hi all you've heard it all before - long time lurker first time poster just had to share with everyone how ABSOLUTELY BUZZING i am about today's result! I can't remember a win by 8 goals in my lifetime- best i can recall is a 6-0 away win against wolves 2007-ish - anyone remember better? Just incredible and my missus is bored of me talking about it now, hence the new venting method!
Welcome to the board mate. We're all still buzzing and somewhat in disbelief about what happened. Incredible result, great team effort and hopefully a sign of more to come.
We are the luckiest fans in the world I reckon. We've hit rock bottom and almost lost the club we all loved but since that and largely because of it (IMO) we have had nothing but fun. And I say that from the other side of the world where I could barely chew my toast for laughing so hard at the sunderland game. What other club could claim such a ridiculous run of good times. I've never enjoyed the start of a season as much as this one. I know we did well last year but lets face it we were battling 1-0 victors. This season we are scoring for fun and still hardly conceding. it really is an incredible time to be a Saints fan. Long may it last and bloody well done to everyone involved with the club!!
Aye it makes waiting around for a kick off in the middle of the night very much worth it. Looking around at other clubs and what some of the fans have to deal with (Crazy Owners, Cash strapped, Massively under performing, et al) shows how good we have it. The club has gone from strength to strength for a few years and even when hit with apparent disasters like the last transfer window we barely miss a beat. Massive credit to everyone who is and has helped along the way.
Aye! Congratulations! Its amazing how you have been fast tracked from brink of financial ruin to European contenders in the matter of a few years! Proper Roy of the Rovers stuff! Jealous as ****, but although my team just got humiliated 8-0, I'm just pleased I'm not a Pompey fan! Watching yous lot flying high must be crippling for those poor buggers at the moment!
We can but hope! I've always loved Sunderland fans. Very loyal, but always up for a bit of banter. I hope your season doesn't implode after that performance and that the margin of our next win over you is only about 4. I've seen Saints concede 8, and it was not a pretty sight. I notice even Pelle said he felt sorry for you!
I can't believe you wrote that. Incredible that you can be so generous after that result. Thanks. We are enjoying it because, as Saints fans, indeed as football fans generally, we know it won't last for ever. We'll settle for 10 years or so
Since being in the premier league we seem to have the knack of constantly buying expensive players who dont give a s**t and have nobody coming through from the youth team! Yous lot are barely here 5 minutes and have gained quality, stability and confidence from your supporters! Its infuriating watching teams over take us in these matters whilst we are at a constant, flirting with relegation, standstill! We have everything in place to match achievements like yours but we are incapable of doing it for some reason! Well, maybe not match them, but get somwhere near them!
It seemed to me like Sunderland was being really tight last transfer window buying the likes of Buckley and Aanholt and others from the Championship. Your lot reguarly sell out the SOL so its not like income or support is an issue. I know nothing about the owner but is he always like that? I agree with Lambo on the fanbase. A decent loyal lot with a good sense of humour...I remember cracking up when i saw your fans doing the Poznan to Man Utd after City snatched the title from em a couple of seasons ago.
I think he is tightening his purse strings due to the money wasted in the past! He is probably tired of paying over the odds for average players! I also think we have trouble attracting players due to geography! On paper we have a comfortable mid table/lower half team. But for some reason we seem to constantly under perform and/or self destruct. Yesterday being an extreme, but classic, example! I mean, have you ever seen an own goal like that! I was quite suprised we didnt get a sending off or two as well, just to rub salt into the wounds! Just when I start believing we may have a comfortable but unspectacular season (i mean, we only lost once before yesterday) we supporters get a right kick in the teeth and are given a reminder of how awful we can be! Its all part and parcel of supporting Sunderland!
Still feeling great about the result and still haven't managed to recall another time we have scored more than 6. What I particularly loved about the game was our ruthlessness- we punished every mistake they made in the way a real top team would. We'd never have won that 8-0 last season, when we were incredibly good at forcing mistakes from the opposition but incredibly poor at punishing those errors. The realist in me says our current position is a bit false but there's a little bit of my head saying it's not! No doubt I'll be brought down to earth soon enough.
We had a player called Hooiveld in our team til the start of this season who was an absolute champion of own own goals but no, even with him ive never seen a OG like that. It actually confuses me more every time i see it. I'm not sure about your club being unattractive to players. Even at mid table its still a solid(ish) team in the EPL and can offer more money and exposure than 9/10th of Football clubs around the world. Maybe its a lack of scouting or just being tight. I still reckon you guys will be fine for the season. QPR and Burnley seem determined to drop back down as quickly as possible so that should only be 1 other team and i dont reckon it will be you.
I think we actually underperformed last season. There were the usual teams at the top, but we were miles ahead in quality compared to the teams below. We should have finished 6th IMO. Koeman has got us playing above ourselves...hence being 2nd and 3rd this season. We are definitely not flawless...we have had a couple of games that could have turned out worse for us. To paraphrase Napoleon...sometimes you need a lucky general.
I don't think we are playing above ourselves. Koeman has adapted the system to create more space for runners from midfield,mby playing two wide players. The result is that Cork, Wanyama and Schneiderlin have 8 league goals between them, in 8 league games. Having said that, our more fluid midfield, may make us more vulnerable against the likes of City and Chelsea, giving them too much space, as it did at Tottenham, certainly in the first half there.
What we are doing well is getting the results we need against lesser sides...like last season, that will stand us in good stead when the cold frosts of winter bites. This season, however, I am hopeful we will also get a few results against teams that are now our true opposition (top 4).
I agree with this. I always felt there was more to come from that team. I often wonder if the possession thing got in the way sometimes. Not often but occasionally, it was frustrating seeing the ball go backwards when a 50/50 ball into the box might have paid off. I still don't think we have peeked this season either in terms of performance. I'm not saying we ill win 8-0 every week but we need to remember that this is still a newish team and can only improve. We also have a much stronger bench and a manager who is willing and able to change things when required.
Over the last 5 years we are 8th in money spent! when you look at our league positions as a result, thats abysmal! So you cant blame the owner for being 'tight' this season! We have had no stability, we seem to just move from one failure to the next, from one transitional period to the next! Every transfer window I personally feel we have the need to esentially buy at least 4-5 players. Thats a sad state of affairs really considering the money spent! And if I was a multi multi millionaire, and owner of SAFC, and whilst also being a passionate supporter, even I wouldnt keep plowing money into that! Why anybody would want to be an owner of a football club is beyond me!
The difference may be that we are a team with a plan...set out by Cortese and our late owner. It's not a case of buying players as a kind of sticking plaster to get us over temporary problems, but more like adding pieces to a jigsaw. If we lose a piece of the jigsaw (or several pieces as happened this summer) we get a similar bit we researched previously. Of course, you also need occasional bits of luck as well.
