After three games – two bad defeats and a decent home draw against high flying Swansea – it is fair to say Sunderland haven’t had the start manager Dick Advocaat would have been hoping for.
That home defeat to Norwich was indeed followed by a good draw against Swansea, in a game where Advocaat’s men were thankful for the goalkeeping heroics of Costel Pantilmon, who kept his side in the game with some fine saves.
A point against Swansea, who look like a very good side this season, is not to be sniffed at. However, it shouldn’t paper over the cracks at the Stadium of Light. One point from three games against Leicester away, Norwich at home and Swansea at home is simply not good enough.
Many Sunderland fans will already be fearing another roller coaster season is in store, where relegation is flirted with, managers are sacked, then a messiah comes in and saves the day just in the nick of time. But perhaps, this time, the so called messiah might not be able to work his magic.
That’s been the same sorry story for the Black Cats for a few seasons now. Martin O’Neill was sacked and was replaced by Paolo Di Canio, who managed the escape act. Then the Italian was disposed with and Gus Poyet completed the great escape against all odds. Failure to improve on that saw the Uruguayan leave the Stadium of Light, before Dick Advocaat kept them up last season.
It’s fine if that happens once, maybe even twice, but for a club like Sunderland the finances aren’t always there and if signings fail to settle, then it can really hurt the manager’s plans.
However, for this same sorry tale to happen three times is unacceptable and if it were to happen a fourth time, the Black Cats may not be so lucky to stay up this time. It will surely catch up with Sunderland, and they will slip through the trap door eventually.
However, Advocaat is all too aware of the possibility of another relegation fight if no new players are added. In his post match comments on Saturday, he said: “If we don’t get players in [before the transfer deadline] it will be the same as last year [a relegation struggle].
“We definitely need new players. We need two or three to get competition in the squad during games but also in training, so people don’t feel easy.”
Those comments certainly do tell you that he isn’t quite happy with his squad and is certainly on the look out for some reinforcements before the window closes
Obviously it is early days and there is no reason for Sunderland fans to panic just yet. There is a long way to go and just one win will make everything seem rosy again. But you would have to say that, at the moment, with the squad Sunderland have it will be a struggle this season. They may well finish around 16th place, but you can see that Advocaat doesn’t want to settle for that.
If the right players arrive then the Dutchman could well be the man to lead Sunderland to a comfortable season, or perhaps are far less bumpy roller coaster ride at least.
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