The Gaffer confirmed in today's press conference that everyone is available. Adding my tenpennurth to that, speaking to Johansen at yesterday's 'Training Event' he said he'd come off against Villa because he felt a tightening but in his words "I'm well and good to go". Cairney did the same sort of training stuff as everybody else but to be fair it was hardly a strenuous workout and what he did, he seemed to do very gingerly. It's pretty obvious that his injury problem is far from gone. Bolton may be down there but they have some decent players and shouldn't be underestimated. A problem has been their goal-shy and main striker Gary Madine. However players like Beevers and Wheatley have been on good form lately with the Trotters taking 4 points in their last two games. For us: Will the Gaffer stick with the pairing of Fonte and Kamara? Don't think he should but he will. Making the third spot up front a toss up from Ayite, Kebano, Mollo and, down the pecking order, a disgruntled Jordan Graham. Will the Gaffer stick with Johansen and Norwood in midfield? Don't think he should but he will. Especially in the absence of Cairney who, as said, really isn't fit. Will the Gaffer give Soares a chance? Well, if there was ever a game to see what the lad is made of, this is it. And he will. Will the Gaffer stick with Button? Our Goalie came out this season with a point to make and he certainly won some hearts and minds with his performances. However in the last two, maybe three, games the old, bad habits have begun to surface. If the friendly rivalry said to exist between him and Bettinelli is true, the Gaffer should demonstrate there's no favouritism and players are fighting for a place. But he won't. The team Jokanovic is probably going to start with then is - ............................Button............. ......................Kalas.......Ream.. .....Fredericks............................Soares... ............................McDonald......... ................Johansen..........Norwood..... ........Fonte...........Kamara......Sessegnon.... Yup, chosen Sess before the other candidates since I think the Gaffer will want to see if he and Soares can build a partnership like the one with Malone. Makes us potentially a bit lop sided but think Jokanovic would also like to see Fonte on the right side and he did say at lunchtime "Rui Fonte can play in every offensive position. He has enough quality.”
The man we have today is Geoff Eltringham. A sales rep with a Sunderland based timber firm and a Sunderland season ticket holder, Geoff had to give up both when he got the ref job full time last year. The Durham born whistler has kept himself busy though, with 12 games so far this season and presenting 40 yellows. He was the fourth official last weekend at Villa so he will have given us a jolly good once over. We saw him for real back in April when he ref'd our 3-1 win over Ipswich last season at the Cottage - the match as you'll recall that Floyd Ayite was our star performer. Eltringham booked four that day. Three of them ours - Ream, McDonald and Malone - and it has to be said, all were well deserved.
The ref is a former Sunderland season ticket holder? Interesting... Hopefully a few decisions go our way today then considering Sunderland are in a relegation fight with Bolton
The poor form at home continues. First half we lacked nous and pace. Not to mention being absolutely naive for their goal. Second half we showed some pace (well, in the final 10 minutes, including the added 6) but still lacked nous. Not mention composure in front of goal. A very weak referee didn't help. However, we're just not 'hard' enough; should be in the ref's ear like they were and it's criminal letting someone like Karl Henry boss the game. Very strange bench to boot. Hesitate to suggest the Gaffer was making a point with Mr Khan Snr watching the game!?
Not happy with the result today, albeit I only listened to JG. I am not unhappy with our team or performance to any great degree but very unhappy with how teams are allowed to play and prosper using tactics such as those used by Bolton today and many others too, week in week out. I watched Sheff U last eve, yes they have a decent team that hassle and press, but underlying their success is cheating and a professionalism beyond sport. Perhaps I'm naive to think the game should be played with some degree of honor. The "he has taken one for the team" is a norm nowadays and fair enough if there remains doubt of perhaps a mistimed tackle. Not a rugby tackle I Spain used against England's U17's, is that really a booking, surely something so beyond football should be a "please leave the stage". A Spanish U17 player deliberately stood on the back of one of the England team, I wonder where he gets it from at that young age and what will he be doing when a full blown pro? Time wasting as we suffered today is compensated with an additional 6 minutes, but the real damage is the added frustration to those on the receiving end, it needs to be stamped out of the game. McDonald got booked for omplaining about it for christs sake! The referee's are not so much weak but I honestly believe they are now immune to what is going on in all games. There is talk players being suspended etc. by using post match video, is this really happening or just lip service. I don't want to watch Fulham play as so many others do if that is now what is needed to get out of the Championship, I like our good style of play without hatchet men such as Karl Henry. I can see us going there though for the success and money it brings. A sad state of affairs.
