Sunderland welcomed a bumper crowd to the Stadium of Light at the weekend as they opened up their second consecutive campaign in the Championship.
The Black Cats faced Ipswich Town on home soil, with the visitors playing their first second tier match since they were relegated four years ago.
After such a successful season last time out for Sunderland, there was no surprise that so many felt optimistic. However, I made my way to Wearside with more of a worrying feeling – and was proven right.
While I was delighted to see Jobe Bellingham prove exactly why there was a number of clubs clamouring for his signature, our squad – featuring a 19-year-old striker who hadn’t played a game of competitive senior football – lacked any real game plan.
With Luke O’Nien taking the captain’s armband in the controversial absence of Danny Batth, there was no clear leadership or a dominating figure in the backline like the veteran defender would often bring.
While O’Nien was actually brilliant in the first half and pulled off an exceptional goal line clearance, there is a reason why Batth was named as the club’s Player of the Year last season.
To have such a wonderful player adding that bit of experience and age to our very youthful squad has been very important and it would be a huge mistake to throw it away.
Not only to move Batth on this summer, but to also let him leave for free to one of our promotion rivals would raise huge questions.
It seems very unlikely that it is Tony Mowbray’s idea to let his vice-captain leave, while the club’s demand for young players is becoming more frustrating as Batth faces the chopping block due to the transfer policy.
This also relates to Sunderland’s refusal to buy an experienced striker, with Hemir taking that number nine spot against Ipswich. In fact, after a long campaign of needing a back-up forward for Ross Stewart, it took us less than an hour to revert to playing Jack Clarke up top.
It was a largely painful showing on Sunday and, while it is definitely too early to complain too much, the possibility of Danny Batth leaving the club remains a huge problem.