Good enough for promotion? Disagree massively. We’ve got Luke O’Nien starting CM every game man, we definitely don’t have enough.
I don't think I ever did as I always thought that having so many younguns with almost zero experience in senior football was going to create problems - by no fault of the young lads themselves. I personally think its a cheap policy from a club of Sunderlands size and ambition to get out of the league. My interpretation of going for youth was replacing 29 and above year old with 22, 23 year ilds with two or three seasons under their belt. I also think the continued signing of 5'10 or less footballers is so out of touch with the modern game its unbelievable and the clubs going up have found good players who are also 6 foot and athletic. So personally I don't think we are ready for automatic.
We will strengthen in January. KLD, et al, will have their house in order. They'll be fully aware of the need, if need be, that the second half of the season 'window'....is the 'run-in opportunity' to add to the push.
This is what I'm thinking, are the scorelines an indication of how bad we were or just flattering barmy ones for the opposition ? Ok you can get one or two in a season but 3 so close ? Obviously there is a problem, I'm not denying but hopefully it gets sorted. Like what @Robertson was it said ? Tactics wrong way round for last two games ? We're not shìt but unfortunately had a few shìt games lately. Get it sorted LJ, and FFS don't revert to negative football.
Statistically our second best player this season. https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/16/Show/England-Sunderland
‘Statistically’ You know as well as I do that he definitely hasn’t been our second best player this season. Not even in the top 5.
I do, have a look at my link if you want to see why. His defensive qualities are being ignored by some. It's my opinion that he's looked a bit all over the shop at times recently because he's having to do too much defensively when the team has been struggling not because he's crap. I appreciate that looking at stats isn't going to change hardened opinions, but my point is that imo this idea that him playing and starting regularly is laughable, is in fact bollocks. He's far from one of worst players, the stats say exactly the opposite.
Look at the match stats for each of our defeats. The opposition shoots on target and the opposition scores. They must have so much time on the ball they can pick their spot to score just about every time. We have the majority of play yet lose. This isn't a losing streak, its failure. From Burton, through Charlton, Rotherham and now Sheffield Wed ... lets forget Pompy, although that was a sign of how fragile we are. We need to defend effectively not just play fancy around. It can't just be down to one or two players not doing the business, it has to be systemic bad organisation. That's for the Manager and his team to get right. I am losing hope as I see no sign of that being recognised.
We will finish in top two in my opinion. To get where you want to go sometimes there's ups and downs. It's not how we start the season.....it's how we end it. The business part of the season will start when we get into 30 plus games. Before that we will have a transfer window so I'm sure KLD will do what the club needs to do. It's a results orientated business so if we don't get them then I think LJ will know what will happen. I'm personally on the stability side of making decisions so leave him in place for now. Yes, recent defeats are a concern but the big picture is where we are at the end of season. We are still in there at the moment so no need to press the panic button yet.
Your post has had me thinking a lot mate. The bit about defensive coach being needed. I have never been impressed by Bailey Wright. I think he is vulnerable and creates vulnerabilities in his defensive partners. I have had those doubts since he came. Johnson had him as skipper at Bristol and seems to have backed him here too. It has made me wonder if Johnson is as good defensively as he is through the other two thirds. I have seen a few coaches over the years who cant do the defensive part. It is the easiest bit to coach, but for some it isnt what they get. In youth football you see it way too much where defensive coaching is alien. Anyway I was thinking about Johnson's time here and we have probably never been secure at the back, but have been a joy (a lot of the time) when going forward. Last season he probably got lucky with Sanderson and O'Nien. I said at the time O'Nien may well be a CB for the future but he is back in midfield. Our most organised defence was when MacLaughlin played because he was just a pure defender, but he was let go. All this makes me worry Johnson has a blindspot re defenders. Hope I am wrong. Whether a defensive coach is right I dont know. I have always thought you coach a team not a subset, keepers apart. I wonder if we have anyone on the staff who wants to really hammer the organisation into the back 4 or 6? Heavy defeats are often signs of either mental fragility in players, or weakness in defensive routine. I dont know but you have got me thinking mate.
I think LJ said that when he brought Phil Jevons (ex Everton striker) in as a coach recently that he now had Jamie Macallister (former defender), himself (former midfielder) and Jevons (former striker) for each area of the pitch. Can't find the article where he said it though but sure he said something like that.
It wouldnt be difficult now to spend 10 days doing defence v attack. Really old fashioned but a chance to do loads of repitition. Just that basic shuffle across together, and midfielders learning to sniff danger.
always amazed me that srikers and AM seem able to mis-place passes and miss quite easy chances and no one really cares but if a defender or keeper makes a mistake and it leads to a chance they get slaughtered. build from the back and a few days sorting a defence should benefit us right now.
If a defender makes a mistake it usually leads to conceding a goal, same with keepers. Doesn’t help when we have players who are incredibly inconsistent. Flanagan for example can hit a 40yd worldie of a pass then next attempt fail to hit the player 5 yards away.
while this is true, surely it has to work the other way as well...if the strikers/AM scored more rather than miss then there is a higher chance of winning as realistically, it does not matter how many you concede as long as you score one more than the opposition.
