I'd be tempted to give Winchester a go in the No. 4 role instead of Evans. We need a bit more dynamism in there. Neil talked in his interview about moving the ball forward sooner but when we had the ball in defence against MK, there weren't enough players showing for it. Evans should have been looking to take it from the centre backs but he rarely did. To steal an Ice Hockey term, MK closed off all of the passing lanes because our front 6 were so static. Going longer didn't work for us either, even on the rare occasions when a long pass found one of our players, it rarely resulted in us securing possession. I'd play a midfield three of Winchester, Matete and Pritchard and a front three of Clarke, Dajuku and Stewart.
No away games for a while for you then. We booked the train a couple weeks in advance and got a good deal for tomorrow.
We have to bin 4-3-3 like. If he wants to do something similar he will to be Hoff Hume Wright Bath Cirkin Matate Neil Djaku Clarke Prichard Stewart 4-2-3-1
If only the team put the effort in that this thread has. Hoping for a reaction from the manager and players, but quick turnround from Saturday makes it difficult. As much as I'd love a win, I'd settle for a draw tonight to at least stop the losing streak
Havnt seen it. However, I now have plans to meet for beers at 16.30 today. Guess it's another night at the SOL! Edit - just seen it. Don't want Evans anywhere near that first 11. Also want to bin 4-3-3
I'm sure some will remember this run of results and how it was totally unexpected and down to a bunch of kids. For anyone too young, to remember, it's a bit of hope. Yes, we were relegated but partly due to cheating that wouldn't be allowed these days. However, just when all seemed lost, there came a turning point, due in no small part to the introduction of youngsters Kevin Arnott, Shaun Elliott & Gary Rowell. https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/20...roker-park-yet-sunderland-are-still-relegated
Agreed. 4-3-3 may be his preferred style but it isn't giving any more protection to the back line and it's not utilising Pritchard in the right way. We've played our best football this season in a 4-2-3-1
I've said it loads of times, we can't play 4-3-3 it leaves us far to exposed when we push forward, time and time again we lose procession, our full backs have push on, our CB who are slow as **** are stood on the half way line , one ball over the top destroys us everytime. Yes I've done some basic coaching in the past but it was basic how can these professionals not see the obvious. If you play with a back 4 as slow as ours you can not play the high press attacking football we try, you can get a way with it if you have 2 quick CBs but I'm 48 and in a race with Doyle, Batth and Wright over 20 yards I'd back myself everyday. I know different managers have different styles the like to play, but if they are any good at their job they should be able to adapt to the players they have. Makes you wonder how Speakman has a job, if we have a certain style of football we want to play why has every defender he has signed not one that fits the system
That teams looks horribly imbalanced Playing Embleton in a 3 and Pritchard out wide is a waste. Winchester at RB when we have Hume on the bench is also a nonsense I'd go: Hoffmann Hume Wright Bathh Cirkin Winchester Matete Embleton Pritchard Clarke Stewart And give the wide players strict instructions to a) Get the ball in at the earliest opportunity and b) not **** about chopping back in, the out again and losing all momentum to our attack
100% - the goals on Sat came from mistakes by Matete but our CBs were so high it was a joke. If you watch the 1st goal back. Doyle was so advanced (and so wide) that there was a gaping hole in the middle of the park, Absolutely shameful. I don't care what attacking style you want to play you absolutely must cover your defence. If you look back to the 3-0 over the scum back in the day, as Kaboul is marauding forward to set up the Fletcher goal you can see BSA going mental at the other players telling them to cover for him. You can't just ignore your defence because you want to be an attractive, attacking team
First goal is crucial. We must start on the front foot and keep the pedal on, even if we go 1 up. We are **** at coming from behind and we are getting to the stage now where draws are no good. If our form since October continues, we will win 5 or 6 of the remaining 13 (37.5% win rate) and we will be well adrift. We are still the 3rd highest scorers in the league, so lets go and score some more and win this match and build the confidence needed to give it a real crack for the next 2 months.
Arguably our best spell pre Xmas was where we had a run of scoring early goals. It makes a massive difference, especially at home
Agree with this team. Doyle and Evans need to come out as does Dajaku. Pritchard needs to be in the middle
