Ten games in.


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Same expectations as most recent seasons tbh. Somewhere between mid table and and epic struggle. Even with a bit of luck I don't think we have enough to get higher than say 12th or 13th.

A bit disappointed with the style of play if I'm honest as it's gone totally away from what Poyet first set out to do, apart from a few moves here and there. A few decent results and some decent performances, seeing as we haven't had much in the way of either so far, might see a bit of confidence and a bit more freedom. Until then I'm still quite worried about what's instore this season as we're woefully short at the back and I'm a bit dubious about Fletcher being fit for a decent spell and the quality of the others upfront.
 
Cheer Douglas.

I'm just waiting for the abuse from some though, being able to see some positives but still being willing to ask questions about poyet et al doesnt go down well.

On another note just reading Bodyline Autopsy and decided to re live the tv series on bodyline, old jardine was quite the character
In quest of the ashes a fantastic account of the bodyline series as well.
I've got the TV series on DVD. Really enjoyable.
The bloke was an out and out winner and not nearly as celebrated as he should be.
Quite a nice touch in the long room that they have his and bradmans portraits hanging side by side as well.
 
Think we look ok at times, but we need to get that solid defence back, we need to play with a higher tempo and press higher up the pitch. But we need to invest in a few more players, still short at the back and that needs fixing ASAP, could do with another in CM and a LW. Forwards are still open to debate, at times Wickham has looked a threat but at other times, like last night he was woefully undone and out of sorts, nothing worked for the lad and he shouldn't be played out wide any longer.

I was pleased with how we were going till Soton game, minus the QPR result that is! Hopefully Alvarez and Giac coming back can inject some life in to the team and allow Poyet to tinker a bit more, having Alvarez in CM with two of Larsson/Rodwell/Catts will see us have a greater threat from the midfield.

I said at the start of the season 15th to 8th is where we should aim for. I'd revise that to 15th to 10th. Certainly think the bottom 5 will be much the same in May.
 
I think what ever will be will be, we're Sunderland, we never do things the easy way and we have more points now than we did this time last season.............increyable, a mirayacle :lol:
 
Apart from the minor blip at Southampton , am ok with what we have done so far & think we should finish mid table
 
Think ten games into a season is a decent indicator as to how the season may pan out.
What are people's thoughts so fa?
Last night was an ordinary premier league game played by two ordinary premier league sides which for all I can't say I expected us to win I certainly wasn't surprised we did.
I think we'll finish above palace this season so I couldn't quite understand the doom mongers talking of us taking a battering down there.
I thought we'd struggle back in August and saw nothing to change my mind since then.
Only surprises for me is that wickham hasn't kicked but saying that he's playing out of position which doesn't help and the Gus seems to favour Buckley over Johnson. Find the latter baffling to be honest however but I'm sure Poyet has his reasons.
2 wins out of 10 games including an 0 v 8 hammering says poor stuff. The fact we aren't bottom 2 or 3 with such a record tells you how poor the division is.

How well we will do from here on in depends on whether we ditch our "just happy to be here" head or not.

Will we dine out on last nights win for the next month? We are about to find out.
 
I think the bottom half of the table is pretty much as you expect now we've passed the early stages.

Promoted teams had some early success but slowly getting found out and heads dropping now.

I always thought West Ham, Stoke would be OK. Newcastle in joint 10th on points are bang on Mike Ashleys not spend enough to threaten anyone but don't go down curve.

Burnley were always going to struggle. Villa, Sunderland were always going to be in it. Any Premier League team appointing Warnock is effectively signing up to relegation.

I though West Brom might be worse and Southampton have recovered unbelievably well considering a manager and squad change.

We could do with Leicester falling to pieces. That would be good for us.

In terms of ourselves I don't know what to make of us. If our defense gets back to being hard to beat again we will consistently keep putting points on the board which might be enough.
 
Obviously it's luck when we win but entirely his fault if we lose.
Or the opposite for the "I love [insert manager's name here]" brigade who think every win is an act of strategic and tactical genius on the part of the manager and every loss just huge bad luck.

Just like God, the manager can't take the credit for all the good things that happen unless he's prepared to take the blame for all the shite. And for us, there's been lots of shite!
 
