​Phil Smith, Sunderland Echo: Black Cats determined to build on successful Premier League returnBrentford welcome Sunderland to Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday as Keith Andrews’ side look to build on their impressive start to the Premier League season.Ahead of the game, Sunderland Echo writer Phil Smith discusses the Black Cats’ summer transfer business, the excitement surrounding their return to European football and the player Brentford must keep a close eye on.Sunderland lost 2-1 at Ipswich in their Premier League opener. How did they get on in that game and what did you make of it?They played okay in the opener, to be honest. They started well, missed a couple of decent chances, made a mistake and were punished, which shows the ruthlessness of the Premier League.The frustration was that, despite getting themselves back into the game, they made another poor error and gifted Ipswich another goal, really.The feeling coming away from the game was that they had not played badly and should, at the very least, have got a point out of it, even though Ipswich did play well.I would say there was frustration, but no real panic about the performance, because it was not particularly poor, they just looked a little bit rusty and, as I said, mistakes were punished. What would you say about their approach in the transfer window and the signings they have made?The club were really clear from day one this summer that they wanted some stability and quality over quantity.Last summer, they understood the gap between the Premier League and the Championship was so vast that they felt they had to build a new team. This summer, they wanted to give those players the chance to build on what they did last season.It has probably been frustrating for fans at times and there is definitely a little bit more work to do, but I would say it has been fairly calm as well.We all anticipated there would be a lot of interest in Sunderland’s best players; Chelsea bid for Granit Xhaka, for example. The fact all those players have stayed has been massive in reassuring people that the team is in a good place.It has been quieter, but a big part of that is because the club have been successful in not just keeping Xhaka, but some of their best young players as well. They were very clear the plan was going to be to give this team the chance to kick on again.The club will soon be playing European football for the first time in over 50 years. How excited is everyone about the adventure that is about to begin?Everyone is absolutely buzzing – that is the only way I can describe it!It was such an incredible final day because everyone knew that there was a chance that, if Sunderland did the business, they could get into the Conference League, and the Europa League felt like a stretch because so many results had to go their way.The atmosphere in the last 10-15 minutes of the Chelsea game, when it became apparent that was actually happening (outside derby games against Newcastle) was the