Paullow

Yeah, said it on another thread, that I have absolutely nothing against WBA, but because of this appointment, I am finding myself wanting them to lose, petty I know, but that's the way it is . Mind, my interest in football is very high at the moment, so I'm always looking for little alternative narratives.

Whether he was actually a prime contender from our POV is another matter, but if he was, I wonder if Rodgers regrets instantly dismissing the vacancy back in October?

FFS. It was 2-0 Man Utd, by the time I was writing this and was looking like a sure Leeds defeat, but not so much now, but it's great just looking at the league table exactly a month ago on Jan 20th and seeing how much ground we've gained on the pack above: https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/premier-league/20-january-2022/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/table Palace - we were 12 behind with a game in hand, now 4 with a game in hand Brentford - were 11 with 2 games in hand, now 2 with 2 games in hand Leeds - it was looking like 10 behind and now 1, but that could be 2 or 4 points in the next 30 mins. Everton - were 7 behind having played a game more, now level having played a game more It was definitely looking like 3 from 4 just before the Leeds game, but definitely not the case now, and it's brilliant that so many others have been brought back into the mix after our great run.

Signed up 16 years and still using 'we'

Norwich and Everton ahead. Everton's must have been disallowed, still 0-0.

Burnley always were the biggest risk of the bottom lot, not only were they the shortest odds to survive of the bottom 3, but they are often hard to beat, and you can tell by their (relatively good) goal difference that they are always in pretty much every match, and it doesn't take too much to convert draws into the odd win. I'd still much rather be in our position generally, but they are to be considered a threat, but thankfully, as others say, there are teams above us who we can catch, so even if Burnley did pass us, it might not be a disaster.

A shame Sky couldn't have taken their cameras to Rotherham vs Wigan instead. Wigan have just gone a goal up which, while automatic is obviously looking unlikely, is the worst result for Sunderland if there was a slight chance. Wigan are 6 behind Rotherham with 2 games in hand, and a far worse goal difference, so I would rather Rotherham slipped up with them having the points on the board and being 13 clear of Sunderland having played the same amount of matches (as it stands). Rotherham were around 1/33 for automatic promotion pre match, whereas Wigan were 1/6.

Joey was impressed with him tonight.

Wigan 2-0, so should be 3 points. They will be 7 clear of Sunderland with 3 games in hand, so you'd be hope they would be be almost out of reach at this stage. Hopefully they get something from Rotherham as well on Friday. Good set of scores for Cabbage so for in the Championship.

I haven't seen it, but Brighton do have Burnley on Saturday, so would be nice if it could be overturned (if even possible in this VAR era).

They should go up with Rotherham, but before turning their match around on Saturday to win 2-1, they had just taken 2 points from their previous 3 games. They have Rotherham away on Friday, and still have a backlog of games to catch up on, as well as still being in that lower tier cup, so hopefully they don't slip up here, as while unlikely, you never know if Neil could get a tune out of them.

Wigan 0-0 at half time, marra.

Yeah, I've switched over to the PSG game. It's gonna be a weird feeling if / when we start to dominate the vast majority of our matches. I'm sure City fans are loving it, and I was when they were playing vs Norwich the other day, but it's not so great if you are predominantly watching as a neutral

Anderson scores for Bristol Rovers. Harry that it, but Elliot with the assist!

1 or 2 for me, but put down 1 in the poll. It's just such an amazing contrast. Not really bothered if we won or lost, first thoughts were laughing and thinking that Bruce would be suffering if a likely rival scored during a televised game, completely forgetting we were playing during the Burnley league cup defeat until about 30 minutes after full time (something that's never happened before), being on my laptop during televised matches, and having the Newcastle match very much on in the background, whereas now I'm lurking on league rivals forums and loving their disgust when we score. I'll watch all the pre match build up and post match discussion to games, I'll listen to NUFC podcasts at work, even 606 as well for general football discussion. I'm on here a lot more than I used to be, I'll be all over Twitter for news and opinion. Obviously the bar was so, so low that any change would have made a massive difference, but I've definitely got my love for the club back, and it feels great, and even a bit weird .

