havent seen any on the web or newspapers. As clueless as most are I'm still interested in where they think Sunderland will finish. Anyone seen some season predictions?
I got the Star yesterday, they tipped us for 7th. They tipped the Toon to go down, as did several of the 'experts'. One fella tipped us for the league cup. 7th and the league cup and i will have a boner the length of Roker Pier. I don't want the Toon to drop though, and i don't think for a second they will.
The pub I work in had the Sunday Times yesterday, and I was bored, so I had a sneaky read of their 'Club-by-Club Guide'. They had Utd, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs as the top 6. They had us keeping 10th (which I wouldn't be distraught with). They said we had bought some good players but had a whole new team so needed gelling time. Interestingly the 'Country they Would Be' was Finland - always on the edge! SB had a 4/5 'chop rating' - the only other manager with 4 was Alex McCleish, and only Steve Kean had 5/5. So they think SB is third most likely to go...! Newcastle were put at 12th, basically because they've let Nolan and probably Barton go, and not replaced Carroll. They only had Pards as a 2/5 for the chop though! However their country was Iran, due to something like 'always unpredictable with unrest issues that are blatently obvious to the rest of the world'. Stoke, interestingly, were 8th, which I'm unsure about. We can finish above Stoke. Stoke's 'Weak Link' for the season was none other than Kenwyne Jones, and the reason: 'The point at which laid-back becomes lazy' They had Everton in 7th, and I think it was Bolton in 9th. Again, we could finish above Bolton if we hit the ground running. For the drop was QPR, then Swansea, then Blackburn rock bottom, which looks like a pretty good prediction.
7th AND the league cup!? I think we all would! Maybe a bit of wishful thinking from the journo there! Agree about the Toon though. The ideal Newcastle season for me would be to get hammered by us in both derbies, and then for them to scrape survival on goal difference, before selling Ben Arfa, Colo and Tiote next summer... Maybe wishful thinking again on my part...
7th and the league cup what's he been smoking/drinking? Would be happyish with 10th and above but, we should in all honesty be looking around the 8th place mark.
I`ve not tried too hard with this but a mate of mine reckons that 3 teams this season will finish in the same position as they are now on an alphabetical table...if he`s right to me they would be Fulham (7th) Newcastle (11th) West Brom (18th) I would hate it if we didn`t improve on the alphabet - 15th!!
Since Bruce took over we have improved by three places each season, that would see us 7th. Make of that what you will. I think anything less than a euro spot and Short will bin Bruce.
I will be happy if we finish 9th. Let face it we were damned lucky to finish 10th last season so to me 9th would be a real improvement.
I think we will be top 8 but only if we sign a left winger, another striker and avoid another injury crisis.
I read a prediction this Sunday that said work would be s**t this week but that things would get better. Mind you, that's Libra for you. x
Northern Echo had about 6 precdictions, all of them put Newcastle from 13th to 17th and Sunderland from 8th to 12th. With the exception of one nutter who had us 10th and yous 12th. This was after he slated us in his little paragraph, and praised Bruce's recruitment drive
I look at this in two ways. The Good- Since Bruce took over we have improved by three places each season I noticed that when the paper I was reading had trajectories over the past three seasons, and it was only Man City who had a better rate of improvement than us over that period (as in we've not dropped at all either). I think that's a fantastic stat, and despite the fact that we do like a good moan when times are hard (what fans don't?!) this vindicates all the work that Bruce has done, for me. Solid, rapid, quantifiable progress. The Bad- I think anything less than a euro spot and Short will bin Bruce. A big shout, and although you may well be right safcol, I think this would be borderline ridiculous. I'd be happy with anywhere from 10 upwards. Sure, European football would be amazing and I'd love it, but we've still only been in this league a few years. I know that progress breeds expectation, but I'd love to think Short is more savvy than that. We had a plan for steady, realistic progress up the league, from relegation candidates, to mid table, to top ten, and maybe eventually Europe. Bruce has delivered season after season- 3 places a year is fantastic- and if he fails to deliver European football, there's no way we should sack him. If he makes 7th this year and fails to make 4th the year after, would Short look at it in the same way? Top 8 = tough crowd. I'd be very happy to attack it slowly, we've waited so long since our last European games, we're in no rush!
But Sunderlad, what about the cups? I have a strange feeling we will make a final! No basis for this, just think it's due! x
