Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Fulham FC – FA Cup - Wednesday 8th February 2023 - KO 19:45

Noticed that aswell, was limping badly too.

 

Bobby Kerr would find your "support" of the team embarrassing.

 

Sunderland will never be smaller than Fulham

 

I'll have a little moan during the game for a misplaced pass or something but this squad is one of the best I've seen. Young lads never give in. The type of football and passion is what I want in my team.

 

And we managed to score twice against a team in the top half of the premier league without a striker, don't think we should be that worried about the last 17 games in the championship with one.
Thought they did us proud tonight, these are young lads , how good are we going to be in 2 to 3 years

 

Proud of the lads over the 2 games, Fulham have had a tough job to get past us and needed their big guns on in both matches. Ref was a cock and we showed them a bit too much respect in the first 20 but we came back and still played some nice stuff against a top 10 PL side. Great finishes for our goals.

Michut, Ballard and Hume all class.

 

I found the goals we conceded poor and the timing of all 3 was frustrating.

Obviously the 1st is early and sets them up to put the handbrake on.
The 2nd comes just as we have about 3 good opportunities to equalise.
And the 3rd comes just as we actually carved out an equaliser.

No excuses we seemed off it first half but we didn't get one lucky bounce or anything like that all game

 

We gave it a good go. Fulham are a tidy side and had a lot of experience out there tonight. We’re still so frustrating to watch without a proper forward.

 

That’s a miserable take

 

Apart from the first one, Fulhams goals came against the run of play, we have a team to be proud of, some classy football and two great finishes in that second half. OaU

 

Just watched their goals back. Some garbage defending in there unfortunately.

 

A very good last hour after being unusually lacklustre in the first 30.

Thought we carried a few tonight, but Ballard was immense and Michut is improving with every game. Clarke and Alese both got better as the game went on and Pritch did well when he came on.

The move for our first goal was sublime and both of our finishes were top drawer. I'm very proud of the team for the way they fought their way back into the match and pushed a very useful Fulham team all the way.

Bring on Reading and another 3 points!

 

Did you watch the same match? Do you believe we would win every match no matter who we play? Do you even consider the fact they are 8th in the Premier league and pretty good team?

I'll give you the striker situation isn't the best but we wouldn't have had a striker tonight even if we signed 6 on deadline day!

They were outplayed by a more experienced and probably better team for 30 minutes but after that they were not second best at all and could have easily took it to extra time with a bit of luck their way!

Absolute delight watching that team!

 

Andy’s Player Ratings: Sunderland 2-3 Fulham
https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/20...am-young-lads-do-themselves-proud-but-bow-out
Anthony Patterson: 6/10
Will probably be disappointed with the first goal after getting a hand on the shot but no chance with the other goals, not the best distribution tonight.
Trai Hume: 6/10
Some meaty challenges by the full back who defended solidly and got forward when he could.
Dan Ballard: 7/10
Made one great recovery challenge early on and didn’t look out of place playing against a Premier League attack.
Danny Batth (C): 7/10
Battled well with both Vinicius and Mitrovic, not the most comfortable with the ball at his feet when Fulham pressed but got an assist thanks to his flick on to Bennette.
Aji Alese: 6/10
Not the most comfortable night for Alese, with the left back often outnumbered by Fulham players but stuck at it and got an assist after picking out Clarke.
Edouard Michut: 7/10
Competed well in the middle of the pitch, gave away a few fouls but such was his desire to get stuck in. Made one really good block in the second half from a dangerous shot.
Dan Neil: 6/10
Showed a few bits of quality, including a slaloming run that saw him brought down in the box by Mitrovic and a whipped effort just wide, but was also sloppy at times including letting Mitrovic run off him for Fulham’s second.
Patrick Roberts: 6/10
Was extremely poor all round in the first half hour, including a dreadful headed clearance before the first goal, but improved after that and caused Fulham problems. Unlucky not to score when a deflected effort was well saved.
Amad: 7/10
Not as involved at the top end as we’d want him to be but still showed his quality, had a shot cleared off the line after being played in by Roberts.
Jack Clarke: 7/10
Doesn’t really get enough of the ball on the left with our attacks mostly concentrated on the opposite wing but scored one with a well taken goal and troubled Tete when he had the ball.
Abdoullah Ba: 6/10
Had a couple of good bursts forward, showed some composure when on the ball and closed down well.
Substitutes
Alex Pritchard: 7/10
Really good when he came on, always making space for himself and had a big hand in the first goal.
Luke O’Nien: 6/10
Came on to protect the back four after Neil’s departure and always seemed to be involved.
Jewison Bennette: 7/10
Scored his second goal for the club thanks to a well taken finish and was a willing runner after he replaced Amad.
Pierre Ekwah: 6/10
Added a bit of presence to the midfield, fired one shot just wide and looked useful.
Chris Rigg: 6/10
A late substitute appearance for Rigg who covered a lot of ground in his short time on the pitch.

Man of the Match: Edouard Michut
I’m going to give my man of the match to Michut, he was up against seasoned Premier League midfielders but was getting stuck in, putting in challenges and looked more physically ready than he has so far in a Sunderland shirt. Was tidy as usual on the ball and made one great sliding block in the second half.

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Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

 

I thought Dan Neil really struggled early on but he didn’t drop his head and grew into the game…

 

Forming a canny little partnership with Michut. Millwall away and those Fulham games will help them both massively going forward.

 

Just ignore him
- he's only after the attention and hardly ever replies

 

My take on their goals is similar.

First goal came very early, knocked us back and gave them the opportunity to control the game for half an hour. Personally I think Patterson should have done better. Yes, it came through a crowd of players and he saw it late, but it wasn't placed right in the corner or hit with a load of pace, and he did get his hand to it. I think he could have done better and kept it out.

Second goal is sloppy, Neil didn't track Mitrovitch back as well as he should, letting him get into the box, but despite Danny Gabbidon raving about his pass, it was just a punt into the box as it just looped right for him after good goalkeeping from Patterson. A scrappy goal, just after we'd had a few great chances to equalise, especially Amad being cleared off the line.

But we didn't give up and scored a great goal from Clarke to get us back in it. Something we in general and he in particular had tried a few times but not had the luck with.

Their third is another scrappy one. We should have got it properly clear about 3 times before a hopeful header goes to their player to lash in from close range. That said, when you see the replay on TV, he slices his shot, so it wasn't a clean finish, but was close enough in for it to make no difference.

Our second goal is a lovely finish from Bennette, and we had a slice of luck with their defender falling over to give him the chance. Maybe that evens out one of theirs?

I do think we should have had a penalty. It may have been soft, but Mitrovitch made no attempt to play the ball and with that ref I think if it had been the other way round he'd have given them a penalty for something similar.

Overall, it's probably a fair result, they had enough chances in the first half to have been a couple of goals up before we got started. We finished the first half well and we're probably the better team in the second for good stretches, but their premier league quality and experience saw them through, but it was close.
I was disappointed in them, though, for the time wasting and delaying tactics they showed all through the game and the ref was enough of a knob to allow them to get away with it. And when you consider that in the starting 11 the 2 oldest players are Danny Batth (32) and Patrick Roberts (25), the rest being aged between 19 and 22, I think we have a lot to be proud of for giving Fulham a good run over both games

 

09 might take up Evans mantel