but surely an own goal usually comes from good attacking play, = good cross, = defensive blunder. same as pens.
your reasoning behind that is bollocks, and on the other hand, i thin we have lost 23 points this season from winning positions, if we hadnt have done that we would be on 70 points, but we did so didnt get 4th.
I really dont understand your 7 point argument at all.
Losing 23 points from winning positions is entirely your teams fault. Just as how us losing from 3-0 up on Sunday was our fault.
However, 7 points were gained entirely from ****-ups by other teams:
Sunderland vs Bolton - A Bolton own goal with only a few seconds of injury time - 2 extra points there
Sunderland vs Villa - You guys got another win because of an own-goal by Dunne - another 2 extra points
Sunderland vs Man City - They gave away a penalty in the 4th minute of injury time - another 2 extra points
Sunderland vs Birmingham - An own goal and a penalty meant that you guys drew at 2-2
That's a LOT of points and I wish we had that this season. I think we managed to get 3 points which were gifted in the same way. I was actually quite disappointed when we played Birmingham because we only won due to a penalty - despite dominating the game.
But I suppose that won't make this 'almighty victory' any less hollow for you guys. It would concern me though most definitely. You guys had dreams of Europe and spent loads of cash, yet it took a nice batch of luck and one single point to overtake us by the skin of your teeth when we've just came up. Victory? Celebration? I'd find that quite disappointing.
Anyway, this season has been WEIRD in every respect for all teams. Ridiculously tight. I think this will just be an anomaly though and things will go back to normal next season when all of the teams have brought in some new players.
I don't think that anyone has had the injury problems that Sunderland have had. We had to play quite a few games without a single recognised striker!
I was actually a bit apprehensive when you guys stopped playing with strikers. Keeping in the same formation with Gyan got you nowhere, but the new formation without any recognised strikers seemed to start working.
However, the best thing was that we finished above the Mags, otherwise this site would have undoubtedly been swamped with them and those annoying yellow dancers..
Possibly. But hey, finishing above or even on the same level as a team who have spent millions and were challenging for Europe on our first season back would be a big accomplishment for us. No denying it.