I am not against ambition, but we brought in some very good young players who developed well last year. They need space to develop further and time to do just that. As a club let’s not lose that identity and trust we have with footballers and the footballing community as I believe it is the right path we are on at present and it will reap us the rewards. I understand the need to strengthen and it is vital we do that, but it must be done correctly and with the right strategies for players and the club. I have been saying for 3 seasons that patience will be required at every step and to be honest the club has progressed faster than I expected, if we stumble or falter that is when the support is really needed (I have said numerous times it is at our lowest wen the support is vital) on those days is when the fans make the difference. We drive the team on we create the passion in the players and the intensity on the pitch. make that stadium a cauldron of noise like it was when Ballard scored then anything is possible. Do that and these new players can not help but be a success
One week since we signed Adingra, and 6 weeks until the transfer window shuts. Approx one signing per week from now on you would think. I’m guessing the next signing will be somewhat out of the blue, as was Adingra/Talbi/Sidiki/Diarra. Hopefully find out some news on Thursday/Friday. would be nice to get another 2-3 in ASAP so they can really be part of pre-season. Will be interesting to see how public the club are with plans for peripheral players after the Portugal trip. The squad is stacked as it is, so if we are going to bring in another 6, you would think that would mean approx 6 out on loan or transfers.
Well I seem to be in a very small minority of fans wanting to finish higher than 17th. I suspect KLD wants higher as well but I don’t know that. Do I expect to though? Well yes I actually do but I’m always optimistic. What if my expectations aren’t met? I’ll still be there cheering the lads on. We’ve done some good business so far with time to go. A high quality CB (or 2), an upgrade on Patterson and a spare striker with something different to offer (although we may already have that at the club) would do me. Oh Amad would be nice as well. While I’m at it let’s make the keeper Pickford. Go on Jordan you know you want to!
They are needed too. Lammens GK Lucumi CB ? CB Xhaka DM ? ST El Khannous AM (Maybe, not vital) and I’m happy
17th is the aim. Everything this summer is about building a squad capable of not being in the bottom 3. Achieve that, and we will be a different beast altogether. The one thing I do worry about (slightly) is the pressure on the opening 5 fixtures. There’s no easy start in the prem, but we have arguably the easiest you could feasibly ask for. It’s imperative we get points on the board and hopefully a bit of momentum. There will be tough times next season but for the first time in many years, the squad, the club and the fans, are totally united. We need to make sure that unison lasts.
Interesting how its fine for leeds to try and sign a player whos out for 2 months but us signing african players (who will miss less games) is stupid
I think it’s the fact we’ve signed 5 of them mate. I understand your point, but we can’t continue to sign players who will be missing for a month of the season. I’m okay with it at the moment, but wouldn’t like us to sign any more if I’m honest. The ‘long term’ vision is one thing, but we can’t hamstring ourselves by continuing signing players who we know won’t be available in a crucial stage of the season.
Right, I appreciate this Sunderland but I only vaguely know these players because even when I watched their games I didn't bother paying attention to players I thought we had no chance of getting.
To actually answer this though, I think we are basically done now with AFCON players - its worth noting we have brought africans in roles where we expect to or already did have some good depth or options. If another african comes in I can see it being a striker as we have depth to cover that period of time and not lose quality, now for the CBs and GK we will avoid the african market as we have seen with our rumoured targets. Current stage I'm not worried about afcon because I think we will adequately fill the squad with quality, but agree that if for example both CBs are then its a litte worrying. Final thought on it is the length of time is being overexaggerated by a lot of people, Reinildo for example plays 3 games in 10 days and will be knocked out, missing probably 2 maybe 3 games - its not really that bad.