Sunderland - Serious relegation candidates?

I know we don't act on our board as they do on theres, making threads about them and stir ****.

But this isn't a wind up thread, and it's not a **** stirrer.

It's a serious one, and I never realised how big **** could be for them if they do not beat Fulham on saturday.

Look at their games -

Sunderland v Fulham
QPR v Sunderland
Sunderland v Norwich
Sunderland v Man Utd
Chelsea v Sunderland
Newcastle v Sunderland
Sunderland v Everton
Villa v Sunderland
Sunderland v Stoke
Sunderland v Southampton
Tottenham v Sunderland

I don't see them getting anything from Manure, Chelsea, Spurs and Everton. I think we will have what it takes to beat them with our morale high, and I personally believe we have the quality to beat them. QPR will need a win against them more than anything. They have looked threatening lately, and I can see them beating Sunderland, as if they don't, then they're pretty much down.

They have games vs Villa and Southampton, two other relegation candidates. Villa are ****, but their strikers are always a threat, and I think Benteke and others could cause them problems. Also if Southampton carry on playing well like they did against us, I see them doing Sunderland. Both will be fighting to stay up. Stoke are a tough nut to crack also.

I think they are definitely capable of getting 10+ points, but you never know. If they don't beat Fulham, then I see only two considerably winnable games for them, Stoke and Southampton.

Again, this is not a wind up thread, It's just pointing out what's put in front of us, and I believe they will probably stay up, but there's always a chance...

 

Relegation should be viewed as a real threat to them, and most of the other teams in the bottom half of the table. I think they'll be safe, but I expect it to be close.

 

safe me thinks

 

I hope they stay up - I enjoy the derby games and the banter. If we are looking at teams that might go down even though they are currently clear of the bottom three, I'd prefer it to be West Ham joining QPR and Villa. The reasons for this? Fat Sam, 'Arry Redknapp and Villa's 'who's your next messiah?' fans.

 

Safe I reckon.
We hardly ever post a thead about them so there's no worries with this.

 

That crop of 3 going down sounds delicious

 

Who care about them?

 

I do not see sunderland as going down as they have a team to good to go down

Saying that, It wouldnt be the first time and it wont be the last time sunderland get relegated

Think they will scrape through this season, may even finish strongly

i have a gut feeling sessegnon will be sold in the summer for a fair price like 10m maybe 8m. then they will go down next season and become a lift head team again if they dont replace him correctly.

hope not tho, gotta love the derby day and priemier leauge banter

 

Repped

 

Repped

 

I can actually see Sunder1and dropping like a stone. The Derby will be the catalyst.

 

I think the majority of people on here realise what a huge miss Derby days would be, I'm sure many of the Mackem supporters would have found it a big miss the season we were in the Championship, despite all the 'mickey' taking.
For the record though, I'm sure they'll stay up!

 

lets hope they drop like a stone in the derby
But i think the derby days bring to much to the north east for it to be a good thing if they got relegated, not that your stating it is ofc

 

Didn't realise you lot were safe. It wasn't too many games ago we were on a good run like yourselves currently. Take that as a friendly warning.

We have awful all season. I'm sure we will grind out the results, there are more than three squads worse than ours.

 

I don't want Sunderland to go down but looking through those fixtures I came up with 8 or 9 points, which would leave them teetering right on the edge

 

Funny, but it does feel fairly safe at the moment - - 10 points from 11 games seems pretty do-able.

As for you, I think you're fight that there are three worse teams around. Hope so - - no derby is like no FA cup

 

I think that both us and our unhygenic neighbours will stay up.

I do, however, think that MON has been found out.

There is no disputing that he has had success at his previous clubs, but that was when he had John Robertson holding his hand and I have, for a long time, thought that whilst MON took all the credit, it was in fact Robertson who did all the good work behind the scenes.

In a similar way, Dennis Wise was once lauded as one of England's most promising, young, up and coming managers. However, when he and Gus Poyet parted company, it is Poyet who has gone on to prove himself to be a good manager, while Dennis Wise has disappeared up his own arsehole.

People conveniently forget that the Sunderland team that MON inherited finished in 10th place the season before he was appointed, and spent much of that season in and around 7th place. For all the mackems bullshit about MON having to replace Bruce's ****e players, the squad wasn't actually that bad, as they proved for the first 9-10 games that MON was in charge. It appears that MON has not been able to continue to motivate these players (and his new additions) after the initial feel good factor wore off. The majority of his players look like they can't be arsed to put a shift in, and MON is partly to blame, and maybe his stlye of play is pissing them off too.

If it is in fact true that he has inherited a poor squad, then why has he not brought in more quality in the 3 transfer windows that he has been there. He has spent over £30 million, so it's not like he's not been allowed any cash.

His tactics and style of football are the same as they always were, sit back and try to catch their opponents on the break. He has no plan B, even though he does not really have the pace within his team to be able to play his plan A. The strange thing is that the players with pace like Campbell have been shipped out without really being given a chance. Surely a top manager can adjust the team's style of play to suit the players that he has at his disposal?

Every week the fans are forced to see their team play some really horrible football. One could understand it if they were playing this way and winning, but to play like that and still be near the bottom of the league must be very worrying.

So although I think that Sunderland will stay up this season, I don't really see them being much better next year unless Ellis Short allows MON to break the bank and spend a fortune like he did at Aston Villa.

 

Thats the whole point though Freddd. A few good results and the streets are paved with white dog turds. And for what, being a solitary point better off with a worse goal difference.

Yet somehow we are in the mire, while you're safe???? Does not compute.

 

Fair point, although I do think that the difference between the two teams is that we now have a forward momentum with players returning from injury and the excitement that new signings bring, whereas you guys seem to be unhappy, frustrated, and just want the season to end.

SJP is a place that is full of optimism because we can see that we are progressing as a club. Even though we have been in poor form as a team this season, we now seem to have turned the corner. I am not just talking about results but also in terms of performance.

Your team seems to still be playing poorly and , as you have said, will probably grind out the necessary points for survival.

 

I see what you are saying, and it would be right except that we are clearly a better team than we were 5 weeks ago.

If nothing had changed excpet that we'd managed to pick up one more point than you, I would agree that would provide us with the slimmest of advantages, and was very little indication of anything. What has changed though, is that we have a first rate RB, a good left winger and what looks at the moment like one of the very best boxto box midfieldrs in the country. We also look very likely to never have to play Mike Williamson in defence again and should have HBA back for the next match. (There are also signs that Tiote and Cisse are regaining their form, but as you say that is the sort of thing whihc can appear and disappear in the blink of an eye.)

Our optimism isn't based just on a run of good results. It's baased on the fact that for the first time this season havea squadof players together who you would reasonably expect to produce pretty much this type of result