REALITY CHECK

Following the frenzied hype that has accompanied Sunderland’s excellent start to the season, Saturday’s disappointment should be seen as a healthy dose of reality.

In recent weeks, we have seen the same ‘expert’ pundits who were certain we would finish bottom queuing up to say we are the best thing since sliced bread.

As with everything these days, you are either the best or the worst. The same people who have been predicting Europe, after a couple of performances like Saturday will be saying we’ll get relegated again! There is no room for sensible debate about the inbetween. We have even had the complete nonsense that Sunderland could ‘do a Leicester’ and win the league!

As always, the truth for Sunderland is somewhere in between. We have already demonstrated we have the quality and organization to more than compete at this level but there are going to be bumps along the way, like at Craven Cottage.

To his credit, Le Bris has very much kept his feet on the ground amidst the whirlwind of plaudits which has recently seen him compared by Granit Xhaka to Arsene Wenger. He has wisely kept to the script that the target remains 40 points and to stay in the league. Once we hit this target. We can think about the next.

As Saturday demonstrated, while Sunderland’s brilliant performances should be enjoyed by a success-starved fanbase, this is no time to get carried away. A top 10 finish and beating the Mags, for example, would be a truly outstanding season. Let’s leave the extreme predictions to the ‘experts’.