3 Reasons Why Sunderland Fans Should Be Excited About The Second Half Of The Season Under Chris Coleman
Since taking over in November, former Wales manager Coleman has led Sunderland to 4 points from 4 games in the Championship, including a point at leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The strength of that form really depends on how you read it; having had to play Villa and Wolves away means 4 from 4 is not so bad. However, considering that Wolves were a letdown on the day and Sunderland simply got all of their side behind the ball and parked several buses means they got their point but could not repeat that every week.
They also gained a win against arguably the weakest team in the whole division, Burton Albion, and lost comprehensively at home to Reading. So overall, their form under Coleman so far is not the easiest to read.
There have been improvements though and here we look at three reasons why the club may be on the up now that the Swansea-born man is in the dugout:
Defensive Tactics Are The Norm
This is nothing new for Chris Coleman, apart perhaps from having to do it day in, day out.
When in charge of Wales, he was often coaching the underdogs and is therefore used to dealing with that type of situation. So he is basically now in the club equivalent role.
That being the case, Sunderland are going to get draws like the one at Wolves and maybe show enough organisation to gain points like those they got at Burton. However, to get real success (whatever that means right now), they need to have their own Gareth Bale.
Lewis Grabban is that man at present and so if he stays, they may avoid the drop. However, if he is recalled in January, it could all go very wrong.
They Have Upgraded
I have nothing against the man personally, but I have written here before that Grayson is not the best coach around to be fair and I feel that has been proven once again.
Preston North End seem to be better without him and now it seems Sunderland are too, although it is still early days. Coleman managed Fulham in the Premier League as well as Wales at international level and simply has more coaching and managerial ability than Grayson.
Change Is Good
When things are going even just fine, clubs and fans sometimes need to realise they should keep what they have and build a foundation. When it’s going very badly though, it is surely futile to stick with status quo and so at least Sunderland realised they needed to change something, the manager being the most obvious thing they could.