We are the epitome of a work in progress. In the last year, we've gone from a bottom third side to a top third side so the improvement has been vast but there are still glaring flaws. I think it was pretty clear that Philogene was papering over some cracks and that without him we'd struggle. I get the LB thing, I'm sure it's something they'll try and sort in Jan but it's whether there are decent targets available but you can say that for plenty of positions. It's easy to say we should've signed Cox but everyone passed on him and that's why he ended up back in Holland. Oh and there's no chance I'd spend £2.5m on Twine, he's a tidy player but if we had wingers, he wouldn't be playing
Slater at LB worked as Coyle did a good job on Clarke. It's easy to say we shouldn't play Twine on the wing, but who else is there? Lokilo & Allahyar aren't fit enough for 90, Vaughan we've only seen bits of this year so it was between Twine and Adama. We know LR wants wingers, we went into the final few days of the summer window wanting 2 but we didn't get any. It happens. There's a fair few clubs in this division that blow us out of the water financially.
As I said after the game, I thought the best team won. They looked more threatening going forward, though in the first half that was largely down to them setting a line of 4 up front when out of possession, which slowed our endeavours to get forward out of the back. Bearing in mind, they had one less day to recover than us, they seemed more up for the game than we did, which was strange. 2nd half we certainly improved going forward, and Connolly should have scored from where he was, which ended in a tame effort. Sharp in the position would have likely buried it. If that has gone in, then I think we may well have gone on to win. Generally speak we weren't awful, we just seemed 5 or 10% below our normal levels. I thought Coyle did a good job on Clarke, and when he went off and Christie came on, I did fear Clark would get the better of him. It is very noticeable that the last 3 goals we have conceded, the last 2 at Bristol and this one, have come from the same area, and all have been where Christie has been at RB. On others, Morton was excellent, and Delap was also very good. I thought Slater did a good job at LB considering. Twine is not a winger, and is wasted there, and it is evident that the loss of Jaden and Lokilo working as the 2 wingers has effected our forward play. We certainly weren't out played, it just seemed to me, they wanted it more than us, but we have to put this quickly behind us, and if we can get a couple of wins in the next 2 games then things will not look so bad.
I noticed that. I think there were three occasions in the first half when players got to the by line, actually had time to think where to put it, but it was even In front of or behind Connolly. I suspect it was his decision making. I said exactly the same about learning from Sharp. It is something we do a lot.
I think for all of their quick transitions and attacking intent, Sunderland created very little in the way of clear cut chances, and despite looking the better side should have been at least two down before they scored, if only we put away the chances we created. I don’t disagree they were the better side, but it was only a piece of individual brilliance that let them snatch the points, other than that I thought they were poor in the final third.
It an odd one with Cox, as he apparently looked good preseason. There’s clearly a reason why no English clubs fancied him though He isn’t getting game time playing for FC Volendum.
Please please Liam look at the video , the east stand clapped when we finally gave the ball to Delap out wide first half -30 mins had gone - Jones had only Delap free and didn’t give it -time after time after time - in fact it was Coyle who did it in the end . Also as I have said numerous times before our right side is too far in field when defending giving the opposition an easy out ball to the wing . Jobes needs to look up more !!!!
Yep, this is right. It's unusual for a team to get in behind as much as we do and did yesterday and it's incredibly frustrating that we not only waste it every time, but never seem to get anywhere near finding a City player. Often the ball across is cleared by a defender with no City player anywhere near him, despite their being plenty of men forward. We're clearly not playing bad football to be getting to the byline that often. But we're terrible at that final part.
I'm incredibly frustrated that he hasn't sorted it yet, it's the one obvious problem he's failed to solve. I don't know why it has to be a choice between everything's rosey or everything's terrible. It should be clear to anyone watching that we're very good at some things but really bad at turning good positions into goals. To blame the build-up play for yesterday, or the fact that Slater was (sort of) left back as some people are doing is so far wide of the mark it's laughable. I certainly believe he's capable of sorting the finishing in time and we're still early in the process compared to teams who've successfully done what we're trying to do. But right now yes, it's Rosenior's problem to fix and the fact he hasn't done yet is the biggest reason we're outside the playoffs, and he will know that as we head into January.
It really, really wasn't. We controlled the ball and we kept getting in behind them with it. People forget when it happens because there's nothing at the end of it, but twice Morton got to the byline, sat their defender down and had time to pick his pass across. Delap did the same. All in that 'appalling' first half. Last season we could very rarely get into those positions, now we've got supposedly holding midfielders doing it. Getting into that position should lead to goals, for other teams it would do but that is our huge weakness. Sunderland didn't want to press us and therefore we passed it between our defenders more at times, which is just reality, but people see that and lose their marbles thinking it's a terrible performance but really it's just the normal flow of a football match between a team with a lot of the ball and a team who wants to sit off instead of pressing, there are always going to be spells of possession at the back in that sort of game. It can't always be forwards.
Johnbo, you couldn't get a stronger proper centre forward than Delap.... England dont play him on the wing....!!!
I agree it's a problem but moving our best striker from the middle is not an effective solution Coyle and Slater can move into that space as and when needed From both wings we need to cross earlier not slowly trundle towards the full back and then turn and pass to a midfielder why do our opponents not run away from our wingers like Christie does?
Our manager needs to take a close look at Ipswich. They have no gazillion pound players, no parachute payments, no 'do you know who I am's'... instead they have confidence in each other to get the ball from their own box to the opposition box as quickly as possible. Movement, accurate passing, pace, then get it to Chaplin to shoot. What would you rather watch Acun...
Our genuine championship/top level experience yesterday HT were big parts of why we lost in Christie and Seri… We need some risk takers first IMO, the only 2 we have fit don’t belong to us
He was very overrated last season anyway, defended like this the whole time but chipped in with a few goals and no one paid attention to it.
Then play Allahyar and Lokilo for 45 minutes each Shark... Allahayr needs to be in the window too, not on his backside... our use of substitutes/squad leaves more than little to be desired...
