....... I've seen in a Sunderland shirt. And I say that after a lot of thought. Semi-final against Man Utd, didn't know his team mates and had a quality opponent against him.
Hmmm, was very good and certainly up there amongst the best, but still not sure it was as good as Stan Varga's first game against Arsenal. First game of the season back in 2000/2001 season I believe it was.
He looks really good at getting forward, hasn't filled me enormously with confidence when it comes to defending and positioning. He had a really good game overall though. It's nice to see us getting behind teams with the overlapping of Alonso. Very positive signing, looking forward to the rest of Poyets signings coming in, if this is gunna be the standard. Best player on the pitch by a country mile was Ki. What an awesome player he is, won the midfield battle tonight and covered every blade of grass. We must sign him if we stay up.
I was at that game and won a lot of money because I had a 50/1 bet on the first scorer and result. Varga was superb and its still the best debut I have ever seen. To be fair to Alonso he played very well even if it was not quite as good as big Stan.
I was there and he was immense but he actually knew who he was playing with ........ it wasn't the pressure match that tonight was. Varga came into my mind as did 'Kieran Brady' but tonight was class against difficult opposition.
Bolton aren't Man Utd, to be fair, and it wasn't a cup semi-final ....... Cattermole had also just switched one English club for another.
Man Utd aren't exactly running away with the league either, had lost their last two before tonight and have already lost most home games in this season for many a year. Alonso has barely played in Italy, if at all? He was at Bolton last season, so this is moreorless English club to English club.
Considering he's only been here a couple of days, is 22 years old, has come over from another country and then also been chucked in for a cup semi final v Man Utd, I'm 100% with Smug on this. Remarkable debut and if this is a sign of a Gus Poyet transfer window then bring it on.
What a great debut from the lad...if he is the sort of player that Gus brings,we are in for magical things!!Relegation worries are a joke!
Alonso was outstanding as was AJ when he came on. I hope there is more to come from both of them. We have to take this performance into Saturday and not slip up. Fulham are there for the taking. I'm very happy we are doing well in the cup but I would swap a cup final for prem survival in a heartbeat.
Remember that one, varga was outstanding looked like a world beater, didn't quite pan out like that but as i say remeber it well
Varga for me as well will never be beaten, that was an 11 outta 10. The McShane as mentioned v Spurs was unreal as well, talk about false ****ing advertising. Alonso was superb tonight though, absolutely superb.
Alonso was great tonight, especially given how little time he had spent with the others and with the pressure of it being a semi-final (albeit slightly less pressure given it was the first of a 2-leg game). I dont think it was a better debut than Varga's because of this reason: Varga's debut performance was quite simply one of the best (and IMO was THE best) individual player performance that has been in seen in a Sunderland shirt, certainly in the last 30 years, debut or not. Last nights performance from Alonso, although great, wouldn't stand out as highly as Varga's did then over the course of time as personally, I didn't even think Alonso was the best Sunderland player on the pitch last night. I certainly think Ki had a better game, and there is also an argument that Bardsley, Brown, Borini or even the super-sub Johnson, had a better game than him too. And someone who arguably wasn't the best player on the pitch in the match can't be regarded as better than the best individual performance ever.
Whether it was the best or not, it was certainly a fantastic performance from the lad and he can only get better with games. Hope we can get a couple or three more like him.
