Referee after ten games. That was the advice as Sunderland started the season on a four-game winning run in the Championship. Good advice, that was the case too.
And here we are. Ten game points. So is it time to judge?
The answer is probably no, but there is a very good reason for that, and it lurks in one of the shady corners that most Sunderland fans don’t like to look at.
We’ll get to that soon, but let’s start with the obvious reasons for optimism. When Sunderland were sidelined for the first international break, with their 100% record intact, they were top of the Championship with two points and were the league’s top scorer. Nothing has changed there.
Sure, two games were lost, but neither of them were particularly bad, and most fans would agree that the team could and should have gotten something out of them. Plymouth’s stoppage-time winner after Sunderland’s late equalizer was deeply irritating, and Dan Neil’s reckless error that awarded Watford a late penalty when the Black Cats looked more likely to get a Watford winner even more so .
Of course, this has to be offset by a very fortuitous 96th-minute equalizer against Leeds, but the point is that Sunderland have shown some really consistent form this season. Ten matches were played and Regis Le Bris’s players were not suspended in any of them.
The other big reason for the ‘judge us after ten games’ warning was the realization that there were two big tests on the horizon – home games against Middlesbrough and Leeds. Add Burnley to the mix and it means that Sunderland have already played the three teams most expected to be their main promotion rivals and got something from each of them.
Sunday’s win against Hull was another interesting test as it required some maturity to dig in and grind out an away win. Once again Sunderland came out with flying colours.
Add to that the fact that the defense has kept six clean sheets in ten games, no club has had more goalscorers this season than Sunderland AND the strikers are scoring goals, and there’s a lot to be excited about.
And it’s not just about things that can be measured. Just watching Sunderland this season is a completely different experience. There is the intensity that was there before, clear patterns of play, a new authority and a quiet boldness. Everything just seems noticeably different.
But is it enough to fully assess how the season will go? Unfortunately, I don’t think so.
Because despite everything it feels and looks different from last year, if we isolate the first ten games, the results are actually not that different.
It’s easy, sometimes painful, to remember what happened last season, but the start was incredibly impressive. Sunderland beat Southampton 5-0, put in some great away performances to beat QPR, Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday and overall looked like a very skilful Championship side capable of making a serious push for promotion.
We also picked up 19 points in those ten games, just three shy of our total in the same number of games this season, so we don’t have to go back far into our history to know that beginnings can be deceiving.
Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham – Sunderland / IMAGO / Pro Sports images
And this is just recent history and rational arguments. We all have lifelong scars and deep-seated neuroses from supporting this stupid, stupid football club that has hardwired us to not only distrust the dawn, but to assume it is fake.
So while you have to give Regis Le Bris and his young squad all the credit in the world for how they started this season, as Sunderland fans it is simply not in our power to shake the nagging feeling that something terrible is going to happen . terribly bad.
I mean, I remember sitting at the Stadium of Light in August and watching Sunderland completely dominate Sheffield Wednesday and take a four-goal lead just after half-time. I couldn’t even shake the feeling that we might have screwed something up until the overtime board went up. So what real chances do I have here?
So to answer my original question: no, I don’t think now is the time to judge this team.
But I think it’s time to enjoy it.
The season may or may not end well, but we have a hugely talented young team to really like, an intellectual tactical turbo-nerd manager who can reignite the belief and sense that something is being built – no matter when it all comes Together.
Maybe it’s another false dawn, I don’t know. But really, ignorance itself is something new, right?