Yes but if I was a Sunderland fan I would be looking at their games and be thinking we are for the drop this season. Sorry but I can't see them escaping this time around. They are awful!
They got what they fought for and we got what we deserved, a hard earned point on both sides. Sunderland showed spirit, we knew they'd come at us and for the best part we stood up to their challenge I feel. They didn't create much all game, except in injury time, but scored a really pretty goal. As for us, Negatives: Didn't control midfield with precision we needed to run our game plan. We wanted our front men to run narrow channels between defenders but, except for Gomis' goal, we failed to do this and passed the ball away too often. Didn't push and drive from midfield to stretch and draw defenders. Instead our midfielders seemed happy to hold position and pass the ball on; except for Jack Cork who switched with Shelvey a lot today, him high Shelvey back. Far too many fruitless give and goes. We gave and went but sideways mostly. Limited use of Monterro, why? Jones got booked, we saw what he could do with the ball so why didn't we feed him more. He had the beating of any man in front of him again today, baffling. Last Siggy again I'm afraid. Looks out of sorts in his new role playing very high. Because of this we don't see him dropping back a few yards to rake a pass or cut on goal to take a hot shot. He keeps getting crowded out where he plays now and his main weapons, accurate pass, great shot, are not factors. He's the only cog in our machine that isn't working properly right now. Monk hopefuly will address this and tweak his role slightly to bring him into games more. Positives: Stood up well to a very physical challenge and always looked like we were in control of what we were doing. Created excellent chances and could have won the game comfortably if it wasn't for their keeper and the post. Ayew, put in another solid performance, along with the rest of the team, except Siggy, I might add. He looked to get involved, kept his head, and continued playing after a few heavy challenges. You cant keep a good man down, Gomiiiiiis, long may his run continue. We were poor today compared with last two games but even so, we still looked reasonably solid, scored and brought a point home from a tough game. Much to focus and improve on in training. Bring on them pesky Mancs
Yeah, he's starting to get a bit twitchy about it too. Hopefully Monk will drop him back a couple of yards and he'll have a bit more time on the ball
Completely agree. Siggy is certainly a worry when we have the ball at the moment (although he worked some good positions and got a couple of nice shots off), but he does seem to be struggling higher up the pitch rather than sitting in the proverbial "hole". However, his workrate in defence and ability to put in seemingly endless amounts of sprints to recover possession is admirable, and probably the sole reason that he's in the team. While he doesn't really have as much influence on a game attacking-wise, he always makes it up in defence for me. Also completely agree on the Montero issue today. Why we don't use him more I don't know. At one point Taylor even overlapped him and forced Monty to turn backwards...baffling! Not sure if this point has been mentioned, but how the hell Lens didn't get sent off when he brought Ayew down, I don't know. And then he fouled Monty and had a talking to. And then he fouled Naughton and had another talking to?! All while on a yellow! I don't get it. A classic case of home refereeing. The lad should've been having an early shower today.
We also never got to see a decent replay of our "penalty claim" when it looked pretty clear that Naughton got taken down when coming across the edge of the box from the right wing position. The commentators on the NBC feed spotted Monk "up in arms" about it at the time. But as Sunderland broke and had a chance, we never got to see a replay of it and no attention was given to it whatsoever. Considering that their 'stone-wall penalty' was not really that stone-wall at all - it hits Ashley first and then purely accidentally flicks up onto his arm according to Phil Thompson on Sky (my stream stuttered on the replays so I couldn't see), it would be interesting to see that challenge on Naughton again, as to my memory the Sunderland player puts his thigh right across Naughton's path and trips him.
Just watched it again on Match of the Day.... Say what you want, but we murdered them. They had 2 attempts on target. One mistake by Fernandez cost us.
Yes, let's ignore the definite penalty they should have had. Ash's hands were raised and he brought the left one down to block the shot. I've just replayed it 5 times. You're right on the stats though. We did restrict them to 2 on target.
OK, let's say it was a penalty (which by the way was going wide if it didn't hit Ash), still doesn't change the fact that we were so much better than them. One incident in isolation doesn't change the reality of the performances over the entire match does it?
They can say it was a stonewall penalty all day, it wasn't given so wasn't one. And even if they got a penalty it doesn't automatically mean a goal
Fully agree. On another day we could have won 3 or 4 nil. They were dirty and thuggish. I hope they get relegated.
It was a game we should have won, but if you don't score goals, you don't win games, and yesterday we didn't take our chances. So far, we are 3pts better off against the same opposition as last year (we lost at Chelsea and drew at home to Newcastle last season).
All you guys have had the benefit of watching the match on tv. I was at the match but have not seen anything on tv. I was on the road until 1am ,after leaving at 5pm because the 'helpful' Sunderland police held us back until every man and his dog had departed the stadium before releasing us into the tail end of a huge traffic jam, it took us an hour to get to the motorway. In contrast the road is closed by our police at the Liberty Stadium to allow the away buses to dodge any traffic and go merrily on their way home without hindrance. Anyway,my take on the game was the Ash 'penalty' was ball to hand. The scything down of Naughton looked nailed on from where I was. We were sloppy sometimes in our passing and their goal resulted from Fed's poor distribution,he just didn't know what to do with the ball at times. The ref was poor and allowed their players to hack us down without retribution. By the time he tried to take control of the game it was too late. Sunderland fans thought our players were over reacting to the tackles and were booing the ref, what a joke. We missed our chances to seal the game and then almost lost it at the end with two free kicks handed on a plate to them in front of goal.
for the same token we can say lens should have been red carded but the ref didnt give it so it wasn't one. Bottom line we should have killed the game off and we didn't. Just hope we don't have to rely on playing against 10 men to get a decent result! Nothing to fear next game though, watched the manure game and they were poor
Yes, Knackered, lets ignore everything else too shall we. Re their shout, In real time it was ball to hand, super slow mo showed no different. The ball hit Williams at speed, he did not deliberately stick his hand on it; I've watched it too knackered and in real time Williams didn't have time, also he's not that thick, to deliberately handle the ball in the area. If its not deliberate hand ball then its ball to hand and not a penalty. We had two good shouts of our own too knackered, go watch them 5 times at any speed you want. First one stonewall, as seen too by bigkiderz (#188) and everyone else in the pub which erupted when Naughton was brought down in the box. Naughton was fouled in the penalty area when he cut in from the right. The defender scythed a tackle across him taking his legs. It was as blatant a penalty as I've seen but we got nothing, not even a replay. After reviewing it myself, only needed one look, I can confirm that Naughton was brought down and fouled in the box - Penalty. Our second shout was when Montero was grabbed by the defender he'd just skinned. The hold continued into the box - Another penalty. On Penalties alone we should have won this game 2-1. Also, I think everyone can agree that Lens should not have been on the pitch to assist in their goal. Rodwell should have gone too for violent conduct after a purposeful knee into Ayews back, he didn't even get booked.
