Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v West Ham - Saturday 16th August 2025 - KO 15:00

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Your Prediction:


  • Total voters
    112
  • Poll closed .
Wasn’t there some ‘Alderete isn’t much of a passer’ craic.

He pinged some gorgeous balls about, half fit.

Xhaka didn’t do much, but he did ****ing loads. He lifts us just by existing. He is an immaculate footballer. You can see why his career has been Arsenal and Bayer.

Everyone was class but I’ll say this and it’s not a dig at anyone.

I said all through pre season that Ballard was PL all day. He was ****ing brilliant top to bottom he was close to a 10 for me.

He has that quality, Xhaka, however I am going to say, controversially, he got whipped a good few times today. Was up against Paqueta though. At times I was surprised at how slow he was.
 
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He has that quality, Xhaka, however I am going to say, controversially, he got whipped a good few times today. Was up against Paqueta though. At times I was surprised at how slow he was.

His role today was to stop Paqueta playing though, and yeah he may have gotten away from him a few times but can anyone argue that overall Xhaka nullified him?
 
His role today was to stop Paqueta playing though, and yeah he may have gotten away from him a few times but can anyone argue that overall Xhaka nullified him?

Probably not. He did the job. Just an observation watching him. He looked a bit slow and that was my worry. He got whipped a few times.

That said, he was quality elsewhere.

Diarra was the boy in the middle today, for me anyway.
 
Probably not. He did the job. Just an observation watching him. He looked a bit slow and that was my worry. He got whipped a few times.

That said, he was quality elsewhere.

Diarra was the boy in the middle today, for me anyway.
That's why I think Sadiki and Diarra are ideal partners for Xhaka, they cover so much ground and so quickly. Xhaka is the organiser, loved his communication today, just controlled everything but agree Diarra is a bit special isn't he.
 
Probably not. He did the job. Just an observation watching him. He looked a bit slow and that was my worry. He got whipped a few times.

That said, he was quality elsewhere.

Diarra was the boy in the middle today, for me anyway.

He was always slow mate. Even when young he was never pacey at all.

I agree on Diarra. I adult could be an 89million sale that lad. Athletic as ****.
 
Probably not. He did the job. Just an observation watching him. He looked a bit slow and that was my worry. He got whipped a few times.

That said, he was quality elsewhere.

Diarra was the boy in the middle today, for me anyway.
I thought Xhaka was quality mate he can’t have the beating of everyone but aye Diarra is the boy. Absolutely superb.
 
He has that quality, Xhaka, however I am going to say, controversially, he got whipped a good few times today. Was up against Paqueta though. At times I was surprised at how slow he was.
Actually going to agree with you to a degree here mate. Lost the battle first half (against a brilliant player tbf). Thought we lost the whole midfield battle first half (even though I thought diarra was outstanding). Second half though, oof that second half, we stepped up big time.

long way to go, but we know:
1) we can compete
2) we can keep clean sheets
3) we can score goals
4) we can win
 
Actually going to agree with you to a degree here mate. Lost the battle first half (against a brilliant player tbf). Thought we lost the whole midfield battle first half (even though I thought diarra was outstanding). Second half though, oof that second half, we stepped up big time.

long way to go, but we know:
1) we can compete
2) we can keep clean sheets
3) we can score goals
4) we can win
I thought for 20 minutes they found some space in between our lines and could have scored. The other 70 we matched or bettered them though. It wasn’t the whole first half. A definite spell.