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I still stand by my previous statement that I would have taken a point before kick-off at the weekend and although it was incredibly frustrating to now hold onto our lead, it was still important to get something.
That result lifted us two places up the Premier League table, albeit it’s only three games in.
Right now it’s difficult to judge the transfer window properly, but I suspect that Wednesday will be very interesting for the lot of us.
Names like Vicente Iborra, Ryan Mason and Joe Hart have been linked with Sunderland over the last few days.
Iborra looks likely to stay at Sevilla after they decided to pull the plug on the deal. Delightful. I’ve seen mixed opinions of Ryan Mason on social media, but it's pretty damning that he has apparently turned us down in favour of a move to Hull City. Similarly, Hart has opted for a move to Italian side Torino rather than come to Sunderland.
Yann M’Vila is on the radar at the Stadium of Light apparently and, while I want him now desperately, there’s a few things to consider.
Firstly, and especially if we really are on a low budget then I can totally understand why Sunderland are reluctant to spend the money it would take to sign M’Vila now when he’s available for free in four months time. On the condition we definitely sign him for free in January, then I am more than content to wait to sign him then.
The second thing to consider as well is that he won’t be fully match fit right now either so even if we did buy him now we’d have to get him back to the fitness level he was at last season. Obviously there’s a risk of him being really unfit in January but you could get him to sign a pre-contract agreement to join us then for free and in the meantime, have him get his fitness levels up to speed, even if he doesn’t play games.
Thirdly, if we waited until January to sign M’Vila, then we could use the money we’d have to spent to sign him now on another player.
To me, we need another centre-back, at least central midfielder if not two, a winger now with Fabio Borini being ruled out for three months and a striker who is more of a target-man but can also ease the goal-scoring burden on Jermain Defoe.
Wilfred Bony is apparently available after being reportedly put up for sale by Manchester City. I usually hate loan deals but if we signed him on loan with an option to buy him next summer then I’d be happy! Will it happen? Probably not but I can be hopeful.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I plan to spend the majority of Wednesday with my arse firmly planted on the sofa watching Deadline Day, Jim White with his yellow tie and all, in the hope we pull off a few good signings that will leave our fans with, finally, something to smile about for the upcoming season.
