Former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp thinks that Sam Allardyce will keep Sunderland in the top flight this season, after the club appointed him as their new manager.
Speaking in his column in The Telegraph, Redknapp said that Allardyce was the best man for the job at Sunderland and that he has a squad capable of staying in the division. He also says he can understand why Sam accepted the offer to manage the North East side, despite the rumours that he was reluctant to do so at first.
I can understand why Sam has taken the Sunderland job, even though there was a lot of talk last week about him being reluctant to go there. He was their first choice for a reason – he is the best man for the job. Sunderland are a good club. We forget that sometimes because they always seem to be in relegation trouble, but the support up there is fantastic and Sam knows that. He realised he was not going to get a better club to come back into the Premier League with, certainly not in the short term, so he has gone for this one.
I have also been critical of the players there and I do think they have bought badly, which is why Dick Advocaat left so quickly, but when you look at their squad, they have players who have been in trouble before and got out of it. They have got Steven Fletcher, Fabio Borini and Jermain Defoe up front and that can make a big difference. The newly promoted teams do not have squads like that. If they get a few injuries, they are going to be in trouble. They haven’t got the depth and that means Sunderland have an advantage over them
Redknapp could be right, Sunderland do look like they have a squad capible of dealing with a few injuries, a luxury other sides at the bottom of the division do not have. Bournemouth for example, have lost a number of key players with long-term injuries and their squad is now looking rather thin.
Redknapp believes that Sunderland aren’t even the team from the North East who are in the most danger, he says that Newcastle are in more trouble than Allardyce’s men.
When I look at the North East teams, I think Newcastle might be in more trouble than Sunderland. Steve McClaren is a good manager, probably better than some of the managers at the top of the division, but he has not got the players at Newcastle. He has got some poor ones and it does not look like they have helped him much in the summer with the ones they signed.
