History repeating?

[gurujuan]

46 minutes ago, Key said:

 

We really do have some unbelievably negative 'supporters'. Can't help thinking they'd be better suited following a team like Celtic who are pretty much guaranteed to win the League and at least one Cup every season - but god help 'em if they should ever dare to draw or actually lose a game: total meltdown!

 

and less Scottish players

[The only way is S6]

4 hours ago, edited said:

The lads are already on preseason tour??

 

Which lads and wheres that then?

 

 

 

At the training ground meeting Kev! UTO

[Rogers]

Basically all clubs are sussing out who is gonna be in the squad and who's gonna be replaced and who is available to replace that player. Especially in the Premier League. 

 

This happens every season in the Premier League, so hopefully that's where we are shopping. 

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

50 minutes ago, Kameron said:

 

No prizes for finishing in 3rd, 4,5 or 6th position, ending the season in any of those places basically gets you into the semi final of a cup competition.  Under Carlos we gave Hull a free pass to the premiership and last season against Huddersfield he did a better impression of Alan Irvine than what Irvine could have done himself.  This season will end in tears and they won't be tears of joy.

 

6th and 4th place from a standing start in one of the most notoriously  competitive leagues in world football, and you're still chucking your toys out of the pram?!

 

If we improve in the same way again next year, we'll be very, very close...

[SunderlandfanMark]

I think your squad is looking very impressive.

 

Solid keeper in Westwood, I follow Celtic, I must say - Loovens to me is your weak-link looking at your team. From his experiences with Celtic, he was clumsy, slow, and prone to lapses of concentration. However, he's great in the air, demanding and for him to be your captain, I assume he's a much better player/leader now. I remember an old Firm Match back in 2013 when Kenny Miller absolutely destroyed him. Pace wise, I've never seen such a slower defender.

 

I was shocked to see he's your captain, I can only assume he's improved massively and is a leader on the pitch. Also, he seems a really good guy, I'm really interested in hear what you think about him? I haven't seen him much for you guys, to be a captain at such a huge club like yours, I must be seriously missing something about him - or he's improved and cut out the silly error's in his game? He was useful from set pieces too, scoring a few from corners.

 

I don't know much about your full-backs, I can't really comment, but when I watched you last season they were both bombing forward with pace, excellent fitness levels and constantly overlapping.

 

Barry Bannan I think is criminally underrated, great engine, good passing range, chips in with the occasional goal too. I don't know enough about your 2 Portuguese lads, Melo and Matias? (SP?) to comment.

 

However, this is where you look really, really strong - Forward.

 

You got a great deal getting George Boyd, really rate him, runs his knackers off for the team at Burnley, tracks back, scores the occasional wonder goal too. I'd have loved him at Sunderland, I think he's versatile too, I'm sure he can play out wide, second striker, deep etc? He'll be a good addition.

 

Fletcher, excellent in the air, great target man, you've all said he's working really hard, he'll hold the ball up, score from corners, lead the line. Then, you've got Hooper, a great poacher to bring off the bench or if used correctly, could easily bag 15 goals this season. He goes missing for spells, then pops up for a tap-in, always in the right place. Forestieri brings something else to the table, he can drop in behind the Forward (Like Fletcher) and play in that hole, hard to mark him, he's tricky, pacey, unpredictable (In a good way) and scores all types of goals. Again, you'll know more than me, but he's the guy who can bail you out of trouble in a tight match. Just looking at his stats, 27 goals in 68 games? Very impressive.

 

I don't know enough about your lad Joao? (You love the Portuguese players don't you ) to pass comment.

 

Your forward options are frightening and I can't think of a better team, they're all different too, so you'll hit teams with all sorts of threats, one can play on the last shoulder, one will bamboozle defenders with pace, one will win the knock-downs, I can't teams (Including Sunderland) being able to cope.

