Seven reasons why Sunderland fans should be excited about second half of the season
It’s probably fair to say that Sunderland will be pretty happy with how they have adapted to Championship football.
The first 21 games have definitely been a rollercoaster, but they have also been fun and, I would say, successful.
There are also plenty of reasons why Sunderland fans should be excited about the second half of the season, and here are seven of them.
Two brilliant ‘new signings’ on their way
Okay, I cover Sunderland a lot and I have tried very hard to avoid saying what I am about to say. I will apologise in advance and please be assured I am not proud of this, but… Ross Stewart and Dan Ballard will be like new signings for Sunderland when they’re back from injury.
Ballard has missed 18 of Sunderland’s 21 games so far this season and Stewart 14 of them. That is a huge amount of time to be without two of your best players.
In fact, it’s hard to think of many better centre forwards that Ross Stewart in the whole Championship. Coventry’s Viktor Gyökeres would probably be one, but we’ve seen nothing else particularly special, have we?
Similarly, Ballard was by all accounts one of the top centre-backs in the Championship last season with Millwall. Getting them both back will certainly move the needle in the Sunderland side and probably move it significantly.
So many goals in the team
All of our collective hearts sank in September when injuries to Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms left us without a single recognised striker.
Remarkably, though, Sunderland have not been short on goals in their absence. In fact, at the time of writing only the top two – Burnley (40) and Sheffield United (35) have scored more than the 29 that Sunderland have managed.
To be able to do that without strikers is a serious testament to the individual talent and creativity in the side this season.
Set pieces MUST improve, right?
Want to know what makes that goal-scoring stat even more impressive? The fact there are no set-piece goals in there at all.
All 29 have been scored from open play. Sunderland haven’t even had a penalty. There hasn’t even been an own goal to pad it out.
To highlight how remarkable that has been, there have been a total of 142 goals from set-pieces in the Championship at an average of nearly six per team. If Sunderland can even somehow find a way to be an average threat from set-pieces, and you’d think getting Ross Stewart back will really help there, Sunderland’s goalscoring figures will be even more impressive.
Strength in depth
One thing that the early-season injury did prove was just how much strength in depth this Sunderland squad has.
Granted, it is lacking in one or two areas such as up front, and I dread to think what might happen if Anthony Patterson gets injured, but it’s very decent in general.
When the defence is missing Ballard and Bailey Wright, and Dennis Cirkin is sat on the bench and Niall Huggins isn’t even in the squad – and you still keep a clean sheet - you know there is plenty of depth there.
It’s the same situation in wide areas, with Patrick Roberts and Elliot Embleton not able to get a game even whilst another of your wingers is away at the World Cup.
It’s a good squad.
Young players only getting better
As well as being good, the Sunderland squad is also very young. Players like Aji Alese, Edouard Michut, Jewison Benette, Amad Diallo and Anthony Patterson came into this season with just a handful of senior appearances to their name.
That obviously means that they are only going to get better from here, and we have seen that with some of them already.
Alese and Patterson have improved considerably since the start of the season and Amad looks like he’s on a different planet to the player who arrived.
If players can continue those upward curves in the second half of the season, we could be in for a fun finale.
Genuine matchwinners
A large part of the reason that Sunderland have been able to dig out so many goals without strikers is probably down to the amount of genuine matchwinners there are in the side.
The performances haven’t always been brilliant this season, but there are a few players who can produce some individual magic at crucial moments.
Amad Diallo did it, for example, at Birmingham, and Patrick Roberts turned on the style out of nowhere to turn the game at Millwall.
Alex Pritchard is more than capable too, and so is Eliott Embleton – although the latter does not do it as often as he should.
The unleashed weapon?
It’s crazy to think that Sunderland’s biggest two attacking weapons have not been used in union yet.
Ross Stewart and Amad Diallo have not even played a single minute of football together. Stewart was injured in the warm-up at Middlesbrough, which was Amad’s debut.
It’s very exciting to imagine what they could do together on the pitch, and hopefully it’s a combination that can add something a bit special to an already good quality Sunderland attack.
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