I noticed this article concerning Leeds United and couldn't see a suitable thread to post it on. (Mods please merge it if I'm wrong.) It's fair to say that, even if we exceeded expectations and finished mid-table, we'll have spent most of the season concerned with relegation. So I've turned my attention to 'our rivals' and started to look at how their supporters are seeing things and also the bookies, pundits, etc. This, I thought, was a good start ... How Can Leeds United Avoid Relegation? "With no goals being scored from open play and the failure to secure a much-needed playmaker before the end of the window, it isn’t easy to see where the goals are going to come from. In addition to this, frailties have also already been exposed by the player quality the league can possess." Personally I think the two games against Leeds will be real 'derby matches' this season and hugely significant for Sunderland.
There fans are'nt happy with the owners which is a good thing for us. The fans get disgruntled and start turning on the players then things could get naughty. Lets hope so. In all honesty I do not know enough about other teams to make an educated guess. I think there will 7 or 8 in the mix come May next year.
TBH mate educated guesses aren’t always much better anyway … … Ipswich were supposed to be ‘gathering momentum’, with a brilliant coach and looked very poor. Leeds have a manager the fans might quickly turn on and the owners are seen as lacking ambition. That's basically because they’ve managed their finances badly and have had to bring in players that don’t really fit, I don’t think the board trust Farke any more than the fans do. Leeds will go down in my opinion, we can help that process.
The interesting thing for most of the relegation candidates is from the outside looking in there doesnt appear to be a plan or strategy apart from throw some money at it and if its not working sack the manager. Trouble is, teams like Leeds have spent a fair bit but its never enough to satisfy the "want it now" brigade and past spending is quickly forgotten. Even with my safc tinted specs on you can see a plan with the signings, take Sadiki and Diarra, if we get stand out seasons from them then we double our money at least when they leave to fund the next round of players. We have expanded the coaching staff to create a "team" of coaches, not just the head coaches mates who follow them to every job. It really feels like proper foundations are in place to build something to compete, not built on sand like others