Think ten games into a season is a decent indicator as to how the season may pan out.
What are people's thoughts so fa?
Last night was an ordinary premier league game played by two ordinary premier league sides which for all I can't say I expected us to win I certainly wasn't surprised we did.
I think we'll finish above palace this season so I couldn't quite understand the doom mongers talking of us taking a battering down there.
I thought we'd struggle back in August and saw nothing to change my mind since then.
Only surprises for me is that wickham hasn't kicked but saying that he's playing out of position which doesn't help and the Gus seems to favour Buckley over Johnson. Find the latter baffling to be honest however but I'm sure Poyet has his reasons.
A win makes all the difference. We'll be bumping along as usual win a few lose a few but as long as we stay up don't think we can complain in the current climate. Be good to be comfortable mid table though. Agree Johnson over Buckley.
 
Think ten games into a season is a decent indicator as to how the season may pan out.
What are people's thoughts so fa?
Last night was an ordinary premier league game played by two ordinary premier league sides which for all I can't say I expected us to win I certainly wasn't surprised we did.
I think we'll finish above palace this season so I couldn't quite understand the doom mongers talking of us taking a battering down there.
I thought we'd struggle back in August and saw nothing to change my mind since then.
Only surprises for me is that wickham hasn't kicked but saying that he's playing out of position which doesn't help and the Gus seems to favour Buckley over Johnson. Find the latter baffling to be honest however but I'm sure Poyet has his reasons.
Understandable assumption but not strictly true. It all depends on the fixture list. Expect us to get two thirds of our eventual points total in the last half of the season.
 
We are shite but occasionally we click and turn in a decent result. My guess we finish around 14th, hovering slightly above the drop zone, with absolutely nowt to get excited about and very little in terms of finances, coaching, league position etc to suggest we can attract much in the way of name brand players. I think we'll rely on either an academy player coming through or some luck with a diamond in the rough like Phillips was (not saying we'll find anyone who turns out THAT good) to help us step up any higher.
Still not convinced by Gus, some baffling decisions and I reckon there's a lot of on the job training going on there. When we occasionally do well is it down to him or just plain luck?

I would argue that all of the below are 'decent' results;

WBA (A) draw
Man Utd (H) draw
Spurs (H) draw
Burnley (A) draw
Swansea (H) draw
Stoke (H) win
Palace (A) win

You could argue about the Burnley and Swansea games but to my mind any draw away in the premier league is acceptable and we got battered by Swansea in both games last season but maybe should have won this year.

So that's 7 'decent' results out of 10 games and on that basis I would argue your use of the word 'occasionally' is wrong.

1 point below where we should be from a minimum of ones gained so far, at the least you should be 2 more than games played, as long as you are in that category of less points or the same points than games played it's a relegation battle.

That would mean in the next 5 games a minimum of 6 points is required for me.

The only stat that really matters is how far are we away from the drop zone. As it stands we are 2 points in credit. If that trend continues and we are 4 points away from 18th after 20 games and 6 points away from it at 30 games, then most will consider it a reasonable season. The next away game is a big one for this reason, win that and I will feel pretty comfortable.
 
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Think ten games into a season is a decent indicator as to how the season may pan out.
What are people's thoughts so fa?
Last night was an ordinary premier league game played by two ordinary premier league sides which for all I can't say I expected us to win I certainly wasn't surprised we did.
I think we'll finish above palace this season so I couldn't quite understand the doom mongers talking of us taking a battering down there.
I thought we'd struggle back in August and saw nothing to change my mind since then.
Only surprises for me is that wickham hasn't kicked but saying that he's playing out of position which doesn't help and the Gus seems to favour Buckley over Johnson. Find the latter baffling to be honest however but I'm sure Poyet has his reasons.


Bodyline bowling to English syntaxis?

As regards the question, I can only say that it has been disappointing that we are playing so poorly, while grinding out some decent results. I was expecting more from Poyet and his team this year in terms of our playing style. A lot of questions still have to be answered and the gaffer has yet to hit upon the ideal eleven (although injuries haven't helped).
 
If we get our squad fully fit then we might come I think between 10th and 14th. But if we carry on with the bear bones that we have now then relegation is more than still a definite possibility. We are only 2 points off the relegation zone and I don 't see us getting much from Everton, Chelski, City and Liverpool, 4 of our next 5 games. It's runs of games like that in the PL that make us have to target another huge away game at Leicester.

We're in there fighting and I'm happy with that at this stage. And there are other teams struggling big time which is great news.
 
We've a canny back 4 when all fit imo so I don't think we'll be going down this season, if Fletcher can maintain some form and AJ gets back on the pitch I think we can really push for 8th or 9th place finish this season, would be delighted with that.
 
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