Some harsh critics on here this week IMO. I thought the first half we were very silky and smooth, barely put a pass wrong for the first 45. Credit to Sunderland in the second half, they came at us with intent to deny us time and force some errors and our players were found lacking. It was far too easy to catch Aribo and others on the ball and our off the ball movement looked barely half speed leading to far too many turnovers. In the end though Sunderland were over committed to the press at 2-2 and when we did break it we had a player who could find the back of the net. It was as much a good tactic by RM as it was Sunderlands suicidal one. Really enjoyed the watch.
I said at half-time that if we let it slip, Russ would get the blame. And lo, it's exactly what people are doing. But it's individual player errors that are costing us the most. Adarma skying his one-on-one over the bar in the first half was criminal. Has to be getting that on target. Sulemana trying to run out with the ball for Sunderland's first goal. There is a tendency to criticise the system when it goes wrong, but to say nothing complimentary when it goes well. Both our third and fourth goals were great examples of Russ-ball. With a different system, different manager, THB would have launched the ball forward over the halfway line (both times). Instead, he picks the right pass on the ground, and the counter attack is on. So I'm with Russ on this. It's not the instructions, nor the system; it's the players being smart/brave or whatever you want to call it. That said, there are clearly times when we push our luck. The balls through the middle from Baz to Che too often end up with the opposition winning the ball and putting us back under pressure. But I understand why Russ wants to try and utilise this; because when its done well, it breaks through several lines at once. It's a very difficult move though, and if the opposition are wise to it, we should maybe use it more sporadically.
Yep same. I was pretty shocked at original post. Thought he was generally poor & made a few bad decisions. You could definitely see he was trying to show who was boss in the first 5-10mins; maybe not bad in some circumstances but in these instances was just ott.
I am guessing that the first two subs were pre-planned but obviously were wrong'uns, the others were either inspired or fortunate? Presumably with a big gap in the fixtures RM was trying to get minutes for as many players as possible. I think the Ref wasn't all that great and VAR would have had a field day with some of the decisions!
I have only seen one post match comment from the Saints camp and that was from Rothwell saying that Sunderland started marking us man to man in the second half. I think this is why we struggled to keep the ball as well as we had in the first half, and iirc it happened to us in a recent defeat (Hull?), which highlights another area where our style of play can be made less effective. Something else for the players to work on because as Rothwell also said, if you can slip your marker you can get chances.
Think you're being a bit harsh on Sulemana there. If you watch it again, it's actually Manning that loses the ball, and Sulemana recovers it in a fairly impossible position. He runs right rather than left (which were his only two real options, other than booting it straight out). If he'd gone left he'd probably have been okay, but he had two players on him immediately (though watching it again, the way the ball came to him, it was almost impossible for him to go left). The original and worse error is Mannings.
Not sure who it was but the pass played out to Manning was a ridiculous one too. Lofted side foot pass not what was needed in that situation.
Yes and no. If it was a one-off, then I'd let it go. But it is so typical of Sulemana to try and dribble his way out of trouble. Sometimes it just needs clearing. Bednarek's reaction says it all. He's livid with him.
We should remember that was a very makeshift Sunderland side yesterday, on 5 defeat run. Thought they were atrocious in the first half but give them credit, they came out with an obvious “let’s try the front half press” which resulted in a rather fortunate 1st & brilliant 2nd. If they’d had a bit more metal they could have got something but over committed & we overcome rather easily in end. Was surprised at the 57mm subs? Obviously wasn’t to rest, considering we’ve got 2 weeks off now. Tactical or just game time? Strange regardless tho at that time. A very grateful win which keeps us interested in the autos.
Not for me at all. The only thing he got wrong was allowing the penalty to stand. All the fouls in the game looked correct. Also spotted the shirt pull in the first half which led to the opening goal. He wasn't perfect but he was good. Problem is fans expect every call to be correct which is ridiculous. He possibly got a corner wrong which he gave to them as well but these are minor things. I certainly didn't think he was weak. The game was handled well.
The ref wasn’t awful, we’ve had far worse. Nice to finally get our 5th penalty of the season too. Only 7 behind Leicester now
Your first sentence is very much on the nail!! Take a look if you wish to be depressed at the posts on here, this time last year and the year before that etc. I prefer this year!!!
Yeah they had a CM pairing who were 16 and 18 years old. Amazing really. Also we only got the 3rd and 4th after Ballard went off. It was a weird one. It was very close to being so comfortable. Honestly I think the biggest fault lies with the forwards.
What impressed me about Sunderland was that their heads didn't drop. At 2-0, they knew that if they got one, they were in with a chance. At 3-2 and then 4-2, they still pressed us.
It's that old chestnut about the double touch, it clearly wasn't intentional to deceive, just a slip, the rule book doesn't take that in to consideration, so technically should have been disallowed, SA clearly decided to use his discretion and I am all for that.
