There's a real acceptance of losing that has crept in amongst the fan base. It was okay today, but it's another defeat with 1 shot on target. This squad is a lot better than the 14th, especially as it's a poorer division this year. TW has been in post for nearly four months now. How long do we wait for the players to get used to how he wants to play and start putting together some decent results?
I have no big issue with specific criticisms such as his positioning for their goal but what I can't stand is claims of bias, corruption, etc. it was just simple incompetence and it happens. No one is perfect. Most players on the pitch today would have made as many if not more mistakes than Madley, so I'm not sure why he's expected to operate at a higher standard. He's human.
I'm keeping my powder dry until after the Derby/Oxford/Portsmouth trio. We'll see out the other side of that. Today was a good demonstration of some pragmatism against a good side after the capitulation to Norwich.
The way tim acts on the touchline is embarrassing Im glad he has a touchline ban for burnley Hes a grown man ffs
I don't think it's very pragmatic to not leave anybody back for a corner. I don't really see what we're waiting for now, you know we'll keep conceding sloppy goals but we'll be entertaining. We are what we are, we're getting better at playing how he wants to be the frailties and naiveties of his style won't ever disappear.
Sunderland had 10 shots to our 9, compared to 19 and 21 for Norwich and QPR respectively. We restricted Sunderland far more than those sides, Hughes and Jones looked compact and assured in defence. If Bedia's shot hits the back of the net rather than crashing back off the bar we probably go on and win that, which against Sunderland is a great performance.
Oh it was 100% incompetence. He’s just a terrible ref. It was an embarrassing display, from getting in the way multiple times to not observing Sunderland players blatant time wasting at subs (that occasion in the second half when it took at least 20 seconds before their player even realised he was going off, the ref wasn’t even watching). The handball I can kind of forgive, as there was a player in the way. But the rest - it was a shambles.
That really was incompetent. I saw the board go up, number 10, Roberts who'd just been booked for the stray arm on Millar. I said out loud go on then get him off on that side, ref hadn't looked and simply didn't know who was being substituted. He was still near the corner from where he'd booked Roberts, just not switched on at all. By the time he'd even noticed what was happening Roberts was well on his way to going off the long way.
It was embarrassing. He was chatting to another Sunderland player if I remember correctly. I appreciate he might have needed to have the conversation but he should have been watching the touchline too.
Pretty bold of Roberts to even do it while on a yellow, but I tend to find the incidence of a second yellow for time wasting to be almost non-existent.
It's our corner, we shouldn't ever be conceding from them. It's another occasion where we've been caught on the ball when overexposed and it's cost us a goal, it's certainly not a freak incident and it'll certainly happen again in the coming games
The only sides we've beaten this year were sides that were a complete car crash when we played them. Sunderland were decent today but they were beatable, as were Sheff Utd and Leeds when we played them. It's just demoralising to watch us never look like beating anyone half-decent when we've got a good and deep squad.
It’s literally not happened since the Sheff Utd game til today. Mehlem should do better but the referee nearly backed into him ffs.
"Never look like beating"? Bedia had a great chance that hit the crossbar. That goes in and we likely win.
Just listened to the post match, Walter was very heavy on striking the right balance. It paid dividend today, the final ball was just so bad. Probably the worst of the season, but we had 5-6 excellent opportunities that we carved out from the shape but we never got a shot off due to poor decision making.
On balance, a draw would have been a fair result. Sunderland is a good team, but Norwich looks better IMO. As far as the handball was concerned, this was certainly a red card and a free kick IMO. As far as their goal is concerned, yes the ref effecting Mehlem's control of the ball, but I think the ref was standing there when the corner kick was taken, so Mehlem should have moved to a different position, away from where the ref was standing. So I think there is blame on both sides. Also, what I cannot understand is why we don't have one defender further back, as we have been caught a few times now, whereby all 10 players come up for a corner, we should have a pacey player there just in case. Hughes was the standout for me, was excellent all game, as was Jones. Midfield again was not dominant enough, particularly in the first half. Puerta did okay for his first game, but it did take him a while to get to grips with the pace. Personally, I would like to see Zambrano & Puerta or Alzate, with Palmer ahead of them. Both Mehlem and Simon's are okay but don't affect the game enough IMO. I think we will see Millar back on Wednesday as Kamara didn't really do enough. On to Burnley, we certainly need to take something from the game, as another defeat will start to affect confidence. P.S. On a positive note, we did look much better defensively.
