Keeping clean sheets has helped club’s unbelievable turnaround
Sunderland’s win at Oxford on Saturday leaves them just three points off the top of the table. When you think back to where Sunderland were after that Boxing Day fiasco against Bolton, it has been an unbelievable turnaround.
Sunderland were as low as they have ever been in their history over that miserable festive season.
Not only in league placing, but also the morale and optimism of both fans and the team had sunk to an all-time low.
Now, less than two months later, the morale and optimism is going through the roof thanks to just one defeat in the last 13 games.
There is always more than just one reason when these sort of massive improvements happen, but the main one for me is the amount of clean sheets the team are now keeping.
Earlier on in the season, Sunderland couldn’t buy a clean sheet.
It wasn’t that Sunderland were leaking goals like a sieve, but they would always concede at least one and when that happens, you can’t get those ugly 1-0 wins that get teams promoted.
Sunderland have won three of their last four away games 1-0 and not one of those slender victories has been easy on the eye.
However, they have yielded nine points when earlier in the season, and definitely last season, those games tended to end 1-1.
The Oxford win was all about the unglamorous side of the game; defensive resilience, sheer will and determination and huge work-rate with an “over my dead body” attitude and in a strange way those sort of wins are so satisfying.
Following that disappointing defeat to Portsmouth, Sunderland have responded superbly, winning three out of three, without conceding a single goal.
Last season we failed to win promotion because of all those 1-1 draws, maybe this season we can win promotion by turning them into 1-0 wins.
*The Sunderland Echo has launched a new SAFC weekly podcast call The Roar!
Every Thursday our team of SAFC writers – Phil Smith, Richard Mennear, Mark Donnelly and James Copley – discuss the big talking points of the week, whether it be takeover, transfer or tactics-related - we discuss it all!
With Sunderland again battling for automatic promotion from League One, we also answer fan questions and read out the best and funniest reader anecdotes as fans share their memories of following the Lads home and away over the years.
Our new 45-minute podcast is recorded at the University of Sunderland and it is published online and in all the usual podcast places every Thursday evening.
We'll also have special guests joining us throughout the season. To get involved, simply tweet a question to @sunechosafc and we'll fire the best at Phil and the team every week!