Sunderland’s Clash With Fulham Could Represent A Litmus Test For Progress

At the start of this season, it seemed as though every game was informative of the direction we were going in and that every game told us something about the squad and the team.

How would we compete with West Ham in our opening fixture? How would we bounce back after our first away defeat against Burnley? For me, it was following the home draw with Arsenal that I stopped asking about how we’d cope.

That performance told me all I needed to know: that when this Sunderland team puts their mind to a task; when there’s a collective desire to get a result, they can achieve it. So that took us to early November, when I started to relax and think we weren’t going to be in any relegation scrap, and to try and enjoy each match and the season as a whole.

When there were blips and when the collective eye wasn’t on the ball (the away games against Fulham, Brentford and West Ham) we always bounced back with a win or at least a solid performance. Our home form has been excellent, attracting plaudits from every angle, and it wasn’t until the Premier League title holders came to the Stadium of Light earlier this month that our undefeated home record was lost.

Indeed, our general form has been so good that there are many fans and football commentators who’ve mentioned Sunderland as contenders for a European spot. Yet, in the eyes of Régis Le Bris, forty points has always been the target — and I think he recently adjusted that total to forty two as the competition at the bottom has started to heat up.

I’m not worried in the slightest about being pulled into the relegation fight.

It’s not going to happen, but in my head, the reason I’ve returned to my early season thoughts of “This game will tell us a lot about this team and mentality”, for the Fulham game is, I suppose, the next stage of our development.

Are we going to stall and be very content just to sit mid-table and possibly end up as low as fifteenth or sixteenth (which we would’ve said was excellent before a ball was kicked this season), or do we have the skill, desire and energy to push on and try and claim a European spot?

The argument as to whether this is a good thing for the club at this stage is a moot point, as you can bet there isn’t one player in the squad who is holding back because they don’t think we’re quite ready for Europe as a club!

Fulham are one of those teams to whom if the psychology and attitude of the players isn’t right, we’ll lose.

As a fan, I can appreciate that being “up” for a game against a Manchester City or Arsenal is relatively easy a players want to show what they can do, challenging themselves against better teams and supposedly better footballers.

However, just as we might be walking to the Stadium of Light full of excitement and vigour for a match against the ‘Visitors’ or Manchester United, are we as passionate against Burnley or indeed Fulham? It must surely be the same for the team.

Yes, they’re professionals and should be able to play at their peak for every game, but in reality, that isn’t the case — only the very top teams have that consistency to turn it on against whomever the opposition might be.

So, I’m back to my early-season quandary. What will this game tell us about our team? Are we up for a European challenge — or is it “only Fulham”, and as such, we don’t have to put a shift in?

This week, I’ve seen some criticism of Le Bris, based on the idea that during the second half of the season, his teams are generally not as impressive as the first half. They either point to his second season with Lorient — when they were relegated — or the way we took our foot off the gas in the Championship when fourth place was assured — both of which were defined by extraneous circumstances, in my opinion.

Without Granit Xhaka, we’ve played four league games and lost three (albeit two of them were against Arsenal and Liverpool), but Xhaka is back for the Fulham game and despite losing Reinildo, we do have a decent squad to pick from.

I think the answer to my question is “Yes. We can push on, and our season isn’t going to fizzle out”.

We’ll know by Sunday afternoon, but I have confidence in this team’s ability to put a marker down against Fulham and go again. Haway, me bonnie lads!