Last season: The Black Cats held onto their Premier League status last season finishing 17th just three points above FA Cup winners Wigan. The team struggled a lot this past season from the beginning which resulted to the sacking of Martin O’Neill last March after eight fruitless matches in a row that left the team just one point above the relegation zone. This resulted to the appointment of former West Ham striker Paolo Di Canio.
Sunderland’s record of 9 wins last season as well as 12 draws and 17 losses, shows that there is a lot of work to be done for Di Canio, especially improving the Black Cats’ away record for starters. Di Canio managed to save the team from relegation, but that doesn’t mean that Sunderland will not be facing any further and harder challenges this season, despite their recent forays in the transfer market.
Transfer Ins:
Emanuele Giaccherini (Juventus)
El-Hadji Ba (Le Havre B)
Jozy Altidore (Alkmaar)
Vito Mannone (Arsenal)
David Moberg Karlsson (Goteborg)
Modibo Diakite (Lazio)
Cabral (Basel)
Valentin Roberge (Maritimo)
Duncan Watmore (Altrincham)
Transfer Outs:
Ben Wilson (Cambridge United)
James McClean (Wigan Athletic)
Ryan Noble (Burnley)
Matthew Kilgallon (Blackburn Rovers)
Simon Mignolet (Liverpool)
Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull City)
Johny Maddison (Crawley Town)
Titus Bramble
Adam Reed (Burton Albion)
Player to watch:
It would be very interesting to also see how well Emanuele Giaccherini does in England, following the Italian international’s arrival from Serie A champions Juventus, where last season he capped 40 appearances with 4 goals. The 28-year-old midfielder is tasked with providing the ammunition for Steven Fletcher and Jozy Altidore.
Prediction:
Despite Paulo Di Canio injecting life into Sunderland at the back end of last season and a summer of ins and outs at the Stadium of Light, I see another season of struggle for the Black Cats.
My prediction for Sunderland: 16th place
First match: VS Fulham (Home)
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