Squad as it stands

I think Stewart's injury pretty much guaranteed we won't make play offs. You can't replace him without spending £10-15m IMHO so it's best endeavours for rest of season.

Had we had Simms, Stewart and Geldhart then I think top 6 was a very realistic expectation

 

Good enough to go up.

 

I still reckon we will

 

Who knows, the four teams in the play off positions aren't exactly unbeatable.

Boro - we just beat them and they looked a very ordinary team tbh. They've had a 'new manager bounce' which may not last.

Luton - playing out of their skin but fallible, in January threw away a 2-0 lead to lose at home to West Brom.

Watford - in their last two games lost to Boro and drew at home to Rotherham.

Blackburn - have lost as many games as Blackpool and a -4 GD worse than Bristol in 17th. In January they were hammered 4-0 by Rotherham despite 77% possession.

 

Lots of twists and turns yet, anybody can beat anybody in this league, except possibly top two, and I fully expect at least one of them to have a proper sticky patch.
TM will keep our squad grounded and if he can keep them fit (I know) then we could all be celebrating come the end of the season, it's all to play for, if we can get a result at Millwall as they're good at home then anything possible.HTL

 

I think the season might tail off a bit without strikers, but the groundwork as been done in the first half of the season and well be fine for a top half finish I think

 

I agree but really hope we’re wrong. Saturday is a huge game mind. Millwall are a point above us with a game in hand. I’d be content with avoiding defeat…

 

I think that it's a massive ask without Stewart. He offers so much more than goals

 

You’ve just got to look at the games he missed earlier in the season and our improvements since he returned. I hope he hasn’t played his last game for Sunderland… We know there’ll be serious interest in the summer.

 

Unlucky with the Injury to Stewart however squad is good enough and I honestly believe we will be in play off final.

 

Oh man. Can you imagine? Last May was the best weekend of my life (Sorry Mrs TC) and to top it with another one would be amazing.

 

I do wonder. 2 serious injuries in the space of a few months, not to mention the injury he came with when he signed and PL clubs might just have an asterisk against his name. They might just want to wait a year and see.....

Posted elsewhere but the best thing that could happen now is he signs his new contract and it's a massive show of faith from both sides

 

That would be great. Fit and firing for the start of next season hopefully. I do think we’ll lose a couple of assets this summer mind, just hope RS isn’t one of them.

 

We're getting better as the season goes in as many of us suspected we would. The period earlier in the season without Stewart is almost incomparable to me because I think so many of our players have improved. We will have the odd game where we're striker less and inconsistent but people are talking as if we're already strikerless, when in reality we have potentially one of the best forwards in the division in Gelhardt.

We're going to run this very close this year. But even if it doesn't come off, I'll be backing us to be Champions next year.

 

Yeah, I think we will be a real force and genuine contender next season assuming we keep this squad together and the trajectory stays the same.
Having said that, we potentially could have Everton, Southampton and even Wolves in this division next season,

 

We probably need to see the new lads play before we can judge. Gelhardt and Lihadji might be a more than adequate replacement for Stewart. It would be nice to have a big brute in there but if we've got two strong runners who can dribble a bit instead the effect will be similar.

 

I think it's ****ing amazing we are talking about top 6 finish, and wanting to be in the play offs. That is way above the expectations I had on the summer .

Top half finish and a season of experience for a young squad would have already been good.

Mid table consolidation is what I thought as realistic.

With the squad we now have available, i think top half is still possible even probable, barring anymore significant injuries. Which I would have happily taken 6 months ago.

 

I think, if we're honest, at the start of this season, most of us thought that not having to worry about going back to that place, as in not being in a relegation battle come spring we would have had a good season and a platform to continue building from. The reality is far better than that and that has raised expectations of higher things. I love the aspiration to be challenging for promotion, but most of all, after 60 years of SAFC in the blood, I just love the way we are playing, the way the future looks with our young talented squad and academy and the breath of fresh air the new ownership have brought to our fantastic club.

 

I think it’ll be a much tougher league next season.

 

Great post,agree 100%. This is where Mogga can step up. We've had a setback losing Ross and Cory. He has got to grips with these young players now and knows what he can get from them....the improvement in the likes of Hume,Neil,Roberts,Amad etc. has been outstanding.Ballard,Alese and Clarke are excellent,so is Cirkin when we get him properly fit. We have a leader in Danny Batth,we can see him stepping up to that. He's now got to adapt them to play with Joffy and Lihadji,using the skills available rather than trying to get them to do something they're not equipped for.
I believe our quickfire,one touch,pass and move football can turn over a lot of teams in this league. We just have to find the answer to the loss of the ability to play the outball up to a big front runner who can hold it up. This is where our head coach will earn his money,and I think he will.