The Future is Bright in Red and White - An SAFC story


Sunderland AFC
October 2019
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Fixtures:

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The massive disappointment this month was the defeat in the Capital One cup away to Arsenal, we dominated them but they got a lucky victory and so we've failed in defending one of the trophies we won last year, let's hope we have better luck in the league and the FA Cup. In the league we took 7 points from 9 and in the Champions League we took 6 points from 6.

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Player of the Month - Memphis Depay

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Scored in 4 games straight after his return from injury!

Player Stats:

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Vitinho and both of my strikers are under performing so far this season and new signing Gareth Bale has been poor in his limited appearances so far. One major positive has been the form of Gabriel Iancu, who's performed really well in the shadow striker role when we've switched to the 4-2-3-1.

League Table:

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We're sitting joint top with an unlikely challenger in Stoke, but both Manchester teams are trailing us closely and are just 2 points behind us. We play Stoke in our next game, who would have ever thought a Sunderland vs Stoke game would ever be called a 'top of the table clash'?

Champions League Group:

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A win in our next game will see us easily qualify with two games to spare and that will allow for more room for rotation in the last 2 games.


Next up will be a November review...

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Sunderland AFC
November 2019

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Fixtures:

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A great month for the lads as we remain unbeaten and secure our passage through our Europa League group. The highlights of the month including a very late winner against Chelsea and a 5-1 hammering of Newcastle at the Stadium of Light in the Tyne and Wear derby.

Player of the Month - Miguel

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The Brazilian strikers performances really picked up this month, highlighted by his brace in the win at Stamford Bridge.

Player Stats:

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Our whole attacking force picked up over November and this resulted in us scoring a lot more goals, however Gareth Bale is proving to be more of a success off the pitch than he is on the pitch...

League Table:

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Top of the league with a 4 point gap, even at this early stage of the season, is a nice place to be sitting.

Champions League Group:

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5 games, 5 wins, 10 goals and 0 conceded.


Next up will be a December review, with 6 league games and a final Champions League game against Rosenberg...

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Sunderland AFC
December 2019

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Fixtures:

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A near perfect month as we win 7 games from the 7 played, with 19 goals scored and just 2 conceded...

Player of the Month - Lucas Digne

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The French left back averaged a 7.92 over the month, and can arguably be called the best left back in the world at the moment.

Player Stats:

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Our squad depth really showed itself this month as both Vitinho and Depay got injuries, however Mavrias and Iancu proved to be more than adequate replacements.

League Table:

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We're at the half way point and we already have a very nice lead of 12 points going into the second half of the season and from here, we really should be retaining our Premier League title!


Next update will be a January update, I've still got around an ?18,000,000 transfer budget so I could bring players in if I see anyone I like, however I'm more than happy with the squad as it stands...

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Sunderland AFC
January 2020

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Fixtures:

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Another fantastic month with the only small blip on the radar being the draw at home to Fulham. We've progressed into the 5th round of the FA Cup, where we will need to win at the New White Hart Lane to progress in our defence of the cup.

Player of the Month - Bryan Durand

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Bryan is proving to be a bit of a goalscoring machine from center back as he bagged himself 4 goals through January!

Player Stats:

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Durand actually has more than last season's top scorer Fabio Villa, and you can see the goals have been shared right around the squad this season which I believe is one of the main factors behind our success...

League Table:

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Despite the dropped 2 points against Fulham, we did extend our lead at the top of the league by an extra point to 13 points. In terms of transfers we've got our eye on 2 fantastic young defensive midfielders on free transfers at the end of the season. I was thinking of bringing them both in but there's just no space in the squad for both of them!


Next update will be a February review, including a trip to Munich to play in the 1st Knockout Round of the Champions League!

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Sunderland AFC
February 2020

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Fixtures:

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This month proved to be a bit more difficult than the previous months, dropping points in the Premier League away to Burnley and drawing in the FA Cup 5th round against Spurs, meaning we'll need to take them in the replay at the Stadium of Light. In the Champions League we have a huge task on our hands to reach the Quarter Finals after Bayern beat us 4-2 in the first leg at the Allianz Arena.

Player of the Month - Vitinho

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3 goals from the Brazilian this month and his goal at the Allianz Arena has kept us in the tie.

Player Stats:

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I couldn't manage to get a club to take Outtara on loan in January, so I've promoted him to the first team squad and so far he's impressed in the games he's been given. Will Hughes missed moth of the month through injury but will be back by the time we meet Bayern...

League Table:

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10 games to go and we're 13 points clear, surely we've got the title wrapped up!