A really frustrating day. I felt that simultaneously we should have won handsomely having conceded totally against the run of play, and that we didn't deserve to win. We dominated the first half - 75% possession - but had few clear-cut chances. It was our old trouble of playing too slowly, and being happy to keep possession rather than looking to move the ball forward and create something. I thought Norwood was the best of our midfielders for trying to make telling passes, while Cairney seemed to always take longer than necessary (much like Scott Parker two or three years ago). I was hugely frustrated when Slava took Norwood off, but I guess Cairney's late equaliser justified the bosses call. I liked AK47's workrate and attitude, but I'm still not convinced he's got the touch or the finishing to be what we need in his position. I found myself wishing that Fonte had got the chances Kamara got, but maybe there's a question about why he didn't - is it that he would do better as the out and out striker, or is it that he doesn't put as much in as Kamara? On the little I've seen of them I much prefer Fonte, but others may be better placed to make that call than me. Fredericks did well, Sessegnon became more and more important as the game went on, McDonald was solid and reassuring and seemed like a man possessed (in a good way!) as the match went into its final stages. The back four (other than a collective switching off for the goal) looked comfortable. Ayite was a puzzling mixture - some great dribbling to beat his man and create problems for Bolton, but also a developing tendency to pass straight back when receiving the ball with his back to goal rather than turning and looking to play forward. De la Torre's cameo at the end looked promising (it was my first sight of him) but he didn't really get much chance to influence things. Kebano looked dangerous too. Other than the collective fault of taking too long, I wouldn't have said anyone played badly individually, the problems were with the whole group. I don't think we need to change formation or system all that much, but we definitely need to play a little quicker - more one and two touch play rather than three and four touches - and put greater emphasis on playing forward. Possession is great, but we need a little more possession with a purpose to give us back our cutting edge.
Post script to the above. Bolton will get criticism for time-wasting, Karl Henry, etc, but in the second half I thought they defended superbly. Time and time again when one of our players finally managed to get a shot away, the nearest defender always seemed to get a block in. That's not luck, that's commitment. In many ways they deserved a point, despite the huge imbalance in possession and territory.
Another poor display from a team that never deviates from Slavis 4 3 3 formation which is exposed to the most naive opposition manager," why" because basically, he is tactically a one trick poney. As we have seen many times in the past following a poor performance, he castigates the team who for 90 or so minutes have played to a formula that he has instigated. I now fear that my prediction of a top 10 finish may be somewhat optimistic. On a positive note TC gave an inspired display which has been sorely missed, my worries is that if we are languishing around the lower reaches of the championship at Christmas he may be wanting to move on, negativity manifested itself in the performances of Norwood,Fonte,Kalas, & Ream who were a complete waste of space, having little or no impact on our meagre effort ,frustrated fans around me in the riverside stand were more vocally critical than I have seen since the days of Jol & Magarth
After the Boro game Jokanovic came out with this quote. “People say where is plan B, C and D but I don’t believe these are better than plan A and in this moment we are going to try and follow in this style." If he won't change his style, then the onus is on him to coach players to adapt and play better than they are doing a present.
With those two statements you've hit the spot Captain. Frequently players (not just Ayite) received the ball with their back to goal and simply passed it back. Where were the "running the channels" or "pass and go" cliches? Statues the lot of them! And yes, throughout (barring the last 10 minutes) we had no cohesion as a TEAM. Players out of position ... Nobody making space ... Chasing the ball rather using their head .. Could go on but will leave it with the hoary one of the tippy-tappy stuff between Button and the CBs. We slavishly persisted in doing it with no idea whatsoever where it was going to end up.
Sorry about yesterdays groan, not a good I know. Our tactics would be much improved by speeding up the pace of the ball. Those chasing to close us down get demoralised and others will tire chasing around, opening up space and opportunity. As long as the opposition don't use up half the game taking goal kicks and throw-in's of course