 

You're well equipped for a real challenge, I like how you're not going about your business quietly, no "We want promotion" quotes, (Which could bite you on the backside) you're a dark horse. From an outsider looking in,

 

You seem to have pace and power, capable of penetrating teams and overwhelming them. From when I watched you over the last 2 Years, you like to keep the ball on the deck and make yourself a good solid defensive structure, capable of hitting teams on the break. You'll probably do well away from home too, less pressure, means you're perfectly set up for the classic counter attack.

 

I love how you're all modest about your chances, you've probably had all your hope/ambition knocked out of you from the Play-offs, important to dust yourselves off and play the same brand of Football that got to the Play-offs.

 

You play exciting Football, so I'll be watching with interest. Under Grayson, I know it's early days but I can't help feel we'll the opposite of you, defensively well set-up, keeping the ball and hopefully grinding out 1-0 wins.

 

I'm now verging on having a nervous breakdown if you don't sign a forward soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rogers]

10 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

6th and 4th place from a standing start in one of the most notoriously  competitive leagues in world football, and you're still chucking your toys out of the pram?!

 

If we improve in the same way again next year, we'll be very, very close...

Another 2 place improvement would be lovely.

 

But every year gets harder, other teams get richer and there's always the Huddersfield / Reading wild card. 

 

Take the top 5 - 6 out the Premier League, there are 15 bigger clubs in the Champinship.

[Sultan_Pepper]

3 minutes ago, SunderlandfanMark said:

I think your squad is looking very impressive.

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

 

 

A lot of good points in there and I agree with you on most of it but a couple of clarifications.

 

Hooper being a poacher is an odd one as he tends to play a little deeper with us more than he has at other clubs

 

FF playing in the hole behind the striker is exactly what he should do but for whatever reason when we play him up front he's always on the shoulder of the defender and never drops, it drives me batty, he's clearly one of the best suited players in the division to play off a front man but I can only assume he's told to stretch play instead of dropping to link up instead. We play a lot better when he is nominally on the left because his starting position is further back and he's actually involved in play a lot more

 

Loovens, You're right he is slow but we've had the 3 best defensive seasons in our club's 150 year history since he signed and there's interviews with other players saying how wonderful a leader he is so leadership and organisation are definitely up there as his strong points. He has to have a pacey partner back there though.

 

I'd love to go over your team but having barely watched premier league football for years now I couldn't do it justice

 

 

 

 

[Ballmeist]

1 hour ago, BC1867 said:

The league is not won in August.  As long as players hit the ground running it doesn't matter if they sign on deadline day.  

 

Nobody is saying that it's won in August, but it's pretty obvious that 'hitting the ground running' becomes a much harder task when you haven't got all your players on board until the last minute. 

[Eightace]

17 minutes ago, SunderlandfanMark said:

I think your squad is looking very impressive.

 

Solid keeper in Westwood, I follow Celtic, I must say - Loovens to me is your weak-link looking at your team. From his experiences with Celtic, he was clumsy, slow, and prone to lapses of concentration. However, he's great in the air, demanding and for him to be your captain, I assume he's a much better player/leader now. I remember an old Firm Match back in 2013 when Kenny Miller absolutely destroyed him. Pace wise, I've never seen such a slower defender.

 

I was shocked to see he's your captain, I can only assume he's improved massively and is a leader on the pitch. Also, he seems a really good guy, I'm really interested in hear what you think about him? I haven't seen him much for you guys, to be a captain at such a huge club like yours, I must be seriously missing something about him - or he's improved and cut out the silly error's in his game? He was useful from set pieces too, scoring a few from corners.

 

I don't know much about your full-backs, I can't really comment, but when I watched you last season they were both bombing forward with pace, excellent fitness levels and constantly overlapping.

 

Barry Bannan I think is criminally underrated, great engine, good passing range, chips in with the occasional goal too. I don't know enough about your 2 Portuguese lads, Melo and Matias? (SP?) to comment.

 

However, this is where you look really, really strong - Forward.