Next up will be a March review including our latest youth intake, can we turn it around against Bayern in the Champions League?​
 

Sunderland AFC
March 2020
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Fixtures:

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We're out of the Champions League after Bayern somehow managed to beat us 3-2 at the Stadium of Light despite us dominating the game. Any other day and we would turned around the 2 goal deficit but it wasn't to be. Domestically, we got through our replay against Tottenham in the FA Cup and then beat Stoke to progress to the semi finals. Finally, our last game in March was a comprehensive 3-0 home victory over Chelsea, which saw us retain our Premier League trophy with 7 games to go!

Player of the Month - Drissa Ouattara

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The Ivorian continued his great form since joining up with the first team squad, and just seems to be one of those players who performs better than his stats suggest and always pops up with a goal!

Player Stats:

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A bit surprised no player has hit 20 goals for the season but I suppose it shows we share the responsibility around the squad.

League Table:

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We're already 1 point up from last year, with 7 games still to play...

Youth Intake:

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A great intake this year, with two potential 1st team players and a few players who we could develop and sell on in a few years. The two main players are here...

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Next up will be an April review, with the FA Cup Semi Final being the only game of real significance to play, but we will try to break the 100 point barrier in the league.​
 
Doing well mate, You have built up an awesome side here with a couple of my favourite players in Bender and Will Hughes and to bring in Bale and Bender on free transfers is brilliant. KIU
 
coolmcool said:
Doing well mate, You have built up an awesome side here with a couple of my favourite players in Bender and Will Hughes and to bring in Bale and Bender on free transfers is brilliant. KIU
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Yeah Bender has been a solid squad player but Bale hasn't really played too much. I'll probably move Bender on next year as there are two amazing young defensive midfielders available on bosmans, so I'll probably be bringing one of those in. I'm tempted to get both but there just wouldn't be any room in the squad for both of them! XD
 
Haha, the one that I really want won't talk to us because we agreed a deal to sign him for ?5,000,000 in December before realising his contract was running out and we agreed a contract with him but then cancelled it so we could sign him on a free. And the other one seems a bit injury prone so I'm just going to wait until Magnin's contract runs out and hope he'll talk to me then. Here they are if you're interested...

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Sunderland AFC
April and May 2020

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Fixtures:

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A poor end to the season as we fail to reach the 100 point mark and we got knocked out of the FA Cup in the semi's against Everton. A bit similar to the Bayern home tie, we had by far the better of the game but they were more clinical and therefore deserved the win!

Player Stats:

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Ouattara has done fantastic considering I only really brought him in to sell him on for profit down the line but he's totally changed my mind now with his performances. No player breaking the 20 goal barrier is a bit disappointing but the goals were spread nicely around the squad!

League Table:

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2 points short of the 100 point mark but we still set a record high point total in a Premier League season!

Awards:

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Summer signing Iancu is the PFA player of the year whilst young Belgian Bryan Durand is the young player of the year...


Next up will be an end of season review...

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Sunderland AFC
2019-2020 - Season Review
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Premier League - Winners

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FA Cup - Semi Final

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Capital One Cup - 4th Round

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Champions League - 1st Knockout Round

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Community Shield - Winners

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Fans Player of the Year - Will Hughes:

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Next up will be a 2020/2021 season preview.


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Superb ! & they two regens look amazing I would end up signing them both if it was me haha.
 
AldoKemp-1 said:
Superb ! & they two regens look amazing I would end up signing them both if it was me haha.
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Yeah, the slightly better one (the one from Barca) wouldn't sign :( but I did manage to pick Viera up so he's a pretty good free signing!
 

Sunderland AFC
2020 - 2021 - Season Preview

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Transfers:

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A big summer of departures from the club as we open up space in the squad for a few younger players to come through, making around a ?30,000,000 profit as well. The bigger names on the outgoing list are Hugo Mallo, Ohuzhan Ozyakup, Charis Mavrias, Gareth Bale, Lars Bender and Jores Okore. Also, we got a combined ?7,500,000 for academy graduate strikers Josh Clench and Greg Shields, who despite impressing on loan spells out were never really going to make it into our first team squad. Also, Icelandic defender Hrobjartsson was sold for ?5,000,000 after we brought him in for nothing a few seasons back.

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On to the incomings and the main signing was the ?27,500,000 of Brazilian center back Doria from Porto. I felt we needed to tighten our defence up for the big European games and hopefully the big Brazilian will help us achieve that. Secondly, we brought in a Brazilian defensive midfielder Viera in on a free from Benfica and signed a quality young Mexican winger Antonio Tena for a potential ?11,000,000, but an initial ?8,500,000. He'll be thrown straight into the first team squad despite being only 18, and will be expected to deliver should Memphis Depay get injured. Finally, Alan Hohn is a young German left back signed for the developmental squad.

