Be honest: when we made our way to the Stadium of Light for the opening game of the season against West Ham (which frankly feels like a lifetime ago — the result of an utterly intoxicating and unforgettable campaign), what were your hopes and aspirations for 2025/2026?
For Sunderland to merely avoid relegation? To enjoy a respectable return to the top flight and to maybe pick up one or two notable results along the way — or perhaps even put together a sustained challenge for the top ten?
To say the
least, it was a step into the unknown for all of us.
A new team had been built, Granit Xhaka was here to lead us, optimism was sky high and we were all doubtless intrigued by what was coming. On the surface, we’d put together a team filled with promise and that looked capable of mixing it, but you never know exactly how ambition and reality will mesh in the Premier League.
In that sense, this season has surely surpassed anything we might’ve dared to dream of — even if we’ve had to absorb some painful jabs along the way.
When the full time whistle blew at Villa Park on Sunday, with the Lads on their knees after losing a genuine all-timer of a clash with Aston Villa, it felt like the crystallization of our entire campaign: a memorable game and a highly competitive, gutsy performance, but one hampered by one or two weaknesses that ultimately proved costly against a side that looks set for Champions League football and more than likely, Europa League success as well.
The stakes for this game had been raised as a result of an insanely congested mid-table, some superb recent results and the growing aspirations of the Lads’ fans.
European football. Sunderland AFC. European football. Sunderland AFC. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? We still might accomplish the improbable, yet even if we don’t, the love we’ve fostered for this side shouldn’t be diminished and nor should this season be deemed a ‘failure’.
We’ve all dreamed about welcoming continental sides to Wearside on crisp evenings under the lights as well as trekking to far-flung stadiums for European clashes ourselves, but if we don’t get there, so be it. A top ten finish would be an exceptional achievement and would surely give us a solid foundation on which to build for 2026/2027.
As if we didn’t know this ahead of Sunday’s barnstormer, by no reasonable measurement are Sunderland the perfect football team — far from it, in fact.
We can be blunt in attack, occasionally ropey at the back and our productivity from the wings is something that needs to be addressed ahead of the new season, yet we’re also a dynamic, lively and highly watchable side, filled with players around whom it’s easy to rally and support, and have represented our club with distinction this season.
Control of games is something that we’ve often sought this season, but Sunday was something different entirely.
Truth be told, we were always on the edge against Unai Emery’s side, often being stretched and forced into positions in which we perhaps didn’t want to find ourselves.
OK, you could argue that we were the masters of our own downfall for three of their goals and the lesson about not giving the elite sides easy openings needs to be heeded, but this team’s refusal to crumble is hard to overlook and a late two-goal blast merely backed it up.
If the victories over Leeds and Newcastle were memorable, seeing this one through would’ve topped the lot. As one more example of why this is a team to truly believe in, it was worth every penny; as an illustration of how much work we need to undertake in order to continue to progress, it was priceless.
In the case of Habib Diarra — a player of whom most, if not all Sunderland fans were speaking highly earlier in the season and will doubtless be backed to respond strongly from the missed chance to win it — was it merely a case of “Right intentions, poor execution” or did Emi Martínez simply do what he does best; enough to put Diarra off and deny Sunderland a famous victory?
These things happen. Hyping up a player when he’s in excellent form and can do no wrong? Easy. Tearing a player down when he misses a chance? Easy. Standing up for a player after he misses a game-winning opportunity? Occasionally hard, but we owe that to him, for me.
He’ll need to show some real strength of character in order to bounce back, but my faith in him, as well as this side and its prospects remains as solid as ever.
This is no plucky underdog story. This isn’t a group of players who are here on an autograph-hunting mission or to collect shirts from opponents they’ve long admired from afar. These lads are serious about competing and winning, even if Sunday’s game didn’t go their way when all was said and done.
Diarra will be back. Sunderland will be back. And this most captivating of seasons has five more chapters yet to be written — starting with what’ll hopefully be a raucous Friday night clash with Nottingham Forest. Time to reset and get back to it, lads.
