Diary of a Sunderland fan: #16 - How Should I feel about today’s game? Nervous? Confident?

The high of thumping Norwich last Sunday was tempered somewhat by our lucky escape from defeat against Sheffield Wednesday in midweek and I just don’t know how I should feel about the prospect of today’s game with Leeds.

We’ve already came across a number of stern tests so far in our return to the Championship, but none of them will come more difficult than against Thomas Christiansen’s team - another side, like ourselves, that are unbeaten so far this season.

Winning today could give us a pretty clear indication of what to expect from Grayson’s men going forward. Nobody expected us to start the season as well as this and sitting pretty with eight points from a possible twelve would set us up for a good campaign, especially with the likes of Barnsley and Sheffield United to play in the coming weeks.

Winning is just something we’re not familiar with. In fact, drawing games is something we’re not familiar with. Having watched us pounded into the canvass more than enough times in recent years, it has become difficult trying to judge how we should actually feel about how we’ve performed so far this season.

Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

I’m not getting to ahead of myself, am I? Perhaps it’s the nerves. There’s still loads of football left to play this season, and in truth, I’m just worried about losing and feeling deflated. I guess that’s the nature of supporting Sunderland - you’re always waiting for the next disaster to come around. A bad loss this evening would bring us right back down to Earth, whilst another draw would probably temper expectations.

I’m just not used to being the fan of a Championship club quite yet. Cardiff are sat top of the league having conceded zero goals so far in their three games, but do I expect them to be up there come the end of the season? Of course not.

This division is full of inconsistent teams, and I’ve no doubt that we’ll suffer defeats along the way - lets not forget that Newcastle won the league having lost ten games last season.

It’s about how you rebound from those disappointments. Here’s hoping the players took Wednesday’s draw - having led for much of the game - personally. If they can show their toughness, in front of a home crowd, it’ll give the supporters plenty of hope and optimism, which is needed right now.