How did I do that?

I've got numerous Sunderland games that I'm years into but though that I would start another one off because I was bored. I signed Flamini (loan), Piatti (£55k), Addo (free) and also Arshavin (£6.5 million.

Fast forward 34 matches and I am currently 2nd in the league 6 points behind Man Utd and 4 ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea. I don't cheat (all my other Sunderland games took me years to finish in 5th let alone contemplate ECC football) and I am at a loss as to how this team has actually managed to put a title challenge together.

This is my team, and it is hardly ground-breaking is it? I would be lucky to finish mid-table with this team in real life:

GK Gordon

RB McShane

CB Anderson

CB Addo

LB Harte

RM Edwards

CM Piatti

CM Flamini

LM Richardson

ST Jones

ST Arshavin

I'm delighted at the progress that I have made but can't explain how in the world I have managed to do it! Funny isn't it?

first of all well done to you, that will be some achievement if u finish in the top 4. I think you've signed some great players there, Piatti and Addo i can understand but Arshavin has obv never seen Sunderland before.

Wow. That's even better than my Premiership Winning team of:

GK Robinson

RB Anthony Vanden Borre

LB Marcell Jansen

CB Ledley King

CB Michael Dawson

DM Andrea Pirlo

RM Oleg Husyev

LM Dmitri Payet

AMC Kaka

ST Berbatov

ST John Utaka

I still wonder till this day how I managed that. I mean, of those, only Berbatov and Kaka would make it to a Top-Four Club.

Nice one. As a fellow Sunderland supporter that story gets a big from me.

The best I've managed with Sunderland in my 1st season is 7th I think as it can be quite difficult to sell some of the fringe players and bring in any quality. However, I had a similar situation myself last season. Having progressed steadily with Sunderland over the first 4 seasons I was chuffed to have finished 4th and made the Champions League for the first time. In the next season I was hoping to get through the groups in the Champions League, hold onto my top 4 place in the Prem and maybe win a domestic cup. I somehow ended up winning the Premier League, Champions League and League Cup!

I'm not bragging, I was genuinely left wondering how the hell I managed it with the team I had. I had a good first team but after that the squad was quite thin so to win 3 trophies was quite an achievment I thought. So yeah, I know where your coming from.