Coming Up After the Break…looking ahead the challenges ahead for SAFC

Momentum killer?

International breaks are quite often used by clubs to replace managers, reset goals, rest players or make tactical changes. They can be either a godsend for struggling clubs or momentum killers for clubs doing well. International breaks can destroy seasons or make them. If you have a key player who goes away and comes back with a broken leg or ruptured ACL plans can be scuppered. Or you have a squad doing well, players go away, they travel 1000s of miles and struggle to find form again. We’ve seen new managers come in, have 10 days solid of embedding methods and turn seasons around. So is the October international break coming at the right time for Sunderland?

Honestly, I have no idea.

I kind of think it’s a good thing, the premier league is hard and players can get a break, reset the mind and look after the body. Go again refreshed for a tough run through to Christmas and beyond. However, we’ve built up so much good momentum ahead of Man United on Saturday that I think if we win that game then, then I just hope it carry over to wolves.

The reason I think it can carry on is because the Wolves game is at home. We’ve looked fantastic at home and when adversity has come our way, we’ve bounced back. It will be interesting to see how Wolverhampton wanderers do this weekend against Brighton as they did look improved against Tottenham but I think that was more because spurs were poor. However, another loss will put a lot of pressure on the wolves manager who recently signed a new contract. I don’t envisage a managerial change coming but who knows these days.

Tough run of games

After Wolves the lads face 5 tough games. However, there are points to be won and from what I’ve seen this season, we have an opportunity to maintain some of the momentum we’ve built up. As I’ve said before, this team of ours will lose but the togetherness and personality in the team has shown it can bounce back. Le Bris is pragmatic as a coach and is able to adapt and adjust within the game and we have some good depth within the squad.

Next 5 Fixtures after wolves

Chelsea (A)

Everton (H)

Arsenal (H)

Fulham (A)

Bournemouth (H)

For me there is potential to get 5 points from a possible 15. I think Chelsea are not the strongest side this season and look vulnerable, Everton is winnable at home, I just hope it doesn’t become the David Moyes show and Bournemouth would be a good draw to get at home with their talent. The Bournemouth game will be our 13th fixture of the season. I’m a firm believer that you have to move along at just above a point a game to survive comfortably. So far we are sitting pretty on 11 points from 6 games. We have room for error but not too much. We cannot rely on other teams doing us favours or teams being worse than us, we have to just keep pushing. If by Bournemouth we are close to 20 points, we are doing well. If we have more…dear god…European football will be fun next season (I joke).

Journalists and pundits are starting to take notice of our team and how good of a job the club has done putting this team together. There have been questions raised over some vulnerabilities within the team, Hume has struggled at times, Renilido’s decision making has been questioned for a player of his experience and we have been guilty occasionally of playing ourselves into trouble. However, every Premier League team I’ve watched this season has given the ball away cheaply, conceded a soft goal or been caught out somehow. It happens in football. The important thing is how often it happens and how you recover from it.

It’s very easy to be critical of our own players because we see them a lot but they are human and will make mistakes. In comparison to other squads I think we’ve had very few problems if you look at Aston Villa, West Ham, Forest, Newcastle, Manchester United and Brentford they’ve all had issues to contend with and got off to worse starts then us, in fact we’ve beaten 3 of them and drew with 1 of them. So give the boys some credit.

Teams will create chances against us but what we have done really well is limit the quality of the chances. Doing this to the likes of Everton, Fulham and Wolves can be the difference between a point and 3 points. Have faith because what we’ve done so far is show we aren’t pushovers and can more than hold our own.

Evidence for the Jury

So far, we have played 6 games, won 3 of them, drew 2 of them, scored in 5 of them, kept clean sheets in 3 of them, conceded 4 goals and have 5 different goal-scorers. By any standards in any league, it’s an excellent start.

To add some context to this, Wolves have conceded 13 and scored 4, lost 5, drew 1. Nothingham Forest has scored 5 goals and conceded 10, won 1, drew 2 and lost 3. Some of the better performing teams from last season are struggling in ways that we aren’t. Yes it’s early days, but you can start to see patterns emerging. So I don’t think we should be afraid of anyone going forward. We just have to plugging away and the start we’ve had has give us a little wiggle room.

Reasons to Romaine

We will hopefully soon see the return of winger Romaine Mundle, who on his day, is an absolute premier league shoe in. He brings pace, power and ability. While I think we need to manage him back slowly. Just having him as an option off the bench would be a game changer. Mundle wasn’t shy of a bit of defensive work either which will be a big help.

Hes also a willing runner and having players like Xhaka who is able to play long balls in behind and turn defences around go hand in hand with players like Mundle. He will also be a good compliment to what we already have as well.

Keep calm and get carried away

What I’ve enjoyed the most about this season is that we the fans, are not just along for the ride. We seem very much a part of the journey. Whether it’s tifos or seeing the players sing along with Wise Men Say at the end of the a game, we as fans have a part to play and so far we have played it. When times are hard it’s important to stay with them. I’m a big advocate of “give me something to get behind” a big tackle, a bit of effort, when Sunderland fans see you care and feel your passion as a player, they will back you to the hilt. The Stadium of Light has been a Calderon at times this season and needs to continue to be so. While we are flying, as big Davey told us “if you can’t get carried away at times like this, we might as well give up” so let’s get carried away man! who knows where will end up.

HAWAY THE LADS