John Wilson says…
It certainly isn’t “mission complete” because if we lost all of our remaining fixtures, I’d be quite disappointed at having let the season fizzle out.
If we’ve assembled a group of players that are hungry and wanting to show their commitment and energy and passion — which I generally think we have — we need to keep pushing to see where we can get to come May and the game against Chelsea.
I do feel the pressure is off now and as disappointing as a poor finish would be, it’ll still have been a fantastic
season and one we’ll remember for many years, but the question is: how much further does this group of players want to go?
In hindsight, there’s a danger that too much was made of the forty-point target. So let’s forget that and set a top ten finish target or even a seventh-place finish. It’s very possible.
The media assume that the ‘Visitors’ are now going to push on and claim a European spot, but we’re ahead of them so we should be doing the same. Whether we’re ready for European midweek football is another discussion, but we should be aiming to finish as highly as possible.
Europe is still realistic, given the ups and downs of football, but a top ten finish (ahead of the ‘Visitors’) would be very satisfying indeed.
Malc Dugdale says…
I say we keep going one game at a time, and see where this amazing season takes us.
The case scenario is that we win a few and lose a few, and finish in mid-table or slightly below that. Still a big success and something we all would’ve grabbed with both hands as we left Wembley last May. The best case scenario is that we have a half chance of European football — which from our starting position last summer would be nothing short of incredible.
Giving it our best shot and getting a sniff of Europe will help us in so many ways this summer, too.
It’ll give us financial firepower, help us attract players who would’ve otherwise rejected Sunderland due to the lack of opportunities to play in such continental competitions, and will help us retain players who may have been tempted away in the summer by big offers and a chance to play at clubs with a known opportunity to play at the next level.
Best of all, it’ll royally piss off the neighbours whom we just did the double over.
I’m not entitled like them so I wouldn’t expect us to walk into European football and take silverware at our first go if we got a chance, but demonstrating such progress while the morally corrupt bellends by the Tyne make excuse after excuse for their season collapsing would be a gold-plated cherry on top of a cake the size of Silksworth ski slope.
So, go for it, in my view.
Get these players back from injury, use the final seven games to get them back up to full fitness and let’s have a good time playing football at a level we’ve clearly shown we’re very much able to perform at.
The club, players and fans all deserve the chance to give this a real go. Let’s do so.
Mark Wood says…
I read somewhere that depending on who wins the FA Cup, eighth place in the Premier League could be good enough to qualify for Europe this season, so why not target that?
Talk of Europe might seem fanciful when you consider that we haven’t been kicking around seventh or eighth for some time, but at this time the eighth-placed team is only three points ahead of us — and if that isn’t good enough for Europe, it could be seventh.
Guess what? The team in seventh place is only three points ahead of us too, so we can just as easily target that. They aren’t a country mile ahead of us and out of reach — quite the contrary, as the gap is something that can easily be chased down over the remaining seven games.
Our initial target for the season was forty points in order to avoid relegation. We’ve reached and surpassed that with enough time to — using a cricket analogy — declare and watch what the rest can do.
It may well be that Régis Le Bris has set a new target for the remainder of the season in the dressing room. It would make sense to do so in order to keep the players focused, and I wonder if he has. It’s an opportunity that hasn’t presented itself to many Sunderland teams at this stage of the season over the decades.
The last Sunderland teams to have this chance were Peter Reid’s sides of 2000 and 2001 — who were both in sixth place after thirty one games played some twenty five years ago.
So what have we got to lose? Who knows when we might get the chance again.
Phil West says
For two primary reasons, I think it’s extremely important that we aim to finish the season as strongly as possible.
The first is that if we’re targeting even greater progress during 2026/2027, being able to attract players of an even higher calibre will be important and by wrapping up the current campaign in good form and potentially breaking through the fifty-point barrier, we’d send a message that Sunderland AFC is truly a club on the rise; here to compete on a yearly basis, eager to challenge as strongly as we can and a club at which talented players can thrive.
The second reason is that a strong end to the campaign would send everyone — fans, players and coaches — into the summer break in a positive frame of mind, with optimism for the future and belief soaring. We’ve seen the power that can be generated when everyone is on the same page and united around the same goals, and this really could be the dawning of a new era.
Some good results and performances during the final swing of league matches would also provide Régis Le Bris with some valuable insights as to which players are coming on the next stage of the journey and who might not make the cut, so there’s real value in continuing to drive forward during the remaining seven games.
A glance at the league table should fill everyone with pride but the potential within our club is far greater than that which has been unlocked during 2025/2026, and the aim has to be to build on what’s been achieved thus far — not standing still and admiring the view, but being relentless as we seek continued progress.
Racking up our third-highest Premier League points total is a realistic prospect and with some intriguing fixtures still to be tackled, I really believe we can get there.
Sunday’s victory over Newcastle felt like another watershed moment for this exciting and likeable group of players, and when we reconvene after the international break, the final push will begin in earnest, so let’s go for it!
