Results have been good. Likewise they were good in the early season when he played. I think he is more than good enough to be in out first 11, it is about how we see him fitting in to what we want to achieve.
I am holding my counsel on Defoe at the moment in the hope we are promoted. I was outspoken at the time that we should not have signed him. I thought it was all but impossible to have any kind of impact on the pitch. He had been semi retired for 2 years in effect and at 39 was never going to be able to do it. If we fail to be promoted and we are looking to what went wrong Defoe will get a slice of the blame pie from me. As much as a great player he was for us first time around, he has badly let us all down this time based on his reasoning.
I think it's pretty clear that Hoffman was still suffering despite returning to the team after Covid. Ultimately it is his responsibility to say he's unfit to work, but he's also a young man trying to make a career and a culture within the club that puts pressure on you to return before you're ready and put your health at risk doesn't look good on us unfortunately.
Not too convincing there Thorben tbh ... .... was still slightly positive "The report goes on to say that the player flew back to Germany to be re-examined in Munich but ‘that did not sit well with Sunderland’. Hoffmann never played again for Sunderland, which the ‘keeper says shows the brutal side of football." And .....
He needs to do his talking on the pitch, not off it, does our Thorben top and bottom of it is, we had a better option already at the club.
And they would’ve kicked up a fuss if we’d been playing when unfit. I can only hope it’s lost in translation and means he was still shattered after being unwell but had to play due to injuries. Not that he’s trying to sour a pretty successful loan period.
Patterson is better than him, and like ive mentioned already on here having 2 young Keepers under the age of 23, with both having very limited first team experience would be a big worry for me going into next season. Our next Goalkeeper needs to be a seasoned pro, abit like Ruddy to balance things out abit and also act as a mentor to Patterson.
or we stopped getting twatted 4 and 5s once we put a different keeper in goal that hit a run of form?
Not a chance he was forced to play whilst testing positive. He wouldnt have been anywhere near the squad. Maybe post covid but he would not have been contagious, even then the medical professionals in the club would have the power to block a manager playing him, if they thought he was not well enough. The insurance situation would be a nightmare for the club.
Sounds like the Hoffs gone back to Germany abit embarrassed how he couldnt get a game over a lad whos even younger than he is, for a team that plays in the 3rd tier in England, when he's a Bayern Munich prospect so he's trying to come up with excuses. Dont Hassle the Hoff.
Good stuff. The club is a different beast under KLD and takes no **** Compare that to the way they handled the Adam Johnson affair
This is exactly what I expected. Apparently the Bilde isn’t highly thought of in Germany and the equivalent to the Sun so that’s them put in place
To give Hoffman the benefit of the doubt, I think that's a mistranslation either from himself or Bild. I interpreted it as still suffering the affects from Covid than actually still testing positive. There is no chance the club would have played anyone still testing positive.