 

You got a great deal getting George Boyd, really rate him, runs his knackers off for the team at Burnley, tracks back, scores the occasional wonder goal too. I'd have loved him at Sunderland, I think he's versatile too, I'm sure he can play out wide, second striker, deep etc? He'll be a good addition.

 

Fletcher, excellent in the air, great target man, you've all said he's working really hard, he'll hold the ball up, score from corners, lead the line. Then, you've got Hooper, a great poacher to bring off the bench or if used correctly, could easily bag 15 goals this season. He goes missing for spells, then pops up for a tap-in, always in the right place. Forestieri brings something else to the table, he can drop in behind the Forward (Like Fletcher) and play in that hole, hard to mark him, he's tricky, pacey, unpredictable (In a good way) and scores all types of goals. Again, you'll know more than me, but he's the guy who can bail you out of trouble in a tight match. Just looking at his stats, 27 goals in 68 games? Very impressive.

 

I don't know enough about your lad Joao? (You love the Portuguese players don't you ) to pass comment.

 

Your forward options are frightening and I can't think of a better team, they're all different too, so you'll hit teams with all sorts of threats, one can play on the last shoulder, one will bamboozle defenders with pace, one will win the knock-downs, I can't teams (Including Sunderland) being able to cope.

 

You're well equipped for a real challenge, I like how you're not going about your business quietly, no "We want promotion" quotes, (Which could bite you on the backside) you're a dark horse. From an outsider looking in,

 

You seem to have pace and power, capable of penetrating teams and overwhelming them. From when I watched you over the last 2 Years, you like to keep the ball on the deck and make yourself a good solid defensive structure, capable of hitting teams on the break. You'll probably do well away from home too, less pressure, means you're perfectly set up for the classic counter attack.

 

I love how you're all modest about your chances, you've probably had all your hope/ambition knocked out of you from the Play-offs, important to dust yourselves off and play the same brand of Football that got to the Play-offs.

 

You play exciting Football, so I'll be watching with interest. Under Grayson, I know it's early days but I can't help feel we'll the opposite of you, defensively well set-up, keeping the ball and hopefully grinding out 1-0 wins.

 

I'm now verging on having a nervous breakdown if you don't sign a forward soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have fantastic players but just missing a bit of pace and another Hutchinson.

We don't have as much depth defence wise.

3 players could make all the difference and we need to start trying to dominate games more.

For all our quality we seem to get pegged back a lot and sometimes don't create as much as we should be doing.

But we look solid for the most part. Just need to play with more zip like we did at times the season before.

[DuttyTeabags]

28 minutes ago, Sultan_Pepper said:

 

A lot of good points in there and I agree with you on most of it but a couple of clarifications.

 

Hooper being a poacher is an odd one as he tends to play a little deeper with us more than he has at other clubs

 

FF playing in the hole behind the striker is exactly what he should do but for whatever reason when we play him up front he's always on the shoulder of the defender and never drops, it drives me batty, he's clearly one of the best suited players in the division to play off a front man but I can only assume he's told to stretch play instead of dropping to link up instead. We play a lot better when he is nominally on the left because his starting position is further back and he's actually involved in play a lot more

 

Loovens, You're right he is slow but we've had the 3 best defensive seasons in our club's 150 year history since he signed and there's interviews with other players saying how wonderful a leader he is so leadership and organisation are definitely up there as his strong points. He has to have a pacey partner back there though.

 

I'd love to go over your team but having barely watched premier league football for years now I couldn't do it justice

 

 

 

 

Sunderland Fan Mark Nice to have you on site. 

 

Forestieri is gash up front, better on left wing and when he was we smashed teams season before last. 

 

Hooper (when fit and not carrying too much timber) is playing excellently as a link up man and seems to make the team tick. 

 

Bannan has a good engine, a good passing range but often loses concentration in key areas and tries a stupid pass/ turn which gets us in trouble. When he gets close to opposite goal his shooting ability is right up there with Stevie Wonder. 

