Travelling dwelling after Saturday’s sport was a mix of elation and trepidation. After 8 video games, Sunderland sit seventh within the Premier League and there’s a lot to rejoice.
There have been a few disappointing performances at Burnley and Manchester United however at no level has this aspect appeared prefer it didn’t belong at this degree.
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The summer season reconstruction of the squad has supplied a rock-solid and proficient defence that has conceded simply 6 objectives – solely Arsenal have conceded fewer. The midfield has a mix of Granit-hardened expertise, coupled with youthful exuberance, and our Championship strikers are proving they’ll rating at a better degree, with the service supplied by our new wingers.
Critics would level out that each group we now have performed presently sit under us within the league. Sure, West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Wolves might presently be underperforming in comparison with final season however they’re no extra pushovers than Crystal Palace and Brentford had been.
Crucially the Stadium of Mild is turning into a fortress the place no opposing group will stay up for taking part in. Taking 10 factors from a attainable 12 in dwelling video games has already set down a marker – with a raucous crowd behind them, this aspect gained’t be rolling out the purple carpet (or redecorating the Black Cats bar) for anybody this season.
There are not any simple video games within the Premier League and it’s to the large credit score of the teaching group and the taking part in workers that we presently occupy such a lofty place. However life within the Premier League is about to get much more actual.
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 18: Eliezer Mayenda and Chemsdine Talbi of Sunderland rejoice their group’s second objective, an personal objective scored by Ladislav Krejci (not pictured) of Wolverhampton Wanderers throughout the Premier League match between Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stadium of Mild on October 18, 2025 in Sunderland, England. (Photograph by Stu Forster/Getty Pictures)
A take a look at the fixtures between now and Christmas shouldn’t be for the faint-hearted!
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Chelsea, Everton, Arsenal, Fulham, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Manchester Metropolis, Newcastle and Brighton are video games that can inevitably check the mettle of Régis Le Bris’ newly – flourishing squad. AFCON will add in an extra complication, with a number of the new technology of stars being whisked away at a time when they are going to be most sorely wanted within the North East.
We shall be taking over a number of the established ‘massive weapons’ of the Premier League, along with a number of the groups whose fashions of sustainability we’re in search of to emulate. The subsequent 9 fixtures collectively current a really completely different problem to the one we now have confronted in our first eight matches.
The groups we face are having fun with much more constructive begins than most of our opponents up to now. Our squad could also be expensively assembled, in comparison with earlier Sunderland sides, however a number of the gamers who will take the sphere towards us have particular person value tags that just about match our complete expenditure.
So that is going to be a interval when the entire membership wants to come back collectively. As a collective unit, this can be a group which is not going to give objectives away simply however we shall be going through gamers who’ve the potential to unlock probably the most resilient of defences. There shall be video games the place it would occur and the way we react, as followers, will play an enormous half in serving to our gamers to reply. There needs to be no place for the tiny minority of the fanbase who experience making edgy posts on social media, writing off gamers who’ve up to now had little alternative to display what they’re truly able to.
SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 18: Followers of Sunderland stroll throughout the ‘Keel Crossing’ bridge whereas waving flags previous to the Premier League match between Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stadium of Mild on October 18, 2025 in Sunderland, England. (Photograph by Stu Forster/Getty Pictures)
We’re additionally much less of a shock bundle now. Our overhaul of the taking part in workers gave opponents to this point little alternative to successfully put together for this model of Sunderland. That benefit is just about gone – the groups we are going to face now have 8 video games price of proof for his or her groups of analysts to check, to determine any weaknesses that will have gone unexploited thus far.
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There are more likely to be instances when Bob Marley’s ‘Three little birds’ shall be sung greater than ‘Paint your wagon’ however isn’t that why all of us needed to be again within the Premier League? To check ourselves towards the perfect groups in England, and to hopefully re – set up Sunderland again within the high tier?
It will be an unbelievable achievement if, within the subsequent 9 video games, we might accrue something just like the variety of factors that we now have within the first eight. But I do imagine that this squad of gamers has the potential not solely to compete with, however to genuinely shock a number of the opponents on our fast horizon.
However, nonetheless the outcomes go, we have to stick collectively, to get absolutely behind Régis Le Bris and the entire squad, and to play our half in lifting the group when the going will get robust.