Wow Chelsea were amazing! Played some fantastic football which was so easy on the eye. Anelka just behind the font two was class! How orginised were Chelsea? From every dead ball situation they played a 4-3-2-1 and pushed everything out wide from a defensive perspective. When attacking they played 2-3-1-4 with the wing backs pushing right up alongside the forwards. Great to see that from an attacking point of view. I learned a lot from watching Chelsea. It was a joy to watch and I have to say we should learn a lot from them. Chelsea have a very old squad and they really knew their jobs on the park. The inter play and inter changing between lampard, Essien and Mkel was great to watch and Lampards movement in between our back four and our Midfield was a joy to watch. In 3 years time we will have a good side which is exciting and I just hope that some day I see Sunderland play with the Know how and freedom as Chelsea. Our average age was about 24 years old and at time it showed. I'm very proud of our performance last night. Thank you for a cracking match and good luck
are you stupid? I said he was quality but inexperienced. it is his inexperience that means he goes missing against big teams, his lack of quality and/or potential.
Henderson's problem is he isn't a central midfielder. He cant tackle and doesn't have a range of passing that damages oppositions. He hasn't got the natural instinct to shoot so isn't a goal threat. He does have pace though and is a terrific crosser of the ball both form deep and the flanks. I watched the lad all through the youths and into the reserves and he played 90% of those games on the right flank. Thats where he came to prominence and where he looked fantastic. Why then has he been put into central midfield for the majority of is first team career? I think the fact we lost Cana, Catts (injury) and the poor form of Zenden and Richardson there, has meant he has had to be utilised out of position for to long. With Muntari here now, its a perfect chance to push him back to a position 'I think he will excel at and let Muntari show us what a proper central midfielder can do. Don't write a young 20 year old lad off for having 4 or 5 poor games. His form has dipped of late and since the whole Man Utd/City etc speculation and the England call up, he hasn't been right. Even a spell on the bench might not be a bad thing IMO. Chelsea are a 5 star act lads. Our season will be made or lost by how we play the Stokes, Wolves, WBA etc for the rest of the campaign. With only Arsenal, Spurs and City to come of the same quality as the Man Utd/Chelsea's, we have 8 or 9 winnable games in our run in to target, starting on Saturday. FTM
First off, Chelsea totally deserved that victory and 2 - 4 was in the end a flattering scoreline for us as Chelsea wasted numerous chances. Ok, the officiating wasn't good, well actually one of the worst combined performances from a "team" of officials I've seen in a long time, echoed I thought by something else I haven't heard in a long time.. "The referees a ******" !! lol The injuries badly affected our performance. Missing (arguably) 4 - 6 potential starters in key roles was just too much against a top Chelsea side, and SB's options were limited in what he could field and do. This does not however, free him from answering a couple of questions I believe I can legitimately raise. Why did you field a CM "defensive" pairing of Steed and Jordan? Neither play this role naturally and even in straightened times of choices, Mensah or Riveros could have done a better job in front of the central back 2 or Elmo at RB with Onuaha as DM? Thought KR was like a man off yesterday - still don't know exactly where he was meant to play!! SB has undoubted strengths, but an area where he can look to improve is his tactical choices and changes. Steed off instead of Hendo?? keeping the 4-5-1 when Terry/Cole were having the time of their lives in space and with time? This may be a blip in terms of managerial thinking, but this area is to me a cause of worry. KTF
Clearly the worst player on the park for us last night was Elmo. Henderson tried his best as he was used as a holding midfielder, remember we had 5 attacking midfielders on the pitch, through the middle Henderson was up against two of the best midfielders in the game who are world class. Do we expect Henderson to boss these players?? It's not his game, the people on here saying Henderson is rubbish, clearly have no idea about football or footballers and expect far too much with out thinking about it. Give your heads a shake. Had Henderson been on the wing last night instead of Elmo we may well have notched a few more goals. The amount of times our attacking play broke down when Elmo got the ball was unreal. He really needs to improve his game. Pace is not enough. Hederson if he stays injury free has every chance of being an England player.
I agree with concrete, your asking the lad to boss lampard and essien who in this market would propbably both be worth 50 million even at there ages
And I hope cest he will get that chance on the wing. We will have Catts,Muntari and Sess who I think are ceratin starters we will soon have Welbeck, Richardson, Elmo, Steed and Henderson fighting for 2 places if we stick to the 4-5-1 or 4-1-1 system. Welbeck must get one of those spots and Henderson the other. If we have Sess on the left and Muntari and Catts in the middle, Welbeck just off Gyan and Henderson on the right.Tough on Steed, Elmo and Richardson but we must move forward.
Chelsea were the best side up here last season and again this season. Great first half then Chelsea moved up a gear where sadly we were already in top gear and couldn;t cope with them. Although I'm a massive Lampard hater, I thought he ahd henderson in his pocket and showed a great midfield display. Steed MOM for us.
I find some of the negative comments about Jordan Henderson very disappointing. As Cest eloquently explained in his post, Jordan is a young wide player with pace and the ability to cross the ball accurately. As others have said, we have been short of numbers in the central midfield role due to injuries, suspension or lack of form in that area of the pitch. IMO, the signings of Sess and Sully will allow SB to play Jordan in his more effective position of right midfield. Jordan's limitations in the central midfield role will, and have been exposed against the better teams in the league; however, no one can deny that the lad doesn't give his all for the team, which is why he is looking a little jaded lately. Lack of experience will show when the guy is put under immense pressure, as he was in the two games against the mags and last night against Chelsea. These were massive games with huge expectation from the fans, so I ask you, that doubt his potential, to put yourself in his boots, at his age, with his level of PL experience, to think about how you would have coped with the pressure? Cut the lad some slack and get behind him instead of constantly criticising him! End of rant!
Not sure if this is aimed at me or not but I'm gonna reply anyway! I agree with some of your points that he is playing out of position, still young/ inexperienced and has a lot of expectation put on his shoulders. That however should not mean that we are not allowed to say he didn't have a great game and could maybe learn a trick or two off the oppostion / more experienced members of the team. I for one think he needs a bit of a rest, muntari can play and lets give Riveros/Zenden a run in the side for a game or 2. either way I think the lad is a credit to the club and the area. Hope he is here to stay for the long term.
I didn't aim my comment at any particular individual, more the few who went over the top looking for someone to blame after the Chelsea game. I got a bit fed up with reading negative comments about the lad on this and several other threads. I agree entirely that he had a bad game and that you and others are entitled to say so. What I don't agree with are the minority who were tearing into him, saying we should "sell him for ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1m", "he's garbage", "he bottles the big games" etc etc. The lad is just a kid who still has a lot to learn and who was up against some world class midfielders in the Chelsea game, which highlighted the fact that he is not really suited to the central midfield role. Steve Bruce, Sir Alex, Fabio Cappelo and many other managers all rate Jordan Henderson as a good player and an excellent prospect. They can't all be wrong? I'd sooner take note of their opinions than believe the disproportionate criticism that has been posted on here. I agree that Jordan certainly needs a rest, because as I said, he is looking a little jaded. Jordan Henderson is a proud and fine young man who is an ambassador to the region and the club. He has the potential to go all the way and I for one sincerely hope he does!
