What can Sunderland hope to gain from their USA tour?

Malc Dugdale says…

I’m quite relaxed about pre-season as last time around, we hardly ripped up trees, but we then had our best season in many decades. 

I’d like to see what the lads who had injuries late last season can do, as we’ll need depth in the squad more than ever this season, so minutes for returning injured players we may well need is a focus for me. 

The York game went well, but the Liverpool, Leeds and Wrexham games being played in the US will be a big fitness test in that heat — as was the World Cup for a lot of our lads who featured there — so hopefully those games will blow away any cobwebs and get the Lads’ lungs and legs fully going. 

For me, the games that’ll show us the most will be the fixtures against Lens and Rennes, as by then we’ll hopefully have a few more new faces in the door. All the players that featured in the World Cup will be back too, and Régis Le Bris will be starting to think about his first eleven for the first key away game at Ipswich. 

I’d like to see us get through these games without injuries and with fitness proven for those exiting the physio’s room over the summer. Get fitness optimised, and I’ll be happy. 

If we win a couple and score some good goals, and maybe confirm a couple of players as more ready for this season than we expected, that’ll be a bonus, and that includes getting to know any new signings — which we’ll hopefully be confirming very soon.

Owen Sara says…

I’d like to think Régis Le Bris has two squads already in his head and I’d imagine the second squad will be a mix of U21s and fringe players.

Of course, results aren’t the be-all and end-all but hopefully we do compete. I’d like to see us attack teams and play on the front foot, which we were understandably guilty of not doing enough last season. I hope everyone gets a balance of minutes which will help with fitness and give everyone a reasonable chance to prove themselves.

We had a few players last season playing catch up with their fitness so hopefully that won’t be an issue either.

Jenson Jones, Timur Tutierov and Finn Geragusian have a big opportunity to put themselves in contention for the Europa League squads, and I’d like to see Melker Ellborg get a crack at it too.

Tom Albrighton says…

It’s the usual craic from me where pre-season is concerned, with the only things that matter being fitness and players avoiding injury. We’ve seen many a pre-season now and we’ve seen enough to know the results and performances don’t matter one iota, and just because of how last season went, it doesn’t mean that changes.

The club will have its own outlined goals for the upcoming American tour and they’ll no doubt be focused on the players’ physical workload, enhanced recovery and general wellbeing. Some players will be eased in whilst others will find themselves with a heftier workload.

Of course there’ll be the bedding in of new ideas and shapes, but I’d be very surprised to see anything out of the ordinary come along.

As is usual with a pre-season, there’ll be some funky lineups, some youth inclusions and rarely will we see what we’d expect to be a full team for more than an hour at any given opportunity.

With some of our late stage World Cup players still on a break, perhaps we won’t even see the full extent of the squad out in America — which is why again, the focus will be on fitness, load and recovery. 

Those jetting off will be in no doubt that these trips are very rarely about high quality football or anything even resembling that, even with facing the likes of Liverpool.  As ever, nothing matters in pre-season bar the three F’s: fitness, fitness and fitness.

Wadey says…

I’d love to see us play well and win while we’re in the USA, but I’m not expecting it and I won’t be worried if we don’t. None of the teams we are playing (including Liverpool) had as many players at the World Cup as we did and therefore won’t be missing as many of the presumed starters on opening day.

I’m of the opinion that we won’t get to see the best of our system until the RC Lens game on 8 August, and even then, it’s possible that not everyone will be back. As long as our second string doesn’t capitulate too easily and we can see the makings of some nice football, I’ll be happy enough.

Bringing in some of those youngsters that didn’t get minutes last season for entirely understandable reasons will be invaluable if we’re to use them in and around the team for the Europa League and to a lesser degree, the Premier League.

I have great hopes for Timur Tutierov and Jocelin Ta Bi, and we can get them minutes and confidence on this trip.