Sunderland were really struggling last season and did look certain to go down for a while, as a rather pathetic 4-0 home defeat against fellow strugglers Aston Villa spelt the end for boss Gus Poyet, who was replaced by the experienced Dutchman Dick Advocaat for the last nine games.
In his nine games in charge at the back end of last season Advocaat managed to win three, lose three and draw the other three as he steered the Black Cats to Premier League safety.
It was however widely expected after he achieved this he would move on, and it did seem as though he would after it was confirmed. But such was the impact Sunderland had on Advocaat and vice versa, that the former Russia boss made a U-turn and remains in charge.
But what can the Black Cats really expect to achieve next season with Advocaat in charge? It will obviously be his first Premier League season and he will have a lot of pressure on his shoulders to ensure at the very least that they stay up.
That is the bare minimum, but it shouldn’t be the target for a club of Sunderland’s size, it is more of a last resort. However despite this, in recent seasons the Wearsiders have just about met the bare minimum and you get the feeling that Advocaat could be the man needed to break that trend.
It is not since the 2010/11 season Sunderland have managed a top ten finish, with two 17th place finishes in that period and of course last season’s rather tight 16th place finish, not good enough for a club with six top flight titles and two FA Cups.
The Black Cats have been underachieving for too long now, and the last couple of seasons have been especially unstable, with Sunderland sacking of their manager in each season in a last ditch attempt to keep them up. Whilst the tactic worked both times, it is not a viable way to stay in the Premier League every year.
What chairman Ellis Short will be targeting is some stability. He will be looking for a league campaign where relegation isn’t a threat and Sunderland push towards the top ten.
It does look like Advocaat is already addressing the problems with his side last season and is trying to make them a more stable team by improving what is an ageing defence by the signing of Celtic’s Adam Matthews for £2m and the signing of Sebastian Coates from Liverpool.
You sense if Sunderland can improve what was a painfully weak area of their team last season with these signings that they will go a long way to avoiding so many defeats like they had last season, as the defence did let them down all too often. Advocaat does look like he is trying to stabilise the team and ultimately that will be his overall aim.
Obviously some added creativity wouldn’t go amiss and interest has been in West Ham’s Stewart Downing who could provide some extra spark that the Black Cats were missing in the final third last season.
If Sunderland can get some decent players in along with Advocaat’s experience and know how, it does look as though the Black Cats can push on towards their biggest realistic target— and that is a top ten finish.
Whilst it is more likely the Wearsiders will finish around the 12-14th mark it is not beyond Advocaat’s experienced side to close that gap and put a real push for the top ten.
But in the bigger picture Advocaat’s men have not improved on their last season for a while now, instead the level has just been maintained or has got even worse. If the Dutchman can put a stop to this negative slide he can go a long way to getting Sunderland back on track and moving in the right direction again.
