Are we over or under achieving this season?

Whole new squad?

We changed the three clowns who masqueraded as keepers for a much better one but we had Matthews, Oviedo, Hume, Cattermole, Honeyman, Gooch, McGeady and Maja already at the club That's EIGHT of a starting X1.

Our match against Rochdale recently featured 10 players starting who didn't play for us last season, bringing on one sub who also didn't feature for us.

And against Coventry we had 9 starting for us that didn't feature last season.

You go on as if we have the same team as last season and we just don't.
 
Last edited:


We've done better than I imagined, given the state the club was in last summer, so in some ways I feel this season JR has had a bit of a free pass.

If the worst happens & we don't go up, there will be huge pressure on him to deliver promotion next season (& rightly so).
 
From an outside perspective, I don't think you're underachieving. You've got an imbalanced squad, the manager is untested at this level and players were signed without the manager knowing what he needed. Promotion was always going to be a stretch at the start of the season, and you've done better than I thought.

tend to agree with this,little bit level headedness never goes amiss
 
I'd say on the whole it has been disappointing, but not really sure what my expectations were compared to this time last season.

Ask me again after Southend on the 4th May.
 
Underachieving. We seem to have a large chunk of our fanbase accepting of failure. We’re in league one. To have Luton + 1 above us is massively sub par. Look at the fan base, stadium, money spent etc. if we don’t go up this has been a disastrous season. Ah but we got to wembley in the tin pot.

Whole new squad?

We changed the three clowns who masqueraded as keepers for a much better one but we had Matthews, Oviedo, Hume, Cattermole, Honeyman, Gooch, McGeady,Watmore and Maja already at the club That's EIGHT of a starting X1.
This. Some are re-writing history to suit their agenda. And without McGeady and catts (first half of season) we’d be languishing mid table.
 
Last edited:
As last season ended I’d have been happy with mid table

As this one started I’d have been happy with play offs

So I’d say we are neither over or underachieving
 
Not going up is underachieving without a doubt


Manager had a difficult job to sort out mind


Has his signings, tactics been good enough is the question


Would he do better next season having learnt from this


Still, get promoted and it’s a different ball game
 
Donald said it at the start of the season he wanted promotion this season,at the time he said it would'nt be a disaster if we didnt go up but judging by his comments in recent days i reckon it needs to happen.
 
We've sold players for over £20M and sacked two who cost us over £20M. We've replaced the 'keeper and back four, lost our top scorer, had numerous, significant injuries (McGeady, Maguire, Watmore etc) and have an imbalanced squad. We lack pace and physicality in midfield, so often struggle to compete, even against midtable sides. I think it's a bloody miracle we're in with a chance of automatic promotion. If we go up, under these circumstances, it'll be a remarkable achievement.
 
People keep saying about only 3 losses which doesn’t exactly tell the full story.
3 loses is remarkable. However, not when you put 18 draws into the same sentence. Shows we’ve dropped points throughout the season.

Despite the 3 loses we are very much in a battle for 2nd place and looking at the bookies odds (Sky Bet) were 3rd favourite for that position (5/2) odds for 2nd place behind Barnsley (Fav) and Pompey (2nd Favs).

18 draws ... are also remarkable, but not in a positive way.
 
Tend to agree with this.
The upheaval in teh summer, the new owners, the new management team and massive changes in the playing squad meamnt we started a bit slowly, but I think we should be expecting more now of a squad that has PL/Championship standard players in it. Our main weakness is our defence and that is costing us game after game.
Is that defence underachieving or are they simply poor players as you'd get in this league?
 
We have no divine right to anything. "We are Sunderland" doesn't cover it I'm afraid to say. We were in turmoil, started later than everybody else in the league and regardless of relative resources there was a hell of a lot to try and sort out. The attitude of the support before the start of the season was excellent, very supportive. The fact that we are painfully close to going up automatically has meant that the frustration of potentially falling short is palpable.

Regardless of the number of draws, we have averaged 1.95 points per game, 2 points per game will get you promoted more seasons than not. It has been an unusual season in as much as there could be 4 or even 5 teams with 90 plus points, most seasons you will get 1 at a push 2. The football has been largely poor, but this is the level we are at and we need to compete, not just assume that other teams will roll over for us.

Failure to go up will feel awful, but to answer the OP I think with some perspective we have done better than I thought we would do and despite Saturdays defensive master class we can still go up automatically which would be a creditable success
 
We've sold players for over £20M and sacked two who cost us over £20M. We've replaced the 'keeper and back four, lost our top scorer, had numerous, significant injuries (McGeady, Maguire, Watmore etc) and have an imbalanced squad. We lack pace and physicality in midfield, so often struggle to compete, even against midtable sides. I think it's a bloody miracle we're in with a chance of automatic promotion. If we go up, under these circumstances, it'll be a remarkable achievement.

But yet some think nowt but promotion would do.. Not being promoted would be a disappointment but we'd absolutely walk league one next season.. Having said that I do think we will go, but by no means are we underachieving.

Underachieving. We seem to have a large chunk of our fanbase accepting of failure. We’re in league one. To have Luton + 1 above us is massively sub par. Look at the fan base, stadium, money spent etc. if we don’t go up this has been a disastrous season. Ah but we got to wembley in the tin pot.


This. Some are re-writing history to suit their agenda. And without McGeady and catts (first half of season) we’d be languishing mid table.

It's not this at all.. Without McGeady we'd struggle but other than him and Cattermole it's pretty much a new team.. None of this re writing history shite. It's fact we have generally a good 8 players in our team that weren't here last season And along with a new managet where we are now is good going.

People have this perception that we are the mighty Sunderland so should walk the league. Not going to happen, we are where we are coz we were shite. We should be in League one as we deserve it.
 
Last edited:

Back
Top