Has battle for regional supremacy shifted?
THE gap between Newcastle and Sunderland has grown to six points in the Premier League table, but it will only get bigger as these two bitter rivals appear to be heading in opposite directions.
Sunderland's derby win might be explained as a flukey one off by the most stubborn United fan, a rare cause for celebration on Wearside, an aberration, but there was nothing lucky about it. Sunderland were the better side and deserved their first home win over the old enemy in 28 years. As things stand, they won't have to wait nearly as long for their next one. The end of January at St James's Park perhaps?
The Black Cats look like a club on the up, they have built up momentum over the past two years and, although they still look short in certain areas and will probably finish somewhere in mid-table, they look like a stronger club on the whole, well run by chairman Niall Quinn and superbly managed by Roy Keane without any boardroom interference.
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Yes, sunderland are a club on the up, but remember this is one result, won by one goal. we must remember that the comparison of clubs involves a horrible period at the start of this season instead of board room steadiness and that before that turmoil performances reflected what we can achieve as a confident unit.
its still a little early to be saying the power has shifted just because an admittedly cracking free kick was blown beyond Given's fingertips to end a twenty eight year drought of wins. such a long recent history of superiority is not overthrown in one game or even a few at the start of the season. sunderland fans should wait until they have placed above us a couple of seasons running and also see what happens if we stabilise this season so the two squads can be compared without boardroom shenanigans.
it is also worth putting this into perspective: Saturday was an away loss by one goal. If we were to win at SJP (which would appear likely, the home advantage would have tipped the scales on Saturday in what was a close game) then the two teams would be equal this season, with superiority decided by league position.
essentially neither team is massively ahead of the other at this point