Mensah confident Sunderland will improve
Sunderland defender John Mensah says he is confident the club can improve on their 13th place Premier League finish from last season.
Mensah has signed on loan from Lyon for the second season running and says that all of the early signs coming out of the club are very positive. Sunderland are a side that play to their strengths and they stand a very good chance of breaking the top ten this season.
Now that the club seem to have consolidated in the Premier League, there is additional pressure for them to progress up the table. This means increased prize money if they finish higher up the league, which can be used across various areas of the team.
Sunderland already have strength in many areas of the side. However, teams are going to be scrapping harder than ever before this season because the stakes have never been higher.
Strength in many areas
Mensah is one of the real quality signings that the club have made in recent times. They have very good individual players in all areas of the team and this creates a very good balance.
Craig Gordon in goal is solid between the posts and will save the club a few goals each season. Mensah has been unfortunate not to make it at Lyon but has proved he is clearly good enough to play in the Premier League.
In attacking positions the club have the likes of Darren Bent and Steed Malbranque who have both scored a lot of goals during their Premier League careers. Everything is geared towards Sunderland flying out of the traps this season.
Mensah said: "I have only been back a few days, but you can tell that some really talented players have been added to the squad. And because it was already a young squad, the players who were already here are better for last season's experience in the Premier League. I am so happy to be back and be a part of it."
Under pressure
One thing Sunderland can work on is their consistency when they are under pressure. This is something that manager Steve Bruce has already talked about and it seems he wants his team to take most of their points in front of a big crowd at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland are always going to find it tough to beat the bigger sides in the Premier League but the club have to turn draws in to wins and this is not something they always did last season.
Mensah added: "I had a specialist working with me in the World Cup and he was able to make sure that I stayed fit enough to play a big part in the competition - I was feeling tired towards the end of the [Saturday's] game, but that is only natural because I have played no football really since the end of the World Cup."
Betting advice
Sunderland have an outside chance (at the very best) of snapping up a European place by the end of the season. However, for this to happen they will have to perform extremely well and play well above expectations for them this season.
The best approach to take with this team is to bet match by match because they do not have the consistency which would give you confidence to bet on them to finish in a particular position. You can also back individual players this way. Bent looks set to score a lot of goals again this year after finishing last season as the highest scoring English player.
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