Sunderland icon Kevin Phillips has had his say on the Black Cats’ hopes of qualifying for Europe this term
Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips has claimed that the club can “realistically” aim for a European qualification spot this season.
The Black Cats have massively outperformed most pundits’ expectations of them in recent months, playing themselves well clear of any kind of relegation threat and recording a series of impressive results against a whole host of traditional Premier League heavy hitters.
At the time of writing, Regis Le Bris’ men are ninth in the table, seven points adrift of the top four after 25 matches, and as the end of the campaign looms ever larger, Phillips sees no reason why his former club can’t sneak their way into a continental finish over the coming weeks.
What has Kevin Phillips said about Sunderland’s European qualification hopes?
Speaking on TNT Sports’ Sign Up, the Black Cats legend was asked what has impressed him most about Sunderland this season, to which he replied: “Everything. Everyone's trying to - and me too, because I do a lot of media work, so you have to analyse and you have to give an honest opinion - but you're always trying to think, ‘What have they not been good at?’ They've been very good at everything.
“If there was one slight criticism, you would probably say they haven't scored as many goals as we would have liked, but defensively they've been outstanding. I think after the promotion from last season, I personally did not think that the club would go out and spend the money they did, the way they did. So it really surprised me.
“And what they did do - and what they didn't do - they went out, they didn't just go out and buy any types of players. We've seen that from promoted teams before, but they identified the types of players that they needed for the system that Regis Le Bris wanted to play. And for me, that's really clever recruitment. So you have to say that the recruitment of this football club for a while now has been outstanding.
“They've pretty much built a whole new team, haven't they, which is rare, and it's tough on the players that got them to the Premier League because they've just had to step aside and watch these players perform, but that's football, you know, it's competition.
“Huge credit goes to Regis Le Bris for not only rebuilding his squad, but getting them in in such a short space of time and getting the best out of them quickly from day one. It just speaks volumes of the manager and the players that he brought in. So it's been an incredible season so far.”
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Phillips was then quizzed on how high he believes Sunderland can finish this season, responding: “I think a European spot has to be realistic. You know, they can't afford to lose too many games, but if they keep doing what they're doing, then I think you have to aim high because of what they've shown so far.
“And also, they've played everyone now, and has anyone really battered them? Maybe Brentford, but Sunderland missed the penalty. If that goes in, it's different. So I haven't seen them actually get played off the park for 90 minutes. For me, that's really encouraging. So realistically, a European spot.”
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