Leagues top scorers, JC is the leagues leading scorer, We are 4th in the table, We've good cover in every position, Absolutely flying this season i just love this team amazing to watch at times. I'd even go as far as saying imo technically this is the best sunderland side there's ever been. I get that with Quinn and Phillips we hit 7th twice in prem but it was route one stuff. I've witnessed some of the best football ever played as a sunderland fan in the last 2 seasons and we are only going to get better.
Was saying this last night, most exciting Sunderland team I can remember following (I’m 43). Like you say we will only get better, Luke O’Nein post match comments said a lot. They were terrified of Roberts which freed up the space for Clarke…teams are really scared of our wingers and our defence is pretty solid too. Once Rusyn and Burstow get their first goals we could go on a big run.
i think we tend to look at the 'newcomers' to see how they did and almost forget about the established lads...dan neil gets far fewer mentions now yet is the 'engine room' and, imho, is exactly how it should be played, onien used to get talked about but has made defence his job now, hume and huggins look settled now, we have a very good base that allows the forward players to express themselves and it is a joy to watch.
I keep reading we have to sell to improve but surely if your players are good they will improve if they stay together and learn from each other, so sorry, can’t get my head round this sell lark. It’s not costing you anything to keep the ones you have except increase in wages, will the new players not be getting a increase in wages anyway?
Think its more to do with selling 1 good player then bringing in a couple extra good players Selling lihadji for an appartent good fee has helped us sign pembele, adil n rusyn We will use the stewart money to improve the squad as well
I don't think it's particularly sell to improve, I think it's more if we don't get promoted some of the players will be ready to move on. Even if we do get promoted I can see some of them playing at the very top level and will outgrow us. Keeping them will.be almost impossible for many reason not least that the club will be telling these players they can use us as a stepping stone when buying them!
I know where you are coming from mate and I agree our football is great to watch. Not sure I agree under Reid we were route one though. We had some great players at that time and it wasnt just hitting Quinn. Summerbee and Johnson were brilliant wingers. I still think Summerbee is the best crosser of a ball I have seen play for us. Then we had players like Schwarz who was a real top class international footballer. He could run games from midfield in the premier league for us. Gavin McCann is one of our most underrated players in my time, he was immense in the engine room. Arca was a brilliant player and we had Bould who for half a season was magnificent. We even signed Helmer, although we know how that went. Lee Clark and Bracewell were great as well. We played some brilliant stuff under Reid I thought at times, but could hit Quinn as an outball when needed. One of my favourite games was when we played Man Utd before Christmas. I think we could have gone top if we beat them, or close to it. It was just before they buggered off for the world club thing. We blew them away for 30 mins and were 2 up and they were lost. It took a Roy Keane one man show to drag them back into it and they got a 2-2. That was a hell of a Man Utd team, but we more than held our own footballing wise.
I remember at that time Beckham used to cross the ball accurately into areas, whereas Nicky Summerbee used to accurately pick players out, which made him a much better winger . . . . and Beckham was England's 'golden boy'
if you think this is the most exciting team, then you clearly weren't here for the Madrox era my friend. Jokes
Sell to sustain I think is the game plan. People were saying the plan is wasn't working, but it needs time. I can see Clarke getting a new contract, one of the top boys come sniffing with us taking a stance of, "come to us with an opening bit if 30 million and we mite start talking", same with Bellingham. We'll have to enjoy it while they're here. We're mint at the minute to the point I had mags at work saying they had put the game on last night and couldn't believe some of our football
Was this when nicky butt got a free kick for tripping over a sprinkler? They scored from the resulting free kick? I didn't mean it in a negative way the big and little striker combo worked great. I just mean style wise I think this team is better to watch just my opinion though. Even though I loved the Reid era too.
https://x.com/brysa08/status/1708182494615408942?s=46&t=bFwez-5oi7CdxUG56_1QKg They really are a different class
Fair play mate. This team certainly play some fantasy football and some of the goals we score are beyond good. Delighted they are ours.
Remember that match very well marra,what stood out for me that night was Roy Keane’s performance, he was immense, like you said he practically took us on by himself, beckam,giggs and co didn’t want to know that night,and if I remember correctly Phillips was injured for that game
