Home   >   Previews   >   20 teams in 20 days – Sunderland

20 teams in 20 days – Sunderland

By on August 15, 2014

Manager: Gus Poyet
Stadium: The Stadium of Light
Nickname: The Black Cats
Finish Last Season: 14th

Gus Poyet has already worked a miracle at Sunderland. He kept them up in the top flight last season, something that looked impossible after they failed to win in any of their first eight matches, found themselves at the bottom of the table for seventeen weeks throughout the season, and still sat in 20th position with just four gameweeks to go. Taking charge of the club still winless in October, it was a long hard road to survival, but eventually, after taking them all the way up to 14th before falling back down again, he kept the club up with an incredible run of just one loss out of their last six matches, which included trips to Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City. Now, his job is no longer to work a miracle, rather, to simply bring in stability. And at least just about anything he does will be better than the club’s run last season, bar relegation.

Whether last season was simply due to a bad start and fluke finish, though, is still to be decided this season. On paper Sunderland should finish mid-table or so, but over the past few years they have been far from consistent on the pitch. The club now have to quality goalkeepers after adding Costel Pantilimon on a free to compete with Vito Mannone for a starting position, and Jordi Gomez joined their midfield along with Jack Rodwell, helping solve their lack of creativity and service to the forwards from the middle – last season nearly half of their league goals came from set pieces. The pair will join Lee Cattermole in central midfield, while feeding balls through to Adam Johnson and Emanuele Giaccherini on their respective wings. Up front is the only area they haven’t added in, but that wasn’t their sole problem last season, rather it was namely getting service to their forwards. Jozy Altidore only scored once for the Black Cats last season, but find his form this season and alongside the youngster Connor Wickham, who scored seven in just 14 appearances for the club last season, plus Steven Fletcher, Sunderland can easily improve their attack tenfold.

The club look good for a side who battled relegation last season, and bar a rift between players and Poyet or another poor start they look to be a solidly mid-table team this season. One worry, however, is the fact that their though fixtures are spread throughout their season, making it hard for them to find form. Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur both visit in their first few matches, while they end the season with matches against Everton,Leicester City, and Chelsea. Thus a late miracle of the likes of theirs last season is unlikely, and stability throughout this season will be key. And of course, a major part of Poyet’s goal over the next few seasons beyond 2014/2015.

Full Fixture List:
8/16/14 West Bromwich Albion (A)
8/24/14 Manchester United (H)
8/30/14 Queens Park Rangers (A)
9/13/14 Tottenham Hotspur (H)
9/20/14 Burnley (A)
9/27/14 Swansea (H)
10/4/14 Stoke City (H)
10/18/14 Southampton (A)
10/25/14 Arsenal (H)
11/3/14 Crystal Palace (A)
11/9/14 Everton (H)
11/22/14 Leicester City (A)
11/29/14 Chelsea (H)
12/3/14 Manchester City (H)
12/6/14 Liverpool (A)
12/13/14 West Ham (H)
12/20/14 Newcastle (A)
12/26/14 Hull City (H)
12/28/14 Aston Villa (A)
1/1/15 Manchester City (A)
1/10/15 Liverpool (H)
1/17/15 Tottenham Hotspur (A)
1/31/15 Burnley (H)
2/7/15 Swansea (A)
2/10/15 Queens Park Rangers (H)
2/21/15 West Bromwich Albion (H)
2/28/15 Manchester United (A)
3/3/15 Hull City (A)
3/14/15 Aston Villa (H)
3/21/15 West Ham (A)
4/4/15 Newcastle (H)
4/11/15 Crystal Palace (H)
4/18/15 Arsenal (A)
4/25/15 Stoke City (A)
5/2/15 Southampton (H)
5/9/15 Everton (A)
5/16/15 Leicester City (H)
5/24/15 Chelsea (A)

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.