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Sunderland Blackcats: 2010 Team Preview | Odds

Matt Martz weighs in with Barclays Premier League 2010 futures betting article on Sunderland Blackcats. After narrowly avoiding the drop the year before, the Blackcats again escaped relegation in 2009…

English Premier League – Sunderland Blackcats 2010 Preview

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Odds to win the 2010-11 Premiership outright: 750/1

After narrowly avoiding the drop the year before, the Blackcats again escaped relegation in 2009 with a 13th place finish in the Barclay’s Premiere League.

It was a fitting end to a topsy-turvy season for first-year head coach Steve Bruce who came over from Wigan just before the start of the season. After starting the campaign with just six wins in their first 13 matches, the Cats went on a run of fourteen games without a win and finished the season winning just two of its final eight matches, including loses to bottom table West Ham, Hull City, and Wolverhampton.

Last year’s success can be largely attributed to English striker Darren Bent from Tottenham. It was nothing short of a spectacular season for the 26-year old who finished third in the Premier League in goals with 24.

Bent was Sunderland’s best player in 2009 and the main ingredient for the Black Cats’ up-front punch. But the side will need to have another player step up and be a legitimate offensive force if they are looking to continue to move forward this season by finally breaking into the top half of the league table.

Forwards Frazier Campbell (4G, 4A) and forward Kenwyne Jones (9G, 3A) appear to be two players that could help Bent in the top half of the field as they look to increase their scoring this season. Bet on Soccer at Sportsbook.com

But netting goals wasn’t the ‘Cats demise in 2009. The side conceded 56 goals, seventh worst overall, eight more than the 48 goals they tallied.

Now with the departure of key midfielder Lorik Cana and a serious injury to first-choice goalkeeper Craig Gordon during a pre-season match, the ‘Cats ability to keep opponents out of their own end may become an even more daunting task.
Sunderland did make some preemptive acquisitions during the transfer window, reinforcing their backline, picking up defender Titus Bramble from Wigan, midfielder Christian Riveros, defender Marcos Angeleri and highly rated Belgium keeper Simon Mignolet. The 22-year old 6-foot-4 netminder could see immediate action should Gordon remain unfit for the season opener against Birmingham on Aug. 14.

If striker Darren Bent reproduces the form that brought him 24 goals last season, and the added defensive selections do their job on the backline, Sunderland should finish in the top half of the table.

They will also need to improve their form away from the Stadium of Light, where they went 2-4-13 with a goal differential of minus 21 last season.

The nomadic Steve Bruce has a keen ability to get the best out of his players and his new transfers should fit well into his traditional 4-4-2 formation, that placed a combative midfielder or two in central midfield, with pace up front.

Sunderland Blackcats 2010 Prediction: Survival would be accepted as a respectable achievement, and considering some of last season’s inconstancies, it might have to be. The Blackcats should improve slightly with a top 12 finish.

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Matt Martz is a sportswriter for the Bakersfield Californian located in Central California. “ Football (soccer) is a game in which a handful of fit men run around for one and a half hours watched by millions of people who could really use the exercise.”