Gav says…
In the podcast that I recorded with Dom Shaw, we actually talked about this and as I said there, I feel like this is a landmark moment in our season.
The next two games will probably decide whether we’re going to push on for a finish in the top eight or if the season is going to peter out and we’ll mill around somewhere in the middle.
I reckon we’ll win on Saturday.
With players coming back from injury that we’ve really missed and the response that usually follows a disappointing performance, I reckon
the Lads will be fired up to put the Port Vale performance right. Then against the Mags…who knows? I’d rip your arm off for a point.
Realistically I think two points would be fine, but four would be a huge statement of intent going into the international break.
Alex Charlton says…
We have to target a minimum of four points from our next two games.
Brighton have picked up of late but they’re the sort of team we should be beating at home. A draw wouldn’t be the worst result in the world, but it would tee us up nicely heading into the derby.
It goes without saying that a draw is the bare minimum expected from the short trip to Newcastle. Granit Xhaka said it after the game at the Stadium of Light — he and the players understood they couldn’t lose that match, and they’ll be thinking the same heading into this one.
If Europe is the ambition, four points is a must.
When we’ve underperformed before this season, the Lads have put it right and I’m sure they’ll be up for the next couple of games.
John Wilson says…
As much as “doing a Sunderland” raised its ugly head again last week in chats — and like myself, many supporters hate the phrase — here we are back in league action, wondering about the mindset of the players.
I’ve talked to many fans of many different clubs and to varying degrees, they all think their club has a tendency to “Do an (insert club name)”. It actually comes down to human and/or sports psychology — when are athletes at their peak to perform, or when might they underperform?
After the Port Vale disappointment, I know the fans are expecting the players to turn up against Brighton but in all honesty, I don’t know what their attitude is right now.
Are they eager to kick on for a top ten spot or are they content with forty points and a job well done? I suspect we’re about to find out but make no mistake: whatever happens now, it’s been an uplifting season.
Sometimes I get a gut feeling about how the team will react — both this weekend and for the derby —and I don’t know what to expect.
Nothing would surprise me, from zero points to six, and anything more than two would be a bonus. Steadying the ship at home with a draw against Brighton and a gutsy draw away to ‘the visitors’ would be decent enough. In fact I’d take two points in total, as opposed to three from the Brighton game and a defeat to the barcodes.
Predicting is foolish at the best of times, so hoping is my default position. I’ll be hopeful of six but satisfied with two.
Malc Dugdale says…
As has been the case with other losses this season, we need to see a refreshed appetite and attitude from the Lads.
Cup upsets happen and life goes on, but we can’t allow standards to slip in the Premier League — this is what we’re about now.
There were a number of changes for the cup game and let’s be frank: it was like playing in the local park given the pitch was so bad, but we weren’t good enough at all.
The best way to draw a line under all that is to get a win on the board, and I think we have a good chance of that at home to Brighton.
If we get that win, anything other than a beating at St James’ Park will do. I think we’re good enough on our day to beat them, but we can play away from home and struggle, as we saw at Manchester United, Burnley and other places. The Mags will be on another level, though, and we hope the squad all get that.
Equally, we went to Anfield and got a point while deserving probably more, the same at Chelsea (but in that case we got what we deserved).
Get a win against Brighton to blow away the cobwebs, and take a point off the Neanderthals. Four from six from these two games, and the same haul from the two games against our uneducated brethren.
I’ll take that for sure.
