Where we a bit hard on our defence yesterday?

Most people are very happy but believe that our defence still looks shaky, despite the far better performance in the 2nd half.

HOWEVER -

Despite Sissoko being a beast going forward, the first two goals really were his fault. He didn't put the effort in defensively, and thus Olsson wasn't tracked and we were exposed down the left side.

Sissoko was far more aware defensively in the 2nd half after an effective team talk form McClaren, and if he had his head in the game, defensively, from the beginning, maybe we'd not have conceded two cheap goals.

Dummett was largely at fault for the 2nd also, but it's his first game in ages, and he was subbed at half time, along with Tiote who's lack of match fitness clearly showed.

I'm not making excuses, I know we could have definitely conceded more goals, but I think we are being too harsh on the defence as a whole. It seemed to be the fault of specific players, rather than the whole team.

I think if Sissoko had have performed better defensively in the first half, we wouldn't be worrying so much about the defence.

 

I don't think the defence really carry the can for yesterday. McClaren first and foremost for selecting Tiote. I assume his level in training was similarly off the chart - the wrong way. Anita had done little wrong anyway.

The goals were mainly down to bad tracking from Sissoko and Gini. Sissoko was actually lazy on numerous occasions. He is a liability. Gini can also stand and watch at times. It led to Janmaat and Dummett being unsure when to come to the man for fear of exposing their centre backs. Crosses were coming in and instead of getting tight at the back stick, the full backs were also having to think of what was behind. It really was pretty poor from the wide areas. Not a popular thing to pinpoint when one creates 4 and the other scores 4, but it is reality.

I still think that game was on a knife edge until Anita entered the game. I can only assume McClaren reminded Gini and Sissoko that there are two sides to the game. Its the same when people say "oh he is a flair player, you don't want him tracking". This is not 1988, the game has moved on. Whether you are wide in a 442, 433 or whatever the formation, you have to work. If you don't teams punish you. Sissoko has long been targeted because of his lazy ways. The annoying thing is that once Sissoko and Gini started working hard, we had no further trouble from the wide areas. Redmond and Brady were neutralised. Yet we still carried the same attacking threat if not more. All that tells you is that Sissoko, and Gini to a lesser extent, can do it, they just have poor levels of concentration/effort.

We can sort this. Our defence is still poor. We still have shocking options at left back and Colo is not the player we need. Janmaat is still a bit of a liability. However with a bit of graft we can cover this up a little until January and hopefully invest heavily in a centre back and left back.

 

Elliott is dreadful

 

Suck my hoop.

Ftm.

 

The 2 strikes hitting the posts just show how open we were, a matter of inches and we could have been seeing a very different result, we did not defend at all well at times standing off players and giving them far too much space, the saving grace was that Norwich were as bad if not worse and at least going forwards Sissoko put the kind of shift in that we haven't seen for some time. It seems that people have forgotten the last 8 matches as if magically this is going to wipe the slate clean, the truth is that unless we get better at defending we are going to get wiped out by the better teams in the league, the mid-field certainly need to do better screening the back 4 and tracking their runners. I would love to see a team playing the way Keegan had it but the Premier League has moved on and there are plenty of other teams who given the space we gave up yesterday would cut us apart, points are precious for us now and it's better to win ugly than lose magnificently at the moment, it was great but we need to put together a string of wins now to get the momentum going positively.

 

Suck my hoop.

Wait till next week.




Ftm

 

I think they'll be hoping to complete a cut price deal for the soon to be out of contract Matip. It was probably the prospect of such January bargain-huntery that persuaded our owner to gamble the first 4-5 months of the season on our shoddy CB options. Matip and Mbemba... Sounds reasonable.

I would be surprised if we strengthened at LB, though we certainly need to do so. I think we're going to keep most of the powder dry for next summer and make another doomed move for Lacazette to partner Mitrovic.

 

One thing I will say is that we don't close down fast enough. Players are having too many free strikes from 25 yards.

 

Nice response, you make my dogs arse look intelligent.

 

Main issue that I can see is that we don't play with 2 natural wingers, we play Gini and Sissoko so our full backs are used more as wing backs which then leaves us open to glaring attacks especially when we lose possession. If we are going to use this formation with these players than the holding midfielder (Anita/Tiote/Colback - doesn't matter which one) has to stay back almost as a 3rd centre back.

Our midfielders also need to create more space for themselves - a few times a defensive player has looked up and there is no-one available and so they take arun and of course they then lose the ball and the opposition attack but now with a defender out of position.