West Brom vs Blackburn tonight on Sky. I don't mind WBA as a club, and normally wouldn't mind them with yet another promotion, but I can't bring myself to be wanting them to win, so hoping Blackburn get back on track. Neither, in great form, just 1 point between them in their last 6 matches combined.

It's obviously looking so much better, but still plenty of work to do. I do agree with the above that if I wasn't a Newcastle fan then I would be much more confident, but still a couple of things I'm wary about. 15 games left, only 6 at home and 9 away, and while we could feasibly get something against Arsenal, 2 of those are against Arsenal and Liverpool, and 3 of the others are against teams in and around the top half (I know that kind of applies to Villa as well), but I would definitely feel more confident about home games than away game at the moment, so possibly a factor. I'm less concerned about Norwich and Watford now, but do still have half an eye on Burnley - they have had a lot of hard games recently, and picked up the odd decent point, and you can tell by their -12 GD (as opposed to say Norwich's -36) that they don't get bettered, and are in most of their games, so they could possibly start turning these draws into wins, especially when not playing the better sides. Still, we are in a position now where we can easily be looking up towards the likes of Brentford, Leeds etc. and possibly surpass those in the coming weeks, and it could start to look even better, but at the same time, there's still a bit of caution from me. I'd say 3.5.

It does kind of feel like we are down to 10 men for some reason here.

This time 15 days ago not many Sunderland fans would have wanted Rotherham to beat Sheff Wed a couple of weeks later, but that's where they seem to be at on RTG in the match thread.

It's certainly makes better viewing than it did on Nov 27th after the loss to Arsenal. https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/premier-league/27-november-2021/ 7 points behind Watford then, having played a game more, and -10 worse off in terms of goal difference. Now GD is the same, and we are 3 points clear of them, with us having the game in hand.

Crazy to think they ended 2021 with 4 wins and a draw from their final 5 matches, so 13 points from 15, and a 3-0 win over Donny on Dec 27th, and 5-0 over Sheff Wed on the 30th, but since the turn of the year, they've just won 1 of their first 8 league matches, or 6 points, in League One. I'm pleased Wigan turned their match around today, as it was looking like it could have been like 2 points from 4 matches for them, with a backlog of matches to catch up on, as well as still being in the pizza cup.

The 3pm's weren't perfect (as we have had a lot of key games go our way recently), but not bad all in all. A shame Everton had an emphatic win, as while I did think they would eventually pull away, it is always nice having teams above you within one win of you, and now there's a 4 point gap. A shame Brentford 'stopped their rot', but then again, Palace at home is certainly a winnable game in this league (and one I will be looking at in the near future), so you could maybe say it was two home points dropped, and if we win any of our three games in hand, then they are certainly within reach. Most importantly, Watford lost at home, and the 'Hodgson effect' doesn't seem to have had an impact yet - 3 games, 1 point, no goals. Hopefully Man City will do their usual business here, but it's still Burnley that I do have a few concerns over. They seem to do sneaking up for a living, and while 1 win in 20 is awful, they have only lost 8 matches of 20, which is good, and if they can eventually turn some of those draws into wins, then they will probably be the main threat to 17th.

Sheff Wed vs Rotherham just before our match on Sky tomorrow. Probably want Sheff Wed to win that at this stage now? Rotherham 10 points clear (of Sunderland) with 2 games in hand, including tomorrow, whereas Sheff Wed would go level on points with them if they won. Plus as it stands, MK Dons, Wycombe, and Plymouth doesn't look the most intimidating for the playoffs (I know they lost to Lincoln last year), so wouldn't mind a team like Sheff Wed, Ipswich etc. to go on good runs and sneak in to them late on.

I'm not fussed about Man Utd vs Southampton, but will be watching as I'm loving football for some reason at the moment, haha. But then I'd like: Either a draw or Leeds win vs Everton Palace to beat Brentford BHA to beat Watford Man City to beat Norwich The latter two goes without saying, although I guess the other two are less clear cut, and some could argue for a Palace draw etc. but when you see the contrast in their respective relegation odds, Brentford losing is defo the best outcome IMO.

A bit of a change of scenery to the general gist of the thread, but this is quite a good listen. I'm only about 25 mins in, but Tom White (Sunderland fan) comes across as a good bloke.