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Squad:

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This season should be a very interesting one as the quality of backup players is generally not as strong and more inexperienced, so if we get a few injuries then we may struggle in the league a bit more than we did last year. Saying that, a lot of the youngsters have great potential and should improve a lot with game time, which is my main intention!

Fixtures:

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7 points from the first 3 games is a decent enough start, but I would have expected us to beat Liverpool at home after winning away at the Emirates. However, we were missing our two first choice wingers against Liverpool and it resulted in a bit of a disjointed attacking performance.

Community Shield:

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A strong start to the season and our first piece of silverware!

Champions League Group:

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Not a particularly hard group to get however none of the teams we will come up against will be pushovers. The 4th seeds Granada knocked out Manchester City in the qualifying rounds so must have some quality in the team and tie against Inter will see us come up against former players Lars Bender and Alfred Duncan.


Does anyone want me to do a squad review in the next post? If not the next update will just be a September review.

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Sunderland AFC
Squad Review - Part 1 (Defensive Players)

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Goalkeepers:

1st Choice - Francesco Bardi: Brought in from Inter in 2014 for just ?210,000, the Italian keeper soon worked his way in front of Guiata and into first choice keeper. Now valued at over ?11,000,000 and over 100 league appearances later, he's proved to be a real bargain for the club.
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Back Up - Jack Butland: The Englishman was signed from Stoke for just ?2,500,000 and provides a real quality of back up should Bardi ever get injured. Generally plays in the Cup games and helps with the homegrown allocation when it comes to squad registration. We don't really have any young goalkeeper prospects at the club so maybe that's an area I should look at in future transfer windows.

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Right Backs:

First Choice - Jeff Hancock: The American international was another bargain deal as we got him for just 325k when his contract was running down at Juve. He's slowly became more and more involved and is now first choice right back at the age of 25.

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Back Up/Prospect - Kane Cook - A product of the youth academy and naturally a right footed left back, my coaching staff have always rated Kane pretty highly and so, off the back of a decent loan spell last season at Huddersfield, I've decided to make him back up right back this year in order to fast track his development.
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Left Backs:

1st Choice - Lucas Digne: Lucas originally joined the club on 3 one year loan deals from PSG, however his performances were so impressive that I knew I needed to bring him in full time and so I gave PSG ?7,500,000 for him and he has never looked back. He was on the bench for the world team of the year last season and could make a fine case for being called the best left back in the world.

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Back up - Ben Davies: Ben has been the perfect back up player since joining from Liverpool for ?6,500,000 a few years back. He always performs when needed, never moans when he has spells out of the team and helps fill our homegrown quota! I also have a prospect at left back in the youth team but I've just covered him in the summer update so I'll not bother putting him in here.

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Centre Backs:

1st Choice - Doria: Just joined from Porto in the summer for ?27,500,000, where he's had many seasons of solid performances both domestically and in Europe.

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1st Choice - Bryan Durand - Young Belgian centre back who cost us ?16,000,000 from Bayern a couple of years back and has been undisputed first choice ever since. He's still only 23 and could be the leader of our defence for another 7/8 seasons.

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Back Up - Samuel Umtiti: Signed on a free from Lyon, he's recently been pushed out of first choice by Doria. However, he's always been a reliable performer at centre back and can cover at left back, so is very important for the squad.

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Back Up - Eric Dier: Eric only cost us ?4,200,000 from Sporting Lisbon and never lets us down when he plays, and particularly enjoys playing in big games. Somewhat annoyingly though, despite being English, he doesn't qualify as being a homegrown player due to playing at Sporting through his youth career.
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Defensive Midfielder/Deep Lying Playmakers:

1st Choice - Jose Godoy: Possibly the biggest bargain of all, Jose cost us just ?2,500,000 from Boca a few years back and now is probably one of the best anchor men in the world. His average ratings aren't the best but I just put that down to the role in the team he plays.

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1st Choice - Charly Chauvet: Again, we got Charly a lot cheaper than what he should have been worth at just ?6,500,000 when a year before I bought him I was quoted over 3 times that! When we play our 4-3-3 he plays in the deep lying playmaker (Defend) role and with him and Godoy in the team we have plenty of defensive quality in midfield!

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Back Up - Viera: Just brought in on a free from Benfica, should prove to be a very good backup player and we could sell him on in a few years for a massive profit.

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Next up we'll continue the look at the squad, this time looking at the attacking options in the squad...

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