Watching last night – If winning play-offs Sunderland look real threat in Premier League… | OneFootball

I tuned in on Tuesday night to watch the Sunderland v Coventry match.

The mackems having won the first leg of their play-off semi-final 2-1.

The second leg on Wearside last night.

Monday had seen Sheffield United win 3-0 at home to Bristol City, that completed a comprehensive 6-0 aggregate victory, emphasising exactly why the Blades had finished 22 points ahead of them in the normal league season (even though Sheffield United had two points deducted from their Championship total).

Leeds United and Burnley had finished in the top two automatic promotion places.

This was the final Championship table at the end of the regular season:

So last night, would the team who finished 24 points off the automatic promotion places get to Wembley, or the one that finished 31 points behind the top two?

The short answer is the one who finished ‘only’ 24 points behind the top two.

The basic facts of last night’s match are that Mason-Clark scored in the 76th minute meaning Coventry won 1-0 on the night. That meant the game went to extra-time as the tie had ended 1-1, then in the final seconds of that extra-time, Ballard scored for Sunderland. So the mackems will play Sheffield United at Wembley on Saturday 24 May, for a place in the top tier.

What I can say with absolute certainty after watching that match last night, if they win that play-off final, Sunderland will for sure be a massive threat in the Premier League…to Derby County’s all-time PL record!

Honestly, Sunderland will absolutely get battered if promoted.

I have watched a fair few Championship matches this season and the standard is appalling.

This season in the Premier League, all three of the 2023/24 promoted teams from the Championship have been relegated since…pretty much the start of the season. The gap has never been bigger between the top two tiers, well, not until next season anyway!

With two rounds of matches to go in the Premier League, Ipswich and Leicester have 22 points each and Southampton 12.

Leeds and Burnley play neat and tidy football and ended up with 100 points each, but just like the three promoted 12 months ago, neat and tidy without proper quality and goal threat then simply equals nowhere near good enough in the Premier League.

Leeds lost their best players when relegated two years ago, yet finished this season with 100 points in the Championship.

Burnley (second bottom with 24 points) and Sheffield United (rock bottom with 16 points) were beyond abysmal in last season’s (2023/24) Premier League and then both lost their best players, yet they have been so much better than the rest (apart from Leeds), finishing on 100 and 90 points respectively (Sheffield United would have had 92 points but had two points deducted for off the pitch reasons).

Sunderland have been a country mile even behind this trio of Championship teams, imagine what will happen if they get promoted???

They would spend money…well, Ipswich Town spent £130m after getting promoted and that has proved to be nothing like enough to come close to what is needed to survive in the Premier League.

The thing is as well, Sunderland were outclassed at home to Coventry City last night, never mind competing in the Premier League.

They were absolutely battered and anybody who watched the game will tell you it was one of the biggest flukes ever, that they weren’t knocked out. Coventry dominated and created countless chances, only for their lack of real quality to show in the final third. On balance of play Coventry should have won by three or four at least.

Having watched Sheffield United on Monday night and a few other times this season, I can’t see anything but Sunderland getting another battering at Wembley, where surely they won’t fluke another one.

However, if they do, Derby County fans will be celebrating for sure, as their all-time Premier League record of 11 points in a season will surely be massively under threat.

I look at Southampton this season and I think they have at least half a dozen Premier League level players, some of them actually I wouldn’t mind having at Newcastle United.

Last night though (and from what I have seen previously), there wasn’t a single Premier League level player on the pitch, for either Sunderland or Coventry.

It is of course sad overall that this situation has increasingly developed, such a massive gulf between Premier League and below.