 

Defence wasn't great yesterday. Olsen had a load of room for the first and Colo was weak. Olsen had ten yards space to cross the ball to Redmond who had ten yards space at the back for the second.
What a crosser of the ball he is though, put some quality balls in dangerous positions.

 

Agree. The squad is unbalanced. Siss basically causes us a bit of an issue as he just doesn't really fit. Picking the right side for the job is tricky as I don't think we have the right mix of personnel.

 

Well seeing as you are always stuck up it.

 

Mr T will take you up on that.

.... If Commachio is just the not606 handle of Rachel Riley.

 

One of the big problems is Tiote. He is essentially the only true holding midfielder we have. This is an absolute necessity for how McClaren wants to play. Just say for instance you dropped a Kouyate, Wanyama, M'Vila in there for him then all of a sudden you have that screen to cover the full backs.

Regardless the quality is not there at centre back and left back. Some would argue Janmaat also. He offers a lot going forward but being honest his work at the back stick is only marginally better than Haidara's! He is better at closing down wingers but not much. Dummett is better than both at those disciplines, but he offers nothing going forward. There is no point hiding from it, the full backs are not very good regardless of the wide men.

The other issue is Colo. You can't carry a centre back like that. He is too weak and easily bullied. He is too easy to pull out of position. He is good back up.

The funny thing is if you gave Colo to Pochettino, he'd look great. The Bielsa way of playing (3331) with those three centre backs, allows one to be a bit more of a pussy, as he is more required to take the ball into midfield. Colo is not awful, he is just awful for the way we want to play. We are not going to change, McClaren has to be true to himself.

Its time to bite the bullet in January and overhaul the defence. Get an attacking left back who has much higher quality than Haidara, and a bit of positional sense, replace Colo with a commanding centre back who is a bit rugged. Give them time! If they are the right type it will work. Summer window we need to look at right back and central midfield. Both ball winner and ball player.

We have certain elements in place for me.

I agree with Blacker Than though, the reality is everything didn't change overnight. That result could have been very different if Norwich put their chances away. other teams will.

 

Typical Sunderland fan, can't tell the difference between a real dog and a makem lass

 

What is clear - McClaren has seemingly ditched the 4-4-1-1 formation, or 4-5-1 if you will. He realized that it wasn't working especially with crap like Cisse as lone striker. It's no coincidence that performances have improved again since Mitrovic came back. You've mentioned the Bielsa way of playing - Terrific to watch but, it was widely acknowledged to be disastrous in terms of the pressure it put on the defence. Left his sides ripe for counter attacks. Coloccini as a result would probably look exactly the same. Formation wise, I can see us going down the 3-5-2 WM eventually, or even the 4-2-2-2 he tried on Sunday. For those you need a strong midfield to protect the back. At present, we lack quality in holding midfield. Tiote isn't the player he was and Colback/ Anita just don't convince me. You really need someone to break up play and bring the ball out if you are going down that route. Our fullbacks are definitely an issue. Janmaat is terrific bombing forward, but defensively can be prone to lapses. The left side is abysmal. I would say that only really Mbemba could be called a 'good' defender.

 

I don't think so, the defense was poor and it showed with both goals and were rightfully criticized.

I thought both Gini and Sissoko were equally bad first half at getting back and helping their full backs. Sissoko was better second half but didn't see Gini making tackles in our own corner and breaking the length of the pitch. His 4 goals and Sissokos three assists covered the cracks, neither are wide players and are more suited to playing through the middle although Siss is the more comfortable of the two out wide.

This left the Full Backs with decisions to make and unfortunately neither did very well.

Janmaat was left between a rock and a hard place and wasn't sure whether or not to push the opposition full back or drop in and help the CB's for both goals and Dummett has seen the CM making tracks into the box with no one marking him so had no option but to come in leaving Redmond completely free to volley in for the second. Hindsight is a beautiful thing though.

 

Tiote is dreadful, always said it, always will say it. To quote the True Geordie "He may look like Mr T, but he plays like Oprah Winfrey" whenever he is on the pitch we look a far weaker side.

Gini & Sissoko need to work harder in defending, we need to sign some natural wingers so that our right & left back aren't constantly tracking back. We need a goalkeeper who can command the defence, we need a captain who can do something of worth. There are glaring defensive issues at this club. HAS to be fixed.

 

Ashley needs to spend at least the same amount in the next two windows as he did the last one to make any inroads into the issue with the squad, needs to be looking at quality rather than future money spinning potential, also get rid of the old stock, if nobody wants to buy any of the surplus we should release them on a free to clear out.