We have nothing to fear except fear itself: there's time to recapture momentum for the playoffs

03/18/2025 02:00 AM

"There is no reason for the players or the fans to fear any of our remaining opponents. There is no other team in contention for the playoffs that we could not beat on our day."

Pondering the embers of the weekend, and grasping for something positive to think about, I started thinking about our last trip to Wembley.

For all the times we had been there and come away tired, hurt, and broken, that one day of glory made it all worth it. From the Reid years when I fell in love with Sunderland, to the brief but memorable highs in those final years in the Premier League keeping our heads above water before the bitter release of relegation in 2017, the single moment I can point to where I felt happiest was the final whistle in May 2022.

It was made sweeter by how distant it had seemed a few months prior.

When news was filtering through that Lee Johnson was off after the beating we took off Bolton, promotion should have seemed likely — yet the board decided it did not feel like it; still less, when grainy photos of Alex Neil in club garb at a train station were doing the rounds on Twitter three weeks later with Sunderland having recorded dismal defeats against the likes of MK Dons and Cheltenham.

Yet from that point, momentum was built. We went into the Playoffs on a high. When the Final day came about, everyone was not just confident, they knew that we would beat Wycombe.

Contrast that to how we felt against Charlton in 2019. Like this year, we looked like one of the best teams in the division most of the time, only to let ourselves down at crucial moments.

It's very harsh of me to compare this team to that one - today's is a young team brimming with talent and potential, destined for better things (hopefully, most of them with Sunderland). But the feeling of things just not quite coming together at this crucial stage of the season is still there.

It's not too late. The international break has come at a perfect time for a reset.

We have eight games left, and we ought to play with the confidence that we can beat any team in this division. We should not be afraid to try new things, and despite Saturday, Le Bris deserves the trust of fans to do just that.

We will also have Le Fée back for the business end of the season, who has proven himself as a game changer.

If momentum is crucial for the playoffs, we can build it in the final eight games.

There is no reason for the players or the fans to fear any of our remaining opponents. There is no other team in contention for the playoffs that we could not beat on our day.

We have every right to be angry with the performance this weekend, but this team has the ability, with fans' support starting against Millwall, to change the narrative when it matters most.