da jogodeouro： As seems to be customary, Sunderland have had a slow start to the season.
da doce： Last year was just the same under Dick Advocaat, who duly left the club after seemingly seeing it as too big a job for him to try and keep them in the Premier League. Sam Allardyce arrived, though, and managed to instill some fighting spirit in time to maintain their Premier League status.
Many felt, had Allardyce stayed, that the club could now kick on and finally leave those relegation scraps behind. But as it turned out, the former Bolton Wanderers man got the England job.
Sunderland were left in flux once again until they announced the appointment of David Moyes and it now seems as though another long season of struggling and uncertainty is due after the Scot had very little time to get players in.
Nevertheless, despite a slow start, Sunderland fans should not be worried. There are good reasons why the club will stay up this season and here at FootballFanCast we’ve got FIVE of them…
Jermain Defoe
You always have a chance with this man in your team. Defoe guarantees goals and was a huge part of why the north east club stayed up last season. If he can stay fit, the club are going to be in every game and as long as the service is decent enough to give him opportunities, you can rely on him to hit the back of the net.
Organisation
Apart from the Everton game, Sunderland have been in every fixture right until the end and that’s due to their defensive structure. Sam Allardyce helped install that whilst he was at the club and they’ve duly held onto it. Their performance against the Toffees was pretty resolute too, bar the eleven minutes in which Romelu Lukaku scored his hat-trick.
Promising Youngsters
Sunderland have some decent young players coming through and that should make the Stadium of Light crowd excited for the future. Duncan Watmore looks like he could be a decent player if he can find some consistency and Lynden Gooch has also impressed.
David Moyes
For all the ridicule Moyes has received since leaving Everton, he is still a very good manager, particularly in these situations. He’ll ensure Sunderland stay in their shape and eventually get them up the table as he did at Everton. He guarantees stability with enough time and that’s what the Black Cats need.
Faced the top three this season
Sunderland haven’t had the easiest start in facing Manchester City and Tottenham away as well as hosting an in-form Everton. These three have been the early season pace setters and aren’t the teams Sunderland need to beat. Most of those games are still to come, so there’s no reason to panic about going down just yet.