Sunderland AFC: Where Now For Steve Bruce?
With the dust finally settled on an impressive first season for Steve Bruce ,the question on every fans lips is, “What next?”
Having turned over enough players to form a 30-man World Cup squad of his own, the plan that Bruce seems to have mapped out for the football club seems the right one.
With strikers Daryl Murphy and David Healy, midfielder Teemu Tainio, defenders Nyron Nosworthy, George McCartney, and Anton Ferdinand, and want away goalkeeper Marton Fulop all up for grabs Bruce’s assertion that they will be replaced by three or four additions is a continuation of the “quality” rather than “quantity” policy that the club had pursued for too long, in the eyes of many supporters.
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The addition of Mexican side Cruz Azul’s Cristian Riveros is certainly a step in the right direction. The 45 times capped Paraguay international is, as expected, included in national coach Gerardo Martino's 30-man preliminary squad ahead of the World Cup and is another indication of Steve Bruce’s in depth knowledge of the Americas scene.
But who else do Sunderland need and, more to the point, can they reasonably expect to get?
Goalkeeping wise and the imminent departure of Fulop, who finished the season on loan at Premier League Manchester City, looks like a fairly straight forward position to fill, although with Craig Gordon rumoured to be a big money target of several clubs, including Arsenal, it could get complicated if The Black Cats have to move quickly on two keepers. As Niall Quinn has said himself, if a “crazy offer” came in for a Sunderland player then the club would seriously have to think about it.
The old adage that “every player has his price” has never been so true in the seemingly money no object world of the Premier League, especially in the austere times we live in.
Perhaps a realistic replacement for Gordon, if he were to leave, would be Manchester City’s Joe Hart, who enjoyed a highly successful season long loan deal at Birmingham City. However, whether City would be prepared to sell such a promising young goalkeeper is very much open to doubt. The goalkeeping situation is one to watch with particular interest.
Defence is where it gets more complex. With Alan Hutton hopefully a shoe-in signing in the close season the right back berth is filled, although the departure of Bardsley to either Sheffield United or West Bromwich Albion means that there is a question of cover, same with left back, where Steve Bruce would like Richardson to stay.
However, many Sunderland fans have their reservations about whether left back is the ex Manchester United player's best position, which leaves full back as a pressing issue for the Sunderland Manager. Furthermore with Spurs quoting a reported £7 million for Hutton, the attention could switch to Hamburg's Guy Demel in a £4 million deal should the Sunderland boss deem Tottenham's asking price to be too high.
Centre backs are two more positions with question marks against them. Although Mensah the Ghanaian produced some sterling displays for Sunderland, his injury record doesn’t make for happy reading and it must be a conundrum for Bruce as to whether he can take the risk on a permanent transfer. Certainly the mooted £7 million transfer fee, wanted by Lyon, must now be a non starter.
Elsewhere Michael Turner steadied himself after a settling-in period and with Kilgallon starting to look good towards the end of the season, it’ll be interesting to see whether Riveros international colleague Da Silva gets more of a look in during 2010-11.
The signing of Riveros, a midfield utility player, starts to give Bruce some options in the middle of the park. With the jury very much out on whether Cattermole and the Albanian Cana complement or hinder each other playing in the same side, Sunderland badly needs a goal scoring playmaker. Whether Riveros is that player remains to be seen.
The arrival of Henderson and Meyler and the way in which they adapted so quickly to the top flight was a big plus for Sunderland, but a shadow was placed over Meyler when he suffered ruptured knee ligaments in the game against Manchester United. How long he is out for no one knows at this stage.
Another plus for Sunderland was the way in which the “Belgian” Malbranque performed for Sunderland during 2009-10, well certainly the latter stages. If falling out with your manager produces such a reaction, then Steed’s performances since a rumoured bust up with Bruce indicates that more should be looking to get on the wrong side of the boss! Malbranque was arguably Sunderland’s best midfielder during the second half of the 2009-10 campaign.
A question for the midfield will also be whether Zenden is used as an impact player from the bench with such regularity again. His newly penned one-year contract was just reward for some good solid performances in the latter stages of games. He’s a very handy bloke to have around.
A final piece in the Sunderland jigsaw could be the rumoured capture of ENPPI's Egyptian wing back Ahmed Al-Muhammadi for £2.5 million.
The forward line produces perhaps potentially the biggest conundrum of all. With Banjani on his way and Bent up for another crack at the European Golden Shoe, will the performances of Campbell see Bruce cash in on Jones? You’d be hard pressed to find a Sunderland fan who has a bad word to say about Kenwyne but the general vibe that rolls on to the “terraces” is that his place at Sunderland does not seem to be assured, for whatever reason.
The substitute’s bench provides another talking point and with a growing emphasis on youth Waghorn, Colback, and Ryan Noble are the latest Academy products waiting to be viewed more often by the Wearside faithful. Noble is perhaps ripe for a season long loan in the championship but it's surely doubtful whether Bruce would allow say Leicester City and Ipswich Town to pry Waghorn and Colback away from the Stadium of Light without at least giving them a chance to show him what they can do. However the 2010-11 season will be a big one for those three.
The comings and goings at one of Britain’s best supported clubs during the close season will, as always, be scrutinised by the Sunderland faithful but it is difficult to think of a time, in the modern era, when the quality of players has been so high, with of course the prospect of the bar being raised even higher.
Not only is it a question of quality it's also, as Bruce so eloquently put it after the Wolves game, a question of mentality as Sunderland strives to build a side capable of winning football matches cerebrally as well as physically. As the Dutch Manager Rinus Michels once said “football is played 90 percent with the head and 10 percent with the feet.”
The future is bright for Sunderland and the fans are confident that finally they have a manager and players that they can realistically pin hopes on.
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