Making the Stadium of Light a Fortress

       This season Sunderland have had a brilliant start against the top sides of the Premiership.  With winning against Man City and drawing with Arsenal and Manchester, Sunderland have picked up 5 points against sides in the top 4 at the Stadium of Light this season.  Sunderland are one of the side that are stuck in the middle of the table, they are not going to get relegated and they can't compete with the top sides for money so won't get to Europe at the moment.  But despite saying all this Sunderland are a side moving in the right directions by doing what you need to do, turn you home stadium into a fortress where teams find it hard to pick up points.


       Last season Sunderland finished 13th in the Premiership and during that season they picked up nine of their eleven wins at home and only lost 3 times at home to Chelsea, Manchester United and Aston Villa, all sides who finished in the top 6 last season.  They picked up 75% of their point at home last season and it is something which a side can build on.  If your winning at home and not away from home it means that either people are intimadated when playing you at your home or you aren't doing things tactically right away from home or in Sunderlands case a bit of both.

       This year Sunderland have done a couple of key deals during the transfer window to try and boost the squad and move the club up the Premiership table.  The caputure of Ghanaian superstar is a key purchase for Sunderland, although he has played much yet it is due to him lacking some fitness after a tough World Cup and Steve Bruce doesn't want to rush him into the first team for the fear of him picking up an injury.

       I am slightly concerned with the number of first team players which are on loan.  They have Welbeck, Onuoha, Al-Muhammadi and Mensah all on loan this season with all four of this players being key players for the squad.  I couldn't find if these players have buy out clauses on the loans so Sunderland can buy them at the end of the season but I can't imagine Manchester United giving up Danny Welbeck for anything less £8million.

     Fulham and Birmingham are also sides which have solid home records but slightly poor away records.  They are both sides which will avoid relegation but just need to find that little something to get them to move up in the League.  I see Sunderland goin places this season top 10 finish is definite possibility this season and they should be looking to pick up more upsets away from home this season.