Edited by Mattaay.



Welcome to the Sunderland thread. Please feel free to post your thoughts and comments about the club, or any matters at hand.

Important SAFC Websites:
Sunderland AFC - Official Website
A Love Supreme
Sky Sports - Sunderland
BBC Sport - Sunderland
Sunderland Echo
Ready To Go

Onwards and Upwards!

To premature mate. Only 6 games gone. Early days.

I think they will go down, worst side in the league.

They will relegate i cant see them staying up.

Early days but West ham and Wigan are doing well to stay up/

expect matty to have to harsh words

i personally think they will go down though, their team simply isn't strong enough but it is quite annoying, they have the stadium, the fans but need the players.

I think they will improve, well you would think, if Stead can find his goal scoring touch i think they could shock a few people. They might make a few signings in January which may improve them but it might be a loss cause by then, they need a win soon to boost there confidence.

Its still very early, we've still got 32 games to play...theres no way anyone should be putting any team down for relegation at this stage in the season. Especially not us

We'll pick up, im confident of that. We've signed 12 players over the summer, and let 11 go, so we've pretty much got a new team, and teams need time to adjust together, so give us time, and im sure we'll start playing soon enough.

My Prediction: 16th Place Finish.

hope sunderland will win tomorrow against boro kelvin davis and julio arca to good for sunderland

I hope Sunderland stay up, I like them for some reason but tbh I can't see it happening.

They haven't really signed players with enough quality to keep them up and I dunno why but Mck McCarthy doesn't fill me with confidence, he did a great job getting them into the prem but I think the pressure could really be onhim to keep his job if they don't improve soon!

I think Andy Gray is a good Player and could get a few goals but isn't a 20 goal a season striker, Stead hasnt really beging up to much for me was poor last season with blacburn. Le Tallec was a goot signing and could prove to be a class premiership player for the future shame for use it will be at liverpool. Tommy Miller is a good signing too just has to ajust to the Permiership.

I think the problem with Sunderland is that they have signed players who excelled in the Championship last season, Kelvin Davis and Tommey Miller with Ipswich, Gray with Sheff Utd, and so on but what they should have went for is players proven in the Premiership more signings like Alan Stubbs and co wouldn't have went a miss.

Also Steve Caldwell is a decent player its a shame that he has lost his place.

My Prediction if Sunderland stay up it will be tight 16th if not relegation.

i don't see sunderland surviving unlest they at least win tomorrow

Opinions now people?

We're off the bottom, and another win could take us right up there to about mid-table.

Believe....thats todays word.

Great performance by us, thoroughly deserved 3 points. Now time for us to show some consistence and make our mark on this league.

exactly well sone sunderland and mick mcathy we can climb this table bring on west ham

congrats to you Sunderland fans
not even Liverpool and Arsenal won there, so props for this win

Cingrats sunderland fans and good luck

Well done Sunderland, deserved a bit of happiness after a dreadful start to the season, should have been two wins in a row if it wasnt for Gera, things looking better certainly. Still see them going down though.

That shows what you know about Sunderland then doesn't it.

We've been written off for the last 2 seasons and had terrible starts to both campaigns, however finished 3rd and as champions respectively. Fair enough that was in the CCC but as Matty has mentioned we've got a new team to play in the prem, and whatever anyone might say about our players, McCarthy is one of the best man managers in the game and will bring out the best in all of them.

I'm confident we can turn things around now after getting our first win (and what a win it was!), roll on the hammers on saturday. I think they'll be expecting to take all 3 points from this game however in my opinion they're in for a shock. I see us picking up where we left off on Sunday and beating the hammers convincingly in what should be an excellent game, there's not one draw out of our last 8 league fixtures against West Ham.

Good to see you have faith but i dont think you will trouble the Hammers, theyve been in sparkling form, suppose anything could happen, but i see a 2-0 win for the Hammers.

I'm not arguing that they've had an excellent start to the season, but everyone must come down to earth at some point, and if we play as well as we did at Boro on Sunday, with the home crowd behind the team aswell, then I see nothing but a win for us, 3-1.

Their going down down down, it's no coincidence their the lowest ranked of the promotion teams

Ouch.

Just as we were the lowest ranked team out of the candidates to get promoted this time last year, yet we won the Championship by 7 points. We dont mind being the underdogs.

They will go down,
They are a shame to the EPL
Awesome fans though

Say's a Wolves fan, which league are you playing in this year?

I think now we've got our first win we'll build on it and get some points put on the table. Although our results dont quite show it yet, there's teams that have looked a lot worse than we have this season.

Going back to my previous post, this is one of the teams I was talking about.

I'd hate to think what Boro are if that's the case, and I think Chelsea and Liverpool might disagree aswell. Although they both beat us, we gave a good account of ourselves against both teams and but for a couple of mishaps might have done better. But that's all behind us now, it's onwards and upwards from here on in, starting against the hammers tomorrow.

