Season Preview - Sunderland

Quick Reminder, Real Life

What started brightly with a forward line of DBent, Gyan, and Campbell came closer to the relegation zone than anyone who watched the first half of the season or looked at the final standings would ever have guessed. February, March, and the first half of April were an unmitigated disaster with the club earning exactly 1 point between Feb 1 and April 16. If you’re looking for causes, the sale of talisman Darren Bent to Villa combined with an injury to Campbell and a lack of many additional attacking options were a big root cause. A solid run from mid-April through the end of the season that saw them win three of their five matches saved their bacon and even got them a nice-looking 10th place finish despite their miserable run.

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

Darren Bent was Darren Bent when he was there (leading one to wonder why they agreed to sell him to a non-"big" team or why DBent wanted to go). Gyan was OK but nothing great. Bardsley had a nice fantasy season that ended with some big matches in the second half despite Sunderland’s generally miserable play in the real world. Otherwise, it was a bit of a fantasy wasteland at the Stadium of Light, highlighted by Sessegnon's never making it into the sytsem! Just to give you an idea of how bad, most of Sunderland’s first page of options in Yahoo are players new to the team. Jordan Henderson had a solid fantasy season but certainly not one that helps explain the price Liverpool were willing to pay for him.

Summer Changes

Sunderland Analysis - Lots of Transfer Activity

I've already gone on record in thinking that NUFC are among the mid-table clubs that have done very well for themselves thus far.  They've gone from highly volatile and a bit long in the tooth to more solid if perhaps a little less potentially spectacular.  West Brom has quietly solidified themselves in the back with some solid acquisitions as well.  That brings us to Sunderland who have stepped up the pace dramatically in the last ten days with three (relatively) high profile signings in Connor Wickham, Seb Larsson, and Craig Gardner to go along with depth in Keiran Westwood and my new favorite Premier League player "Bishop Magic" Dong-won.

So, how to the new signings look? First of all, I really like the Wickham move.  Here's my logic:

Seb Larsson to Sunderland

Photo courtesy USA.Arsenal.com

Sunderland begin rebuilding their midfield.

Swede Larsson leaves Birmingham for Sunderland - Yahoo! Eurosport

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has agreed to sign Swedish international Sebastian Larsson from his old club Birmingham City.

I think this is a good signing. Larsson has always produced when given extended runs in the team and he seems like the type of player that would respond well to Bruce's more player-friendly management style.

My concern would be that he's not a good fit for the current Sunderland side. It's hard to imagine him and Kieran Richardson playing inside-out wingers around Asamoah Gyan. Larsson just doesn't strike me as the type of player who will cut inside and run at players. He won't be replacing Welbeck, and he's a different player from the returning Campbell. He'll stick to his flank and send in beautiful crosses. That's what he does. But for that to be effective he needs someone on the end of those balls. It's no surprise that his best spell with Birmingham came in the Championship with Nicklas Bendtner also shining.

So I would expect the other shoe to drop and Sunderland to be buying the target forward they've been missing since they sold Kenwyne Jones and then Darren Bent. And, because nothing is more fun, let me start the rumour right now -- Sunderland will follow this purchase by buying Nicklas Bendtner from Arsenal.

Why not?

Bentley to Blues

Bentley loaned to Blues: Birmingham City have confirmed that Tottenham Hotspur winger David Bentley is to join t... http://bit.ly/gRItTJless than a minute ago via twitterfeedThe Premier League
ThePrem

It seems like our earlier post about Robbie Keane to Birmingham was wrong, though rumour now has Rangers' Kenny Miller joining his former manager. And while this deal is still awaiting a medical, it seems close to done.

For fantasy I think this returns Former BFDB to relevance. He's well-priced at 7.73 and will likely slot right into the team (on the right), ending Beausejour's and Hleb's relevance -- or what there was of it -- while likely vulturing kicks and points away from Larsson.

Season Preview: Birmingham

There isn't a great deal of transfer speculation ongoing that is likely to have a major impact on Birmingham's season or fantasy fortunes one way or the other.  The squad is likely set for the most part with only an oldster (Camoranesi?), a youngster (Clyne?) and a forward looking to climb a few levels of competition (Dembele) even in the "strongly rumored" stage of the transfer process.

Overall Outlook - It was an odd season for Birmingham but certainly a solid one for a team newly promoted.  That said, major questions linger about the sustainability of the form that saw them comfortably above the relegation fray all season.  First, how much of their prowess at the back was due to the heroics of now-back-at-City Joe Hart? Which defence is the real defence? The one that gave up a combined total of 6 goals over 10 matches in Novermber and December including draws with Citeh, Liverpool, Everton, and Chelsea and compiled 22 points over that stretch? Or the one that gave up 29 goals in 18 matches after the calendar turned to 2010?  The latter isn't a terrible team, but it certainly isn't a team you want to hitch your fantasy hopes to.  Now subtract Hart and sub in Ben Foster who isn't a bad option but certainly wasn't challenging to be England's Number 1 this summer.  Only one major addition so far in Zigic and I have to say I see a drop in fortunes for Brum going into this season. 

Blues Seal De Ridder Deal

Newly-promoted Birmingham have added Holland Under-21 winger Daniel de Ridder to their squad for the new Barclays Premier League season.

The 23-year-old, who was part of his country's successful European Under-21 Championship campaign, was out of contract with Spanish side Celta Vigo.

Don't know much about de Ridder. It was Rigters, Babel, and Drenthe who received most of the attention during Holland's U-21 tournament victory. But it looks like de Ridder set up two of their four goals in the final match. So maybe he's someone to watch out for next season. But someone correct if I wrong in thinking that Sebastian Larsson already plays on the right side of Birmingham's midfield.