Excellent performance all round. Some real quality to our passing in their half today. Movement was great and earned the passes. Rigg made it look effortless at times, he is 100% the real deal. Jobe was my MOM, absolutely brilliant. 10/10 performance. Graft, great first touch, linking play, pressing, pushing centre halves about, movement, vision. Loved watching him. Any prem sides watching that today will have sat up. Second best was Neil, a 9/10 performance. What a player he is, just exceptional in that playmaker role. Said it before but he really does remind me of Rodri, sky is the limit for him, and a few others. Faith well and truly restored today.
Andy’s Player Ratings: Cardiff 0-2 Sunderland - A very Good Friday for the Mackems! Sunderland put in a fantastic performance away at Cardiff to FINALLY get back to winning ways. Here’s how Andy rated the Lads! Anthony Patterson: 6/10 Barely a save to make as the home side were kept at bay with ease. Was a slight scare with a quick ball to the under pressure Ballard that caused a heavy touch but nothing came of it. Trai Hume: 7/10 Very comfortable defensively and got forward well to support Rigg, with some good crosses into the box. Dan Ballard: 7/10 Had that heavy touch from Patterson’s ball but otherwise cruised through the game and was dominant in the air. Luke O’Nien (C): 8/10 Like Ballard, he cruised through the game but also burst forward on occasion to give us some attacking thrust from deep. Callum Styles: 6/10 Not tested defensively, kept the ball simple when in possession but no attacking threat from him. Dan Neil: 9/10 Ran the show today, repeatedly took a number of home players out of the game with a bit of skill or a decisive pass. The only down side were his shots from the edge of the box, he must have had five or six without really testing the goalkeeper. Pierre Ekwah: 8/10 Constantly putting Cardiff under pressure when they had possession and helped Neil control the game in the middle of the pitch. Chris Rigg: 7/10 Really good work rate out wide, supported Hume defensively but showed a good range of passing. Should have scored when one-on-one with the goalkeeper but at least forced a good save. Abdoullah Ba: 6/10 I thought he was a little isolated at times on the left with Styles not getting forward but still caused Cardiff problems with his unpredictability. Could have got on the scoresheet with some good chances, a near post shot when he probably should have passed and curling just wide late on. Adil Aouchiche: 8/10 Combined well with Jobe all game, played the pass for the penalty - which he converted himself - and the played a great cross to the back post for the second. Always trying to make something happen, even if some of his final balls were erratic. Jobe Bellingham: 8/10 Won the penalty the gave us the lead and then made a good back post run to get on the end of Aouchiche’s cross. Outside of the goals he contributed well, occupying the centre halves all game and providing an outlet up top. Substitutes Romaine Mundle: 6/10 Looked dangerous when he came on, played a good ball to Ba that resulted in a chance and then had one himself but saw the goalkeeper do well to save his effort. Leo Hjelde: 6/10 Replaced Styles at left back and Sunderland were so much in control that he was barely involved. Luis Hemir: 6/10 An encouraging display from the bench, had one good chance saved, linked up play well and also got back to help us keep the clean sheet. Bradley Dack: 6/10 First game in some time and almost got an assist after playing in Hemir. Man of the Match: Dan Neil Absolutely ran the show today, from kick off to the final whistle. Dominated the middle of the park, with the home side unable to get near him. Lots of dangerous passes to start attacks and could have had a goal or two himself with better finishing from the edge of the box. please log in to view this image Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images I would've given MOTM to Jobe myself
https://x.com/bellinghamjude/status/1773758329786937790?s=46&t=bFwez-5oi7CdxUG56_1QKg Haway Jude come and join the party
Good win & hopefully we can have strong finish to the season, get some important minutes into some of the younger lads On another note .....Hull having a right good go at it..... hopefully they & a number of others are fxcked next season....shot there load trying to go up this year
That was a first class display Jobe easily MOTM Chris Rigg is some talent great work rate Still some daft mistakes Chuffed for everyone
Made hell of a difference having a lad up top who put himself about & made striker runs, held ball etc etc....fantastic performance from Jobe, makes sense if he stops up top rest of season, helped his confidence also. Get minutes for Hemir last 20 so less pressure
He's got plenty wrong there I reckon. No-one in the starting XI was a 6/10 today. Giving that to Styles for "no attacking threat" is a bit silly given that any time he did move further forward, he drifted in to central midfield (like Hume used to be asked to do on the right). It wasn't in the game plan for him to overlap Ba on the left. He must have been asleep half of the match to give Jobe an 8. Talks about him providing an outlet up top, but nothing about him being provider for 2 or 3 big chances. He is spot on with Dan Neil though, another great performance from him.
Funny he got the rest we all said he needed and he turned into Jude the lads going to bring us some serious money in worst case scenario
A good strategy to give him the exposure, I'd be happy with him as our main striker next year or we sell him for a lot more - however it pans out.