Well said mate

I completely agree. We've lost 5 of our 7 games, yes, i accept that. But saying we've lost them without putting up a damn good fight would be complete rubbish. I went to both the Chelsea and Liverpool games and we played well in both games, but we made a couple of stupid mistakes and our finishing proved costly, but our build up play and our defensive side to our game has been excellent, especially since the arrival of Justin Hoyte....who is a great player.

My prediction for tomorrow - Sunderland 2-1 West Ham

C'mon the lads

I'm all for Sunderland to stay up, I like them 2nd after Pool... but the truth is that WH is playing greatly this season, much like Celta surprised us all in Spain.

I predict a 1-1 Tie, but I am certain the Black Cats will do me proud and will at least make it to the top 10.

3-1 to the lad's tomorrow, I'm fancying Elliott to open up his account as McCarthy's come out and said that Stead will have to start from the bench. If Le Tallec get's on the pitch I think he'll score aswell, and I think Gary will get our 3rd. He's worked his socks off in the last couple of games, all that running has got to pay off soon, and that'll be tommorow in my opinion.

ooooh the Wolves jibe ey.

We'll be crossing paths next year, Wolves up, Sunderland down, see you there.

No, I can see us staying up but I cant see you coming up to meet us so it looks like it'll be a while yet.

things look good for Sunderland imo.
they lead 1-0 vs West Ham after 62 minutes, Miller scored after 45 mins.

1-1 in the end. i think the result is okay for both teams, but West Ham can live better with the result in my opinion.

We played well again today, we should have had all 3 points. The ref didn't help out much, Elliott should have had a penalty in the first half and there was nothing wrong with that second goal. Still it's not the ref to blame, we should have taken more of our opportunities, like Gray's header in the opening minutes for instance. However we played really well, surely that performance has silenced a few of our critics who say we aren't good enough for this league, and to think we've got 8 players out injured aswell.

I would prefer West ham to stay up then Sunderland.

Better team better players, Better football, Better fans Better younsters and its where they belong.

What? We dont belong in the Premiership?

How did you come up with that? We've got everything Premiership about us. Teams with 50,000 capacity stadiums shouldnt be playing in the lower leagues when 90% of premiership teams would kill to have a stadium like ours. We've got a Premiership manager too, and the potential in our squad to become a consistant premiership side, and we will do.

Its no suprise that we lost our first 5 games....we've bought 11 new players over the summer, and you cant just buy new players and expect them to gel straight away and play together like they've been doing it for years, it doesnt work that way. Give them time, thats a must. Theyve not had time, and theyre pulling out some results. We're outta the relegation zone and playing some very attractive football. Imo....our strikeforce is even improving massively. Andy Gray is looking better everytime i see him play, and he's forming a good partnership with Sleeves up front.

Here's a quote from the paper today:


Check our ratings from yesterday as well:



Thats gotta show you something....we're playing well, and didnt deserve to lose at all. We was robbed! But...the bandwagon wont stop, we'll carry on playing well, hopefully.

Here's a quote by Mick McCarthy which i found good too. Its based on Jon Stead, and the interviewer questioned why his most expensive signing wasnt playing:


Dont fuck with big Mick

Next up, Manchester United at the Stadium of Light. EASY EASY EASY

Sunderland are doing well and are playing great in there last two games.

but i prefer West ham to stay up

So you're saying its definite that either us or West Ham are going to get relegated?

Some great news here in my opinion:

Hoyte open on future

Justin Hoyte would consider a permanent move to Sunderland, if he fails to force his way into the Arsenal team.

The young full back is spending the season on loan at The Stadium of Light as he looks to build up his experience.

At Highbury, Hoyte has been forced to contend with infrequent outings in the Arsenal side and has been relishing the chance to play regular football at Sunderland.

He has impressed in his three appearances to date and has quickly slotted into Mick McCarthy's plans at left back.

Hoyte concedes his primary goal is to use his time on Wearside to press his claims for inclusion in Arsene Wenger's setup in North London.

But the 20-year-old accepts he may have to quit The Gunners permanently to play on a regular basis and has left the door open with Sunderland.

"There are a lot of top players at Arsenal but my aim has got to be to learn from my experience here and go back to try to force my way into the first team," said Hoyte.

"The thing with Arsene Wenger is he will give young players a chance if he feels they are ready. That's a bit different from Chelsea who just go out and buy someone.

"In an ideal world I will go back there and push for a first team place with Arsenal but that might not be the case.

"I might go back there and find I'm not needed. I certainly wouldn't rule out a permanent move to Sunderland.

"At the moment I want to go back to Arsenal at the end of the season but you can never rule anything out in football. I've got to keep my options open.

"It has opened my eyes a bit because I've realised there is a life away from Arsenal."

Source: http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=31...+open+on+future

I know theres a good chance Arsenal will want him back, but i cant see him breaking into the Starting X1 to be honest like....

If he did decide to move to us on a permenant deal, that would be just class. He's one hell of a player!

