This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Sol Campbell spoke highly of Sunderland as a club after his team were defeated by the Black Cats on Saturday, but stressed that their aim of promotion won’t be easy to achieve.
What did he say?
The former Newcastle defender spoke of the good aspects of the club which should make them a big contender in the promotion race, but in a division as wide open as League One it won’t be straight-forward.
Sunderland have stuttered so far due to a lack of consistency and even a new manager hasn’t helped too much, with two wins matched by two defeats in league competition under Phil Parkinson.
So far the Black Cats’ home and away form has been a contrast, something which hasn’t been lost on Campbell, whose side were only narrowly beaten at the Stadium of Light despite one win in 16 league games this year.
Speaking post-match, as reported by the Sunderland Echo, he said:”They have the budget, they have the fans, the home form will definitely get them there, that is key if you want to get in the play-offs and have a chance of going up.”Where they want to be, they aren’t now, it doesn’t really match up with the facilities, the set-up, Sunderland need to be higher than where they are.”But there are no gimmes, you have to work and earn it. You have to earn the right to play before you can start bossing the game.”Watch League 1 Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv BelowBack to basicsThere have been positives and negatives to Sunderland since Parkinson took over, but he has simplified things and instilled his hard-working values already.Those are the kind of basics Campbell is referring to, and has been reflected in the two clean sheets Sunderland have kept in his two home games.If the team can maintain the positive home form Campbell alludes to then they will have a great base to build a promotion campaign, and if Parkinson can settle on his favoured team soon that will help massively.Sunderland are still struggling on the goal front with the exclusion of the home match against Tranmere a couple of weeks ago, and therefore the familiarity of a regular starting could be of benefit to the team.Will Grigg has scored just one of their 22 league goals, a record which is just the ninth-best in the league, and suggests their place outside the play-off places is well deserved.The team has lacked discipline, too, with 30 yellow cards and two red cards picked up. If Parkinson can get that right, and improve the lack of quality which leaves their pass accuracy at a lowly 72%, then Sunderland should begin to move up the table.
