Sam can drive Sunderland to Bag a win

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The Hawthornes has not been a lucky hunting ground for Sunderland in recent years and I am sure Tony Pulis will have the Baggies pumped up after the International break for the visit of the team with Big Sam at the helm for the first time.

Article by Jon Guy

While we can understand the fact that Dick Advocaat was itching to get out of the door for a number of weeks and that Ellis Short and the board had been discussing the return of Allardyce for some time Sam may well have preferred a full week with the squad to assess what he has to put on the pitch.

The fear is always that players will return from the international duty injured/jetlagged,/exhausted but Sunderland have been more fortunate than some however the squad is pretty thin on quality despite the spending during the closed season and the fact that Lens and Coates are suspended doesn’t help.

Whether Sam will get the best out of Kaboul remains to be seen but we can expect that the team will look to grind out results from the platform of a disciplined defence and given our first six games I’d like to wish Sam all the very best with that.

He has said that he will look at the free agent market in a few weeks once he fully appreciates what he has and hasn’t got at his disposal and despite little to be done before January agents are already leaking stories on who Sunderland will and will not buy.

I said at the start of the season the biggest issue will be not who arrive in at the Stadium of Light but who is shown the door. There are clearly issues in the dressing room and the first thing Sam has to do it remove the bad eggs and with it the stink.

Having seen Big Sam play in a red and white shirt you would not want to mess with him and I believe he has the wherewithal to do the necessary cleaning.

As fans we want to see some organisation and application on Saturday. There needed to be a collective will to put their bodies on the line when they put the shirt on and while West Brom have not been storming the league so far they possess quality players and a manager who demands they leave everything on the field.

Sam says we need three wins in the bounce and a victory this weekend would set up the visit of Newcastle nicely.

It won’t be pretty and I think it will be a midfield struggle but ever the optimist I see Sunderland and Sam taking three points by the odd goal.

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