When he broke through at Brighton he was quick, a nuisance and a good finisher. Hoping he brings that natural talent with a dose of maturity now. Could be perfect for us.
Relaxed .. I enjoy watching this team which is a very rare thing for a Sunderland supporter of 50 plus season.. We have the ability to win this league but also the youthfulness to lose our way, but we will do it with a flare and in a good way of playing the game.. something that a lot of coaches have killed in the game...
I'll be disappointed if we finish 2nd. If we don't get promoted it won't be for a want of trying and I won't be disappointed with the squad or Regis Le Bris. But we're going up anyways
Burnley and Sheff U not as good as 2 seasons ago, Norwich the main worry i would would take 6th now though, but if Henderson comes top 2.
Still undecided on where we will finish as no team has really stood out to me so far. Sheff utd, Burnley and Leeds all look good on paper and Leeds the most impressive out of all the teams so far but still not convinced by them. The nice thing is we are top of the league and we still haven't got going yet. There is still so much room for improvement for us in possession that I'm encouraged that we can kick on further Injuries will be the key and which team can avoid having any major injuries. We have as good depth as any team in CM n CB imo, depth at fullback is a concern (wouldn't be if Huggins was fit, but not sure if we will see him this season), and I'm not sure we have the depth on the wing. The wing depth will be fine if Watson adapts to senior football, he certainly has the potential to do it and be an effective player for us. CF could be a position of strength for us now with Mayenda n Isidor both showing well so far n with Connolly coming in it'll add to that Still think top 6 would be am amazing achievement
Serious question. I assume you mean Jordan Henderson? What’s the reasoning for that as I can’t see him making any difference in that respect.
It's a typical Monty tongue in cheek tease mate.....don't bite! Most of us would be staggered if we show the slightest interest in Henderson as a player.
So many things could change yet, injuries, loss of form, confidence, January window could lose players 1st 100 points 100 goals
Still think people are underestimating Sheff Utd. They’d be two points clear if not for their points deduction and have only conceded 3 goals all season. They’re going to win the league as far as I can see.
They've been praised a lot on here tbf, think all of us expect them to be one of the favourites Yes they've hardly conceded but they have looked poor n slow in possession and we still have a better goal difference from them They'll 100% be up there n it wouldn't surprise me if they win the league but haven't been great so far Ps - I did say on the weekend that it's a sign of a good team to win when not playing well tho
yeh I think this is my point. They’ve not been great yet still should be top of the league. They’ve got so much going for them that I can’t see them not finishing top, personally
Think we'll no more about them after their next two games. They've had a fairly gentle start to the season, fixtures wise.
Top of the league, going into October international break. Apart from Plymouth, I've seen no bad (overall) performance from us. People keep saying, for all teams,squads going to be important once injuries hit. Arguably, our squad is already hit and we're coping. Mayenda, Alese, povedo and Ballard out at the moment. Connelly, Samed not even started yet. Not to mention long term absentees that we should start seeing from January. Browne has been in and out. Not even sure about timeline for our other forward we got in, but i think he should be back next few weeks? We start getting our full squad back, and I reckon we aim for top 2. Based on how things are going now, outside of top 6 finish would be disappointing. Especially if we avoid injuries to key players, and maybe get a player or 2 in during Jan (full back positions)
Leeds have just had two significant injuries with Ampadu and Gruev who were probably their most effective partnership. They're one more injury from real problems in midfield and defensively. Jobe wasted three good chances in just the place where one of those players would usually be. Leeds have won two of their last five and Sheff Utd up next, they've played three top six teams and won none. Sheff Utd have just had three of the last four at home and haven't been too impressive, only beating Swansea with an OG and having quite an easy run of fixtures. They're the lowest scorers in the top eight and look quite messy in attack and midfield imo, I can see them starting to concede more when they start having to do more to win games. I'm hoping Leeds and Sheff Utd absolutely knock lumps out of each other and end up 0-0 so they both drop points. With any luck it'll go over 100 minutes, with all the injury time, red cards and hamstrings flying around plus Wilder pulling Farke's hair and sparking a mass brawl that gets the police involved. Overall I think more teams, this season, will be involved at the top and that has to be good for us. We've seen glimpses of how effective we can be but I think we can play a lot better. Without the daft tackle at Watford and a chaotic end to the Plymouth game I think we'd be feeling seriously optimistic. As it stands we know we've shown a lack of experience, at times, but these players are learning quickly and we have good replacements approaching fitness. The new coach is another boost and should make training easier for the existing staff and more interesting for the players. More individual coaching is clearly needed by some players, Mayenda to be more ruthless, Neil to play his defensive role and Patterson in his distribution as a few examples imo. Our next half a dozen fixtures aren't the most difficult, on paper, so this is a more critical time than we've just had imo ... ... better away form is needed but we're capable and no reason we can't start that at Hull.
I watched the full 90 on Sunday without the emotion of a live match, I reckon we were unfortunate not to beat Leeds, they are undoubtedly a good side but so are we. I reckon for 70% of the game we were the better side and had we taken the chances we created first half we would have won comfortably. I have read comments about how good Gnonto is and I posted about Rothwell and Tanaka controlling the game but having watched it again, I have changed my mind and wouldn’t swap any of them for Rigg and Jobe. Bellingham is an excellent player and Rigg six months to a year behind him.
I thought Tanaka was very fortunate not to get booked in the first 10 minutes, he committed 3 fouls in succession without even a warning
