I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve found it canny tough this week getting my head around what I can expect from Sunderland between now and the end of the season.
Port Vale was a massive kick in the nuts. I’d genuinely convinced myself that we’d have the stones to go on a cup run – I’d even warned my wife that I could be off for another boozy and expensive trip to London soon enough if the stars aligned.
How foolish of me… this is, of course, Sunderland, and no other club can bring you back down
to earth in the way that this one can. I’m still really gutted about the result, as the past has shown us that we probably get one chance each decade to go on a bit of a cup run, and there’s absolutely no reason why this couldn’t have been it.
I’m sure that this week, for Régis Le Bris and his players, has been a strange one too. It’s hard to just shake off the disappointment we and they felt last weekend, but they have to, because the next two games are going to be pivotal in how our season progresses from this point.
We almost have to forget that Port Vale even happened. Before that, we had two great results and performances away from home against tough opponents. It’s difficult to remember that when the most recent result was so deflating, but the draw at Bournemouth and the win at Leeds have given us a real platform in the Premier League to go and hopefully get more points in the games ahead.
Brighton and Newcastle, like ourselves, will have aspirations of finishing in the top eight of the Premier League and in a European qualification position. If we can garner a decent haul of points in the next couple of games, we’ll be dreaming of potentially needing to get our passports renewed, but if we don’t, our season could just peter out from this point, and we’ll be left wondering, just like after the loss at Port Vale, what might have been.
I’m hoping that the players are motivated to get back to where we were before the losses to Liverpool and Fulham, where we almost had this invincibility about us in home games, and we carried ourselves like a big threat. It was all about belief and desire, and I thought I saw that rekindled in the game at Leeds, where we almost bullied our way to three points and dictated proceedings – if we can do that again tomorrow, against a Brighton side who will have the same belief and desire as we do, we might just put what has been a thoroughly crap week to bed once and for all.
Not to put too much pressure on, but I almost feel like Saturday is the biggest game of the season so far. Win, and we’re all dreaming again and going into that game at Newcastle absolutely bouncing and ready to go to war – lose, and we’ll be feeling the strain, and the self-doubt will start to creep in.
Thankfully, these players have shown repeatedly, on countless occasions, that they are capable of bouncing back in the most perfect fashion. With Granit Xhaka, Dennis Cirkin, Brian Brobbey, Trai Hume, and Noah Sadiki back in contention, we should be fielding a more familiar-looking Sunderland side on Saturday, and that can only be a good thing as we look to get back to winning ways.
All we can do is pick the best possible side we have available to us, give it our best shot, and hope for the best. If that doesn’t end up being enough, then fair dos – at least we tried our hardest, and I’m sure the fans will unite behind the players. As proven after Port Vale, it’s only when we don’t see the desire and heart on display that people begin to question things, so let’s just get back to basics and do what we’re good at tomorrow.
