If any good can be taken from yesterdays game it can only be... Bruce's team managed to show the world live on T.V. that any suggestion he was sacked for being a Geordie are a complete nonsense. Over to you Mr O'neill... "Mr Short impressed me very much with his vision for the club," "He has great aspirations for it, and like everyone who takes on a football club he wants it to be successful as possible. "He has these plans for the football club which are very impressive indeed."
Totally agree, the so called professional football world think that Bruce was sacked because he supported the barcodes, he needed more time etc. etc. These people know jack about our club mate and are not worth listening to, the old boy network kicks in again.
But he went 4-4-2.. Two strikers...well kind of.. A l/w and a r/w.. Defence looked decent....on paper.. Now the under-lying problem....the c/m, any team that included Catts and Colback together is doomed...Not a dig at either, but was Colback really on the pitch.. They just can't play together.. Think.(well i hope it's the last time we see that pairing)... Iv'e just finished watching it again..without being alcohol induced, and in parts, didn't think we were that bad...
For me I saw a lot of good and a confirmation of what we, and now O'neil know. First class keeper. Good defence who simply are overworked and O'Shea does not impress. Richardson ans Sess looked good down the left. Bardo and Larsson can look good down the right. Elmo looks bad. Colback and Catts cant play together. We dont have one let alone two strikers. Stama poor. Confidence shot.
Plus some have gone from sheer joy before the game, to utter desperation after it.. MoN hasn't even had his first cuppa in his new office yet.
Kinda reminds me of 2 seasons ago, when we played Cana and Clattermole in the middle together. It just didn't work. We need one midfield general to get stuck in and let the opposition know that the middle is Sunderland territory and that if you come in there, you will get mowed down. Preferably without being carded. Cana was good at this (apart from the cards). Clattermole just runs into them on the sideline and dives in, when quite frankly it's not needed. If we have the midfield general, we need a creative player. A deep lying playmaker who can find the gaps for the striker who is probing the defense trying to find the gap. It worked at Man Utd in their best years. They had Keano breaking legs (both literally and figuratively), while creative players like Beckham, Scholes, and Giggs.
Pretty much sums it up. Colback and Vaughan for me in CM, but that is now up to O'niel to decide. WTF happened to Bendtner? He was looking good in previous games, but just did not turn up yesterday (I didnt see the Speed tribute thing, so cant comment on that). Elmo looks bad, but is that his fault or just the way he is made to look by Bruce's/Black's tactics? Again, O'niel will decide on that. What is also proves is that when we play 4-5-1 the opposition is no longer scared to throw every bugger forward as 1 striker does not provide enough of a threat, and this puts way too much pressure on the defence. Brown made mistakes yesterday, but he was covering for O'shea for most of the game - he was bound to crack at some point. When we were playing 4-4-2 I thought we looked pretty good, and we were very dangerous on the counter attack - add a decent striker (goal poacher) into the mix and we would have won comfortably imo (Noble?). I have no idea why the sudden negativity on the board after the game - it didnt tell us anything we didnt know before (except maybe that Bendtner is already fed up)
The managers union always kicks in when managers are sacked and the media darlings always spout uneducated cak about that clubs fans, chairman etc. Bruce was sacked because he failed miserably on the pitch and yesterday we say the legacy he has left us and our new manager. Precious little. The fact he was a craa was merely a stick to adebt him with once it had all gone tits up. For the record, I really didn't give a **** where he came from so long as things were improving but the derby games were the worst for decades and our fortunes tumbled in 2011 in general. Bruce can have no complaints about the support he received whilst our manager and he orchestrated his own downfall. His continual fraternisation with all things b&w didn't help him (going to watch his boyhood team on a rare weekend off when we were struggling, was crass to say the least) , having a go at us fans for not being happy with the ****e he was serving up week after week and then not replacing Bent and Gyan, all contributed to his demise. Bruce is gone now and Mon is in. At least we can now all look forwards and not backwards and hopefully turn around our season.
Sums it up just nicely. As it stands I'd be looking to play Ji and Campbell and hope Campbell can roll with it from the first game. Ji didn't look great yesterday because he was playing with the laziest uninterested excuse for a striker that I have witnessed in a long time. The pace of Ji and Campbell with Noble could well be enough to keep us in the league and anything that happens in January is a bonus.
