I'm sure many of us were feeling dejected last Monday morning but today we wake up to the prospect of a home cup 1/4 final and a table that doesn't look quite so horrific. Supporters of every club from Villa down will be looking at the table and realising they're already in the relegation dogfight. (I'm not counting West Brom as they won't be going and neither will Swansea.) Palace may get a boost from a new manager and actually created lots of chances against a very good Everton side. If they win at Hull next week that could mean there are 9 teams separated by half a dozen points, or so, with enough of the season left for anyone to finish bottom. As we know, Sunderland have had some very tough games under difficult circumstances. Now it's the turn of some other clubs and they go into them with managerial uncertainty. There are rumblings of supporters, or owners, wanting the manager out at Hull, Cardiff, Norwich, West Ham, and Fulham which is never a good sign. One of them will probably end up with Pulis and Palace, after tolerating Holloway, might be tempted to take a chance on Di Canio, he'd suit them better than Sunderland. 11 Aston Villa -1 14 12 Hull -5 14 14 Cardiff -6 12 15 Norwich -12 11 16 West Ham -2 10 17 Stoke -4 10 18 Fulham -9 10 19 Sunderland -14 7 20 Palace -15 4 If we were to beat Stoke and the other games went our way we could be looking even better by the end of the month ....... especially after our game against Villa, I'd be happy with 3 points from either game. Norwich, West Ham, Cardiff, Villa, Hull, Palace, Villa all have difficult games. As experience has taught us we need these teams to start stabbing each other in the back asap. We have better 'in depth' squads than many of them and, if we're showing signs of recovery by Christmas I'm sure there will be money available in the window. I'd ask Spurs about Rose again and sign Ki if it's possible. He suits Poyet's style of play perfectly and I'd sign him before Swansea realise they need him. I'm surprised they've allowed him away during a European season tbh. If he keeps playing the way he is then he may become unavailable as did Rose, Evans, Welbeck etc. Some clubs may not have the funds to make an impact in the transfer market and, by then, injuries may have taken their toll. Fulham v Swansea Hull v Crystal Palace Newcastle v Norwich Stoke v Sunderland West Ham v Chelsea Cardiff v Man Utd West Brom v Aston Villa
I think because we started so badly we lowered our expectations, thus an upturn in performances and results will give the team and fans huge momentum and hope. Those clubs that looked down on us with pity or distain only a few weeks ago will now have that sinking feeling they are not significantly so far ahead of us and we've had our nightmare spell. We still have a right scrap on our hands but we also have a run of games ahead up to the new year that could see us either firmly entrenched or well clear of the bottom 3. Poyet has to be given he credit for that tufn of fortune and so do the much maligned players who have dug deep and halted the slide. I said a couple of days ago that if Poyet keeps us up it would be a nailed on manager of the year award and be like us winning the Champs League. After all, there is more money involved than the CL.
Some people were having a great time taking the piss but they might be wondering if it'll come back to bite them on the arse. I said 4 games ago that we could be looking at a possible escape and an appearance at Wembley. I took some stick but if it wasn't for the shambles at a beatable Hull we'd be almost out of 'certain relegation'. As it is, as you say, we still have a hell of a scrap but we beat Man City entirely on merit and our keeper had very little to do. A better final ball and we'd have beaten them more easily.
getting Altidore up and running on the score sheet would be the added bonus for me- he's played well apart from net a goal in the league
He's one of the reasons I have hope ..... he's actually scored a very good goal against Arsenal but, even better, set up a fair few of our goals. He was straight into Man City and was happy to defend. He doesn't complain and I think he'll score plenty, I have much more faith in him than the likes of Graham and Wickham.
there's still a long way to go and while we can now point to a lot of positives, some of the others (Fulham, stoke, Cardiff, Norwich & west ham) still have their crisis to come. Short didn't hang around when it wasn't working and his brave call is now looking good. That's now to our advantage as the other owners will probably wait till xmas before swinging the axe. By which time we should be out of the bottom three and looking to strengthen in January.
The strange thing is, is that at this stage we are only 1 win away, or a couple of draws, from a points total that I would have been comfortably content with, given our difficult home fixtures! If we'd have held on against Soton, or getting a couple of away draws, we'd be sitting not too badly! We need to start performing away from home before I can get overly confident though! Away, we have been shocking!
Very good point mate and something I was hinting at in the OP. We all know, as well as the Fulham players & supporters, that Jol is a dead man walking and the atmosphere around the club is poisonous. The situation at Cardiff is mad and the Hull supporters are already criticising Bruce ....... after his despondent face at Southampton I'm not surprised tbh.
I know as fans we always want more but if we can carry the fight into the Stoke game we will win that and then I will firmly believe we will stay up! I hope Stoke play like they did yesterday, they were defensively awful.....like really awful!!
Ah, I see that you speak for all the clubs supporters? Or is it your English and the use of a plural? Lets not pretend that Hull supporters are not criticizing Bruce (Don't worry there, was no mention of all or none).
Right, lets nip this in the bud. I've gone to your match thread around full time and plucked these two effortlessly. Two, that's plural and it proves his point. Don't know if there's more, don't care, this is a thread about Sunderland and we would like it to stay that way. Fair? Now back to us if you don't mind?
I've had some worry Smug, as any fan would, but I've hardly been panicing for the same reason as I stated after the bad start to the season, and also stated the same more recently. Our fixtures second half of the season are probably more favorable to us the any other team in the league. So long as we have 9 points by the time we've finished playing Norwich we'd be close enough to the pack for Eliss to spend in January. Looks like we can pick those 9 points up now, probably better. I've not panicked and frankly I'm proud I haven't. I've maintained my views and optimism and I'm slightly amused at what some people have put themselves through. I've always said we'll stay up, We've not done it yet by a long shot but hopefully now all the doom mongers can get their ship abandoning arses back on board and say some positive things as our club need us 38 games a season, not white flags after the first 10.
Caveman Bob/ Mr Hat is a WUM who does that sort of thing to get a reaction. Didn't he get banned off here last week? And as for the Gedo comment, well, our facebook site has been clogged with excited Egyptians because of him coming to the UK last year. And basically they take it their support of Gedo a little too seriously, despite him being bang average and probably crocked. He's probably mimicking them. Unfortunately, it's getting tiresome. I seriously doubt people are against Bruce after one defeat against one the better teams in the league. Great win yesterday btw. What's your opinions on Altidore?
Yeah well what ever mate. You're still here biting on the defensive, clearly you've learnt nothing. Smugs opinion is valid and not a matter of fact (even though I've just proved it to be correct), Who's it hurting? Nobody. Can't you just back off?
Sorry I apologise wholeheartedly. I retract any criticism of Hull City and their manager. I hereby state that no Hull supporters have criticised Steve Bruce and all of the posts on the Hull board are obviously trolls and wums. This idiot below is typical of the wums who inhabit the Hull board! So, anyway, back to Sunderland and the other bottom half teams who may be involved in the relegation fight.
In the words of your moderator, PLT, "To people who judge a striker just on goals, yes. To those of us who watch the players' performances he's a good team player who holds it up well and links up well and leads the line well."