He just gotta be patient and wait for his chance at Arsenal, unlike Bentley. Lauren still have only a few years left in him, and who knows maybe in 2 years time Hoyte might already be ahead of Lauren.

Yeah but the point is that he wants to be playing regular football, not sitting the the Arsenal reserves waiting for a chance to shine. He's playing excellent for us, and proving that he's got what it takes to cut it in the Premiership, and he's realised that.

Another thing is that in the Carling Cup 3rd Round this month, Sunderland and Arsenal have agreed that both Justin Hoyte and Mart Poom can play in the game. Should be interesting Hopefully Arsenal will play the Poominator in goal for that game, it'll be class. Though....i know for a fact he'll have a stormer.

I think wigan and west ham are safe sunderland i still dont know.

Typical dont watch teams outside of London cockney attitude.

Better players? How come they didn't stop us playing them off the park yesterday? And we've had alot of financial trouble, next summer our transfer budget will be larger when we've settled off debts with our creditors and we can improve on the squad then.

Better football? Not going off what I watched yesterday, did you even watch the game?

Better fans, now you've really slipped up, the north east is the most passionate area in the country as far as football is concerned, and maybe even life itself. West Ham do have good fans but better than ours? I dont think so.

Better youngsters? I cant really comment because I dont know any of West Hams youngsters but do you know any of ours?

Neill Collins, Scotland U21 international.

Daryl Murphy, ROI U21 international.

Martin Woods, England U19 international.

Ben Alwnick, England U18 goalkeeper.

Chris Brown, currently on loan at Hull City.

And that's without mentioning Andy Welsh, Scotland U19 international, Stephen Elliott, ROI full international, and Jon Stead, England U21 international who've all made it through into our first team.

And it's where they belong? Why dont you look up the history of the 2 clubs. I think you'll find if prestige is anything to go by then we definitely belong in the top flight.

I couldn't agree more. Although like you say, there is a strong chance Arsenal will want him back if he carries on playing the way he has been for us lately, it's down to the player at the end of the day and hearing him say those things is encouraging.

If we could field a team capable of letting Le Tallec play in his favoured role then I think he'd be another awesome signing aswell, to be honest I can see both signings happening next summer.

Most definately, both players will be excellent additions to our squad as we begin our 2nd Premiership campaign since promotion!

Bassila to miss Reds test



Christian Bassila has been ruled out of Sunderland's next Premiership clash, the visit of Manchester United to The Stadium of Light.

The powerful Frenchman has made an instant impression on Wearside, adding muscle to the side's midfield, but he limped out of the 1-1 draw with West Ham on Saturday.

Although the equally influential Julio Arca hopes to return for the United match on October 15, Bassila's absence is a blow to Mick McCarthy.

"It's a blow," Bassila told Sunderland's official website after hurting his hamstring. "You never want to be injured.

"It's a bit sore at the moment but hopefully I won't be out too long."

Tommy Miller, the goalscorer in the draw with The Hammers, paid tribute to his new team-mate afterwards.

"Christian has been a rock for us since he came into the squad," said the former Ipswich Town midfielder. "And made it easier for Dean Whitehead and I to get forward, which has helped us create chances as a team."

Arca, who netted a wonderful free kick in the win at Middlesbrough, missed the West Ham game with a toe problem but is hopeful of declaring himself available for the next Premiership examination.

Source: http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=31...+miss+Reds+test

..........................

Its a blow to us, but i dont see it being a problem. Whitehead to move into CM, where he's best, and Lawrence going down the right wing.....sorted.

.............................................................

Man Utd have no chance.

That is a blow to us losing Bassila for such a big game, but looking at how we played for the first 25 minutes of the second half on Sunday, I dont see it being too much of a problem. I think we can take something from this game, especially when you look at how Man utd have been playing recently. If you dont give them a chance, it seems unlikely they'll make many.

One thing I do hope for Sunderland this season is that Justin hoyte shows Wenger that he is a great young player

I think Wenger knows that, but Lauren is still ahead of Hoyte now. But i really hoped that Hoyte wouldn't turn up to be another Pennant or Bentley after coming back from loan. He should get regular football but to play at Arsenal or any other top teams you need to have patience especially when you have better players ahead of you.

All the best to Sunderland next weekend

Did you see Man Utd on Saturday, im pretty sure they will tear your defence apart.
You may get a few chances for yourself though, the way our defence is, probably be a 5-2 or summit (in Man Utds favour of course )

Aye I saw Man Utd on saturday, they were crap, Fulham gifted them all 3 goals. The korean fella's run was a good one, about their only decent move in the game, but if they hadnt gave away a pen the keeper might have dealt with it. The defence had a nightmare and gifted both Rooney and RVN another goal. And look at how they were against Blackburn. It seems to me that if you dont give them a chance, they dont seem to be making many. They aren't like the Man Utd of old who would carve chances out of anything in my opinion.