn’t rate their signings.
As said another five games will give us a better picture, but we are in with a real chance here no mistake, and I did not think that 2 games ago, the last week has changed everything for the better , long may it continue. OaU
Next 4 games winnable, QPR away 16th, Blackburn Wed 20th away, Cardiff home 24th Sun 3.pm ? , Sheff w 8 pm fri 29th away, 10 points ? and the new players can only be good allowing changes for midweek games. Ipswich could spend in Jan. Coventry not as good as i thought, Stoke dodgy, Keeping clean sheets has been great as well, maybe other teams will concede more than us this season.
I think we need to see how every team's signings and squads settle. It's such early days, particularly for the Championship where the teams top near the end of the Autumn can end up in relegation trouble a la QPR and teams towards the bottom can end up in the promotion mix as Middlesborough and West Brom did last year. We've also still got a lot of unknown quantities - if Ballard or O'Nien are injured are Seelt or Triantis adequate cover for a team challenging at the top at this stage. Similarly if Neil or Ekwah get injured can we come up with a system and move personnel around adequately to cover the lack of natural replacement for either in the squad.
Spent some money and made some decent signings. Also got rid of Hannibal, the guy with all the hair back to Manure, he was all wind and no ****e imo.
Obviously it's only 5 games in, but I don't see a lot to fear in this league (easy to say that after a 5-0) and we are stronger than our first couple of games suggested. If these new lads (Burstow and Rusyn especially) can hit the ground running then we could be a real force. and teams will not enjoy playing us - we might know more after the next 2 games
Let’s not overlook we should have won both of those games. We are a very good side and if one or more of these strikers does the business we are a proper threat.
Leicester look like the best squad to me. The manager is a rookie though, so that might catch them out; it's not always just all about coaching players, even if he wants it to be. Norwich will be a serious threat I think. As will Leeds. Southampton should be with their squad, but we had a look at them on Saturday and they will have to change from the slo mo stuff at times. Possibly Watford if they get going. Usually at least one surprise package, looks like it might come from Hull or Ipswich. I think we are in there somewhere. Can't see top two, but play offs again are a possibility, and it would be some achievement.
I would hazard a guess that if fans of every club in the league were asked the question in the op, we would be mentioned by just about all them. We look a strong squad, with quality in depth, and some outstanding individuals. We look a bloody good side to me, and on our day are unplayable. Saturday was a joy to watch, and I've got a feeling there will be many more like it.
I genuinely have no idea, it’s so unpredictable this league it’s brilliant but agree with most there is nothing to fear but won’t be much between 4th and 14th again I don’t think
A lot of teams could be argued to be expected to have a good season, I think there'll be a lot of strange results again this season resulting in top two being close and play off positions in sight for many teams right up until the end. Whatever happens it'll more interesting than the bore of the Premiership
