Ahead of tomorrow night’s trip to Sunderland, LFW caught up with Joseph Tilbury from the Sunderland World blog for his thoughts on the Mackems.

Asses Sunderland's season so far.

It's been a quite frustrating at times, but there is optimism ahead for the second half of the season. Whilst we've only won four times, we've had 11 draws which have helped to tide us over in terms of league position. With a bit more quality up front we could have turned some of them into wins which would have made a huge difference to our league position. There have been some fairly shocking displays, such as Southampton away and the second half of Hull at home, however there have also been some good performances which lacked the clinical finish to take the points.

Having staged the ‘great escape’ last season, are you disappointed not to have kicked on significantly?

We mightn't have really kicked on but I don't think that was the aim, as nice as it would have been if it had happened. This season was meant to be a consolidation season, where we'd finish comfortably in the top half of the bottom half. There probably wouldn't be much improvement in the league position we achieved last season - fourteenth - but it would be more comfortable in terms of avoiding relegation. Whilst we may have flirted with the bottom three a little closer than we'd have liked to, it's largely gone to plan.

Jermain Defoe, outrageous contract, but two goals already, what's the general consensus with him?

It was plain to see that scoring goals was a problem for us and Defoe is just what we needed. Although he's 32, he's proven in the games he's played that he's still sharp and has something to offer. I'm confident he can get us the goals to keep us safe. Most fans are surprised that we signed him, especially as we were reportedly one of ten clubs in for him. Personally I thought he would go to you lot, considering his relationship with Harry Redknapp and he would be living in London again.

As for the deal itself, although he's one of, if not the highest earner(s) at the club, the fact we swapped him straight for Altidore means that we're only actually paying an extra £20k or so in wages, which we can afford due to the lack of transfer fee and having released Cabral too. And let's face it, no matter what he goes on to do at the club, he's going to do better than Altidore.

Connor Wickham, ever going to fulfil that potential? Like the party life too much?

I hope so! I think it would be harsh to judge him on this season as Poyet has often chosen to play him out wide, in the role Fabio Borini occupied for us last year, which has baffled many fans. You only have to take a look at him and the way he's built to see that he's meant to be a big, bruising centre forward. He's still only 21, and he linked up well with Defoe against Burnley. Hopefully he can take Wickham under his wing and help him along in his development and calm him down a bit too.

What do you think of the job Gus Poyet has done so far?

Poyet's time on Wearside has had its issues. There have been complaints about aspects of recruitment, with some of his signings such as Liam Bridcutt and Will Buckley disappointing and question marks as to how many of the other signings are actually his. His style of play has also often been criticised by fans for being too negative and boring to watch, with a great focus on possession resulting in lots of sideways and backwards passing, and it doesn't really work when playing against smaller teams who are happy to sit back and play on the counter.

Having said that, his stewardship has undoubtedly been a success so far. Despite cutting it fine, we avoided relegation by the skin of our teeth last season and did well in both cups. And whilst it's not been all plain sailing, with some bad moments along the way, Poyet hasn't been at the club 18 months yet and in that time we've been to the Capital One Cup Final, beating Chelsea and Manchester United along the way, beaten Newcastle three times and had all the games involved in the “great escape" like the wins at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge as well as the home results against Cardiff and West Brom. These moments have been few and far between under previous managers, and these results help his rapport with the fans when things aren't going so well.

Does Ellis Short retain the faith and support of the fans? Few rumblings from Poyet about the way you buy players, which if course was a problem for Di Canio as well.

There have been some grumbles about the lack spending in comparison to other seasons, but I think that's just the reality of FFP kicking in. It's the same for most clubs in the league at the moment. To be honest although we haven't really spent big in the summer, the biggest outlay being £10m for Jack Rodwell, it's been some of the thriftier deals which have been the most successful. Rodwell is being kept out the team by Jordi Gomez, who came in on a free transfer. Costel Pantilimon, another free transfer, is showing his class and Patrick van Aanholt, £2.5m, has been one of our best performers.

I do have some sympathy for Poyet, as I disagree with the director of football concept. A manager has to have his own team, as he's the one who has to make it work and take the criticism if it doesn't . Whilst Lee Congerton is definitely an improvement on Roberto De Fanti, he left his previous club Hamburg in the midst of a relegation battle which raises some questions as to his role in their struggles. Judging by his work there and some of the players we've been in negotiations with (van Aanholt, Bamford, Kalas) whilst he's been here he mainly uses his Chelsea connections to sign academy products who haven't made the first team. The jury's still out after the summer business too.

Who have been the stand out performers, who are the weak links?

In terms of stand out performers, my three would be Pantilimon, Lee Cattermole and van Aanholt. Bringing Pantilimon into the side has been one of the decisions of the season. He's a good shot stopper and his height ensures that he collects crosses with ease, something which even Simon Mignolet couldn't do. Cattermole has been brilliant in front of the back four and has been missed of late - Bridcutt isn't anywhere near as good as him. Van Aanholt has been one of our best attacking outlets and his marauding runs from left back have provided several goals for us this season. He's also grown into his defensive role as the season has progressed too.

I'd say many of our attacking players are our weak links. Adam Johnson has not contributed as much to the team as he did last season, and in general is quite inconsistent. Steven Fletcher has also failed to hit the heights he reached in his first season and like Johnson is quite inconsistent. Although he has four goals, they've only come in two games. Jordi Gomez has also frustrated fans, often taking too much time on the ball and taking the sting out of our own attacks although he has provided some goals.

Short, medium and long term aims for the club? How can Sunderland kick on and be more than this relegation struggler every year?

Firstly, I think in the short term we need to figure out our best system which incorporates our first choice players, something at the moment I feel as though we are lacking. At the end of last season when we performed our "great escape" we used the same team in each game, however of late we've been experimenting with different formations which haven't necessarily incorporated our best players and involved some, like Wickham, playing out of position. I also think we need to stick with a manager to give the club a bit of stability and something to build on. Many of our key players are also ageing, especially in defence where two of our three centre backs, Brown and O'Shea are 35 and 33 respectively so we need at least one more younger defender in the summer to be able to take over as they get less reliable. After that, we need to keep a consistent team with a few quality additions in the right places and we should kick on in the long run.

I do feel though that this has been proven and will continue to be difficult due to circumstances beyond the clubs control. As has been demonstrated in recent seasons, Sunderland isn't the club to be at if you harbour dreams of playing for England. It's part of the reason why Darren Bent left and is something which may deter other players from joining the club. It's quite obvious that given our league position Sunderland is never going to be the first port of call when it comes to picking an international squad, but some of the performances that Adam Johnson put in last season warranted more than the snigger which followed whenever you mentioned him in the same sentence as England. This is also true of Lee Cattermole. Whilst I'm not saying he is the answer to England's problems in the holding midfield position, given some of the performances he's put in for us and his success at Under 21 level he shouldn't be totally forgotten about either. There is also the issue of the City itself. As we saw with Eduardo Vargas in the summer, the decision between Sunderland and QPR came down to would you rather live in London or the North East? Absolute no brainer to anyone, especially for most young lads.

Links >>> Sunderland World

The Twitter @loftforwords, @SunderlandWorld, @J_M_Tilbury

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Photo: Action Images

TacticalR added 22:53 - Feb 9 Thanks to Joseph. Although Sunderland are in the relegation 'Mini-League' with us, and we have beaten them, it sounds like they have made enough gradual improvements to survive this season.
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