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Grauniad: Premier League preview: Sunderland


I'd say most Sunderland fans have been pleasantly surprised by the scale of our transfer spending. The vast majority of us no little about lots of the signings. Optimism levels for survival are much higher now than in June.

It remains the case that staying up is a challenge in itself so any analysis has to start from that point. Some have read a bit too much into the final points gap last season between us and Leeds and Burnley. We won't know how good our signings are for a while yet so predicting too much improvement would be unreasonable to take for granted, especially if you are a journslist assessing our chances in August against everyone else.

A lot of our fans have written Brentford off - they appear weaker but an utter collapse isn',t guaranteed.

I feel we have a chance of survival, maybe a bit better now but still subscribe to 17th being a good outcome at this stage. I am excited for the start if the season and to see the new players but am also hoping that more existing players will come through. That identity we have been building needs some young players who saw us through the Championship and some League One, to thrive in the Premier League. We still have visible weaknesses.

There is no need to get upset by journalists etc predicting we will struggle and are among the favourites to be relegated, that's not rocket science, just a safe, sensible stance with no games played. Most I have read have noted our transfer activity as a positive step which gives us a fighting chance. There is also a fair bit of goodwill.

We are underdogs until we prove otherwise.
 
Has anybody come across any predictions of us staying up yet?

The fact that we have signed so many (plus coaching additions) and Brentford have lost so many (manager, captain, top scorer) but are still expected to finish above us tells you everything that is wrong with the PL right now.
 
meeowdam said:
Not a bad writer is Louise Taylor.
Oh it’s nice to be back in the top flight.
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I was just saying this last night.

Towards the end of the season I was very much in the camp that I wanted promotion but wasnt too bothered if we missed out as I felt we were ill prepared for it.

But as someone outside of the NE im loving seeing us regularly mentioned in mainstream media. Im loving that our signings are talked about and discussed and loving that my friends who support PL teams are actively taking an interest in us.

However this season pans out, I cant remember being this optimistic as a Sunderland fan for a very long time
 
The club’s gradual gentrification continues….
The games gone when Sunderland are gentrified
They be converting old stables and selling pies for £12 next
Labour out
 
I agree with a poster above. Every single journalist is essentially saying exactly the same thing, we are having a right go but will still go down.
 
Redandwhitedust said:
I was just saying this last night.

Towards the end of the season I was very much in the camp that I wanted promotion but wasnt too bothered if we missed out as I felt we were ill prepared for it.

But as someone outside of the NE im loving seeing us regularly mentioned in mainstream media. Im loving that our signings are talked about and discussed and loving that my friends who support PL teams are actively taking an interest in us.

However this season pans out, I cant remember being this optimistic as a Sunderland fan for a very long time
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And there’s no need to have to read the comic that is The Sunderland Echo. We can now read properly written articles and match reports again and get better tv punditry.
VAR will prove interesting, and of course controversial.
 
HarrogateMackem said:
This. I have no issue with people thinking we're going to get relegated. In fact I think we will myself.

I do, however, struggle to understand those predictions where we're below one, or both, of the other promoted teams with little justification of why. Take this one on the BBC. He's got us finishing 19th, saying we've signed too many and won't integrate etc. But Leeds are 17th "because one promoted team has to stay up" and ""Elland Road might do it for them".

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It's not that they really like their signings more then ours, that they have quality in their squad, love Farke etc. it's down to their f***ing stadium apparently...

All three promoted clubs come up with squads far below the quality needed to stay up, and look to buy that quality. If in your predictions one is above the others, and especially if one is above a PL team, I think you should really be justifying why you think that's the case.
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Given how the table ended up last season I think it's fair to assume that leeds and burnley should finish ahead of us. the team chemistry may well be an issue also.

we know that the big gap was largely down to us giving up on the season once we'd qualified for the play offs, and yes we know that we looked every bit as good as them in head to head matches generally.

basically, predictions mean nowt
 
Don’t mind people writing us off, especially those who think we have signed too many or spent too much , what did they expect us to do, roll over and accept we will fail. Just makes it all the more sweet if we do actually stay up ! Can you imagine if all 3 to stay up and make them all look stupid
 
Zidane said:
I agree with a poster above. Every single journalist is essentially saying exactly the same thing, we are having a right go but will still go down.
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Correct, they are. But I think a lot of them haven’t looked into who we’ve actually bought.
I thought yesterday’s Haway the Podcast with Kevin ‘the T shirt’ Hatchard was excellent.
Hes often of Sky & Talk Sport and does he know his stuff!
He realised that we have bought very smartly and that we have a plan and not a scatter gun approach.
If you’ve not heard it, take a listen.
 
Redandwhitedust said:
However this season pans out, I cant remember being this optimistic as a Sunderland fan for a very long time
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For me and many others who were around at the time, it was the promotion in 98-99 with Quinn and Phillips up front. We were basically ready for the PL already and then made a couple of very astute signings to guarantee it and then had a fantastic season which took us comfortably into the top half.

We had other very promising times since (eg under Keane) but every promotion since 98-99 was a big challenge and this one will be no different, even though we have everything in place to feel very positive about the club's future.
 
timeforheroes1 said:
“After scoring six goals (all in the Conference League) in 16 first-team appearances for Chelsea Guiu arrives on a season’s loan. The talk in west London is that the former Barcelona forward could prove as good as Cole Palmer“

😂😂😂
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Why?

They do quite seriously rate him.
SAFC Wilks said:
If we survive relegation, I’m going to contact all of these who had us down on YouTube or the media or the newspapers or whatever and call them all idiotic kernts.
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:lol:
 
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The comments about squad integration and togetherness are valid,it takes time and if we have a poor August and September then it will make a tough task even harder.

Not all of the new signings will work and we will be hoping for some of last seasons heroes to step up like Ballard and Hume.
 
AuroraTigers said:
Has anybody come across any predictions of us staying up yet?

The fact that we have signed so many (plus coaching additions) and Brentford have lost so many (manager, captain, top scorer) but are still expected to finish above us tells you everything that is wrong with the PL right now.
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They finished 31 points ahead of third bottom and are an exceptionally well run club. They're not going to fall to pieces because they lost two players and their manager.
 
Dirge said:
Pretty damning depressing read but I suppose looking dispassionately what else can she write
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Well….she could try and not do the lazy and predictable ‘journalism by numbers’ piece.

I’m not expecting us to storm the division, but neither am I expecting us to just lay down and die like she appears to think is our rightful place.
POOR.
 
HarrogateMackem said:
This. I have no issue with people thinking we're going to get relegated. In fact I think we will myself.

I do, however, struggle to understand those predictions where we're below one, or both, of the other promoted teams with little justification of why. Take this one on the BBC. He's got us finishing 19th, saying we've signed too many and won't integrate etc. But Leeds are 17th "because one promoted team has to stay up" and ""Elland Road might do it for them".

You must be logged on to see external links

It's not that they really like their signings more then ours, that they have quality in their squad, love Farke etc. it's down to their f***ing stadium apparently...

All three promoted clubs come up with squads far below the quality needed to stay up, and look to buy that quality. If in your predictions one is above the others, and especially if one is above a PL team, I think you should really be justifying why you think that's the case.
Click to expand...
That top six are depressing. Same old. Yawn.
El Gen said:
You must be logged on to see external links
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“the Frenchman holds a doctorate in physiology and biomechanics and a diploma in the mental training of elite athletes.”
 
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