Match Day Thread Fulham FC v Sunderland AFC - Saturday 22nd November 2025 - KO 15:00

What a week, no football cos of internationals, golf course closed all week and England lose the 1st test of the Ashes in a disgraceful manner.

As i say c'mon Sunderland my little ray of sunshine.

 

I endorse this mate.

Everything you see from him is consistent, he’s a classy bloke, he’s got calmer and calmer and he’s shown more emotion and combining them 2 things is someone growing and becoming comfortable in what they are doing.

He backs players, he makes big calls, he is happy to leave names out and he is happy to stand by his beliefs.

The way players talk about him is never just a ‘he’s a decent coach’ or ‘he’s one of the best I’ve worked for’ which they all say, there’s always depth.

Enzo was quite deep in the ‘learn from him every day’ and all that when he came in but when you are seeing a player like Guendhouzi who’s at Lazio saying it, a player who didn’t fancy coming here 100% in summer, then our own lads who are always open and straight with their interviews. That hits deeper.

Add to that KLD coming out and not only openly praising his manager but putting meat on the bones about his relationship building, consistency and attention to detail, then you land on the conclusion that we really have landed on a really top, and improving and adaptive manager.

The small detail that he taken us from bottom half Championship to top half Premier League is really just the spotlight.

He seems to have learned from the difficult spells last season and he’s just been an absolute dream for us. Couldn’t imagine, wouldn’t want to imagine anyone else running the show at minute.

He’s been brilliant and he’s come into his own as the games have got bigger.

 

A fair point of view from you and @Smug in Boots imo.
We got promotion and most people probably just hoped we would scrape by and avoid relegation.

But the investment in the team has been outstanding, brilliant recruitment. And the results have been fantastic.(Haven't noticed Monty much )


It's true, no game is easy in this league.
But I hope for a win against Fulham today.
I'll settle for a draw. Albeit disappointing.
And I realise we could lose the game just like against Burnley, very disappointing if we do but that shìt can happen.


The main thing is we know we can get results against the best in this league and so although I don't expect it I know we are capable of it, and that's a great place to be.

 

Dan Ballard Exclusive: I Love Arsenal but I Feel Powerful Now at Sunderland



https://www.givemesport.com/exclusive-dan-ballard-sunderland-love-arsenal/

Daniel Ballard has stepped up and beefed up to become a colossus for Sunderland. And it’s all driven by a surprising inner belief that he isn’t quite good enough at what he does…

He told GiveMeSport: “I was never, as a young man, the most talented player and had to work quite hard to fight for my opportunities. And even playing now, I sort of carry that around with me. I have to work hard to fight for everything. But after all the tough bits, I think fans appreciate that, especially in the Premier League.

“It’s perhaps a British style of play - tough and doing the simple things really well. And always fighting for the club you’re playing at. You might stop progressing. So it's just about going into every game, and feeling that nervousness and trying to keep proving to everyone that you know you're good enough, you're at the level, and you can help teams.

“I love Arsenal for everything they've done for me, but I suppose I never really had that real connection with the first team. It was more sort of the academy and, you know, all the staff and the amazing people that helped me. I never got that real chance in the first team. So I was never not going to celebrate in a stadium like that in such a big game. I was always going to celebrate. I'll just always give 100% and I think fans appreciate that.”

“Last year was a real stop-start season for me. I felt really good the season before, and I was looking to kick on last year but I was a bit hampered. My season was very stop and start. I kind of saved the season by getting back fit for the play-offs just in time, and then I did a lot of work this summer.

“I've been in the gym a lot, put a little bit more size on this year, because of the physicality of the Premier League It helps to feel powerful, feel strong. I put maybe half a kilo on, maybe even more in the end. I seem to be playing well with it. So it's got to try and maintain that, keep going.

“All my learning experiences helped me, helped me grow as a player. I had a great year at Blackpool. We got promoted there, and then going to Millwall was special in its own way. And that was the first year playing in front of fans after COVID and thankfully, I've done really well. I managed to sort of get the support of the fans quite early on, and feel like we had a great, great connection while I was there. I really felt the support from them. They helped me in that first year in the Championship.”

“We've had a fantastic start as a team. Going up through the play-offs, there's no better feeling, and it really brings a squad together. We've added a lot of new players this summer, and things are going really well.

“There's always that bit of doubt of you being involved but I’ve managed to get quite a bit of game time in the Premier League this year, so we're extremely confident. There's a lot of lads that deserve the opportunity to play in the Premier League, but haven't quite got that chance yet. So there's a really exciting group.”

 

Really good feeling about this today. The buzz at the moment is amazing. I’d take a point away from home, but fancy us to get a 2-1 win.

 

I often wonder if the will still thing was just a distraction whilst we quietly signed Regis

 

Le Bris fits our ethos a lot more than Still seemed to, and we are canny operators so I could see that!

 

He's a cùnt.

 

Hope we win, but a draw, to me, wouldn't be bad. Half hoping both Xhaka and Sadiki get booked so they miss the Bournemouth game and are sure to play the big games in December