Defoe looks old but there’s still glimpses of Defoe in him. Think he’d have enjoyed that tonight. Ultimately the winning goal involved him and he was part of the changes that changed the game. He still holds off defenders twice his size. I still think we will get some useful minutes from him.
Roker Report - Player Ratings: https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/20...town-oniens-return-gives-sunderland-vital-win Anthony Patterson: 6/10 Another game where he had very little to do. Went down with an injury in the first half but shook it off and did well to save from a dangerous free kick in the second half with the score at 1-1. Carl Winchester: 7/10 Determined display by Winchester at right back in the first half, dropped into a more central defensive role in the second half and a surge forward from him in the build up to the equaliser was vital. Bailey Wright: 5/10 An absolute horror show from Wright for Fleetwood’s goal, completely miss hit his pass back and was also sloppy on the ball, improved in the second half. Arbenit Xhemajli: 5/10 Not much came his away defensively in the first half but his passing was very poor, often gave the ball away in dangerous areas. Subbed at half-time. Dennis Cirkin: 6/10 Did OK today, didn’t get forward as much to support Clarke but was solid at the back. Patrick Roberts: 6/10 Always lively on the ball and showed plenty of skill but no end product tonight. Moved more central after the break but didn’t have enough influence. Corry Evans: 4/10 Thought he was poor today, often left Matete a little isolated in the middle and too passive on and off the ball. Very unlucky to be booked after winning the ball but rightfully replaced at half-time. Jay Matete: 6/10 Not much support from Evans in the first half but still covered a lot of ground, made one important recovery after a poor Xhemajli pass went astray. A little erratic on the ball today, although did pick up an assist for his pass to Clarke for the third, but does so much important work when out of possession. Elliot Embleton: 6/10 His set pieces were not up to scratch the entire game, had plenty of opportunities in dangerous areas but his delivery was poor. However he did pop up with the all important equaliser after being in the right place at the right time. Jack Clarke: 7/10 Scored a superb goal late on after cutting inside, had a hand in the opener following the goalkeeper being unable to handle his driven cross and caused plenty of problems for Fleetwood’s right back. Ross Stewart: 6/10 Very quiet attacking display from Stewart, didn’t have a sniff of goal. Tracked back well and won the ball in the lead up to the second goal. Was also good to see a Sunderland talking to the referee like Stewart did in the lead up to the visitor’s red card, too often we’re not canny enough like the opposition usually are. Substitutes Lynden Gooch: 6/10 Came on at half-time, didn’t have a massive impact but was up and down the right wing the whole half and helped build momentum, played one great ball to Defoe late on that almost made it four. Jermain Defoe: 6/10 So close to scoring the first goal since his return but was denied by a good save, also got involved in O’Nien’s goal. Luke O’Nien: 7/10 Immediately made an impact following his long lay off. Played in Defoe and followed up to finish after Defoe’s shot was blocked and did not look rusty at all, was all over the pitch. Man of the Match: Jack Clarke Not a fluid performance by the lads at all tonight and that goes for Clarke too, despite being my man of the match. Made life difficult for the Fleetwood right back, made our only real first half chance following a mazy run but then set up the opener with a driven cross, was involved in the second and absolutely buried the third with a driven shot from the edge of the box. His final ball needs improvement and also needs to work a bit harder off the ball but a good performance on his return to the starting line-up. please log in to view this image Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images
Just back from Ice Station Zebra..thawing out now for 2 days. ****e 1st half better 3nd half. But their time wasting antics done my head in, from the start I've never known so many players go on the ground, the fans taking the piss out of them was fully justified in my eyes even if it is little Fleetwood...no disrespect.
Back Home - dreadfully disappointing first half - god we know how to shoot ourselves in the foot. Credit in the second half for at least getting back and in the end a good win in terms of points. Quite nice to see we can win scruffily. Great third goal Fleetwood - is it me or is it such an embarrassment these days to see supposed footballers rolling around, sitting down, blatant cheating - I know we have complained about our lack of ****housery but that was up there with the worst I have seen.
Most of those are 1 mark too high imo. Cirkin, Wright and Arby were about a 3 or 4 at best. Embo was a 4 or 5, Matete was poor, 5, and Evans was anonymous..2
Exactly what I would have said marra. Absolutely freezing wasn't it. And not much on the pitch to warm us up.
AN is going to win a lot of fans here i reckon, no sugar coating just brutally honest...even admitted his changes could have come back to bite him in the arse had they not worked out, has any other recent manager/coach taken a 'high risk' strategy because all i can remember are teams hanging on (sometimes desperately) to a one goal lead and quite often losing it. also agree some of those player rankings are too high, arby did not get off on the right foot, evans looked as if he did not want to get involved, embo can and should do more in games. clarke and cirkin look like they could forge a good partnership given time, would love to get another season at least from clarke but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the collective feet week after week, so many goals against us have been caused by ourselves giving the ball away and we almost always seem to get punished but rarely do we repay the opposition mistakes. said it many a time, points are all that matter so play ugly for the rest of the season if it gets the points on board to get out of this league...let's face it, not many performances get remembered and talked about more than a month or two after they happened.
Anthony Patterson: 7/10 Carl Winchester: 6/10 Bailey Wright: 3/10 Arbenit Xhemajli: 4/10 Dennis Cirkin: 5/10 Patrick Roberts: 5/10 Corry Evans: 3/10 Jay Matete: 7/10 Elliot Embleton: 5/10 Jack Clarke: 6/10 Ross Stewart: 5/10 Subs Lynden Gooch: 7/10 Jermain Defoe: 5/10 Luke O’Nien: 7/10 Man of the Match: Jay Matete
we were not horrid mate Fleetwood gave us a game !, they battled for every ball and we did balls up for their goal mind, give credit to them so this is our best win of the season.
I thought he looked alright could arguably say he created two goals! one the shot that o’nien scored from and when Clarke scored he took a defender away to make space. he will get a goal or two before the end of the season for me.