 

Pace, Joao and Bannan aside I've not really seen it. Boyd is a great signing as one of our weak links last season was Adam Reach who, Lady Di impersonation aside is Effing poo and has the dribbling ability of Steven Hawking, which is no mean feat. 

 

He had a 20pc pass completion rate in our fateful lost semi vs Hudds. 

 

We need to hold onto Westwood, Lees and get Jordan Rhodes on the performance enhancing drugs. 

[Indoor Owl]

4 hours ago, Ballmeist said:

 

Nobody is saying that it's won in August, but it's pretty obvious that 'hitting the ground running' becomes a much harder task when you haven't got all your players on board until the last minute. 

 

.... the transfer window has been open for seven days.

 

Calling things "last minute" is perhaps a bit premature.

[Jim]

8 hours ago, Bouncing Owl said:

Instead of shooting him down for having a bad reputation, he does have a point.  Look at Huddersfield - they did all their business early last season and they had everybody in prior to their team bonding trip to Sweden in the first week of July.  Look what happened to them last season - spookily enough they got off to a great start and consequently got promoted!

 

They have been in the playoff final and therefore less chance to prepare for this season, however they have already brought in top players in Scott Malone, Danny Williams, Tom Ince, Arran Mooy to permanent, Kasey Palmer loan, Mounie, Depoitre and they are currently negotiating a deal for a Danish centre back.  

 

I am concerned with our pre-season schedule and if we do bring players in late again, we may suffer yet another bad start.  

 

I'll probably get slated for this but one of the reasons we're a little slow out of the starting blocks IMO is DC likes to get the best deal possible.

 

This might sound daft when you look at the fees we've shelled out for Rhodes, Reach and Abdi but there is a school of thought that the fees aren't as high as has been reported which suggests he does like to haggle a bit which obviously takes time?

Edited July 7, 2017 by Great Big Galaa

[Bouncing Owl]

12 minutes ago, Great Big Galaa said:

 

I'll probably get slated for this but one of the reasons we're a little slow out of the starting blocks IMO is DC likes to get the best deal possible.

 

This might sound daft when you look at the fees we've shelled out for Rhodes, Reach and Abdi but there is a school of thought that the fees aren't as high as has been reported which suggests he does like to haggle a bit which obviously takes time?

 

Possibly. Im forever grateful for Mandaric and DC for turning us around but we still seem disorganised with a lot of stuff going at the club. 

 

No kit, pre-season schedule looks poor and club shop is going back 20 years.  More importantly, we need to get this summer's recruitment right and done expediently to ensure we get off to a flying start unlike years gone by. 

[Earlsfieldowl]

11 hours ago, Ali G said:

We all know last year we brought in players too late, not fit etc. at the end of last season Bully said he wanted to get business done early with Carlos stating he wanted around 5 new additions. At present we have 1 new signing and the lads are already on a preseason tour. Just hope we don't do what we did last year and leave it too late.

 

Based on last pre season don't get your hopes up.

 

Th only real difference so far is that Semedo has not signed a new deal.

[Guest Kameron]

8 hours ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

6th and 4th place from a standing start in one of the most notoriously  competitive leagues in world football, and you're still chucking your toys out of the pram?!

 

If we improve in the same way again next year, we'll be very, very close...

 

No toys out of the pram from me, i have renewed my ST as always and ready to go.  I'm realistic and have constantly said our midfield and one center back is not good enough for promotion, the current squad will make the playoffs barring an off season but Carlos does not have the bottle to win the playoffs.  I think he will continue to shoehorn his favorites into the side, supporters will finally lose patience and he'll walk.  That might not be a bad thing because we're fast becoming a Derby County who bottle it every year.  Neg away girls, we don't all wear blue and white tinted glasses.

[Ballmeist]

3 hours ago, Indoor Owl said:

 

.... the transfer window has been open for seven days.

 

Calling things "last minute" is perhaps a bit premature.

 

Im not saying that we're in the last minute phase at all, the previous poster referenced deadline day purchases hitting the ground running and my comment was that those purchases rarely have an instant impact.