Obviously I don't want us to play the Stoke way but set pieces are part of the game. Why are ours so poor? Surely it's one of the easiest things to practise?
I'm not judging from the past few games, I've said the same since the start of the season. Heres an example; Bardsley, in the last three games, barring todays game: 2 goals, 1 assist. Henderson, in his entire SAFC career: 2 goals, 1 assist. The lads NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Y'all need to look past the fact he's from Sunderland, hes an average overrated player, whom we should cash in on now before he's found out. Been saying it for months.
Yes, I do agree he needs to be rested, but there is nothing wrong with my eyesight! He had another bad game and I fully expect SB to drop him for the next game. You appear to have a short memory mate. He was playing really well earlier in the season, but looks jaded and is lacking confidence at the moment. To come out with the statement "sell sell sell, right now" is ridiculous! Like I and many others have said, the lad has a bright future ahead of him and is still learning his trade. As I said to big chris, Steve Bruce, SAF and Fabio Capello believe in him and I'd rather trust their judgement than not606 pundits.
3 assists this season. I give a flying **** if he is from Sunderland or not, the lad has bags of potential and is just going through a bad spell. SAF knows more about football than any of us, and if he is keeping an eye on him then he cant be a **** player (all IMHO of course)
Dorset - if a bid came in at ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã15- ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã20 m are you saying you would't sell? (I would take thier hand off) If we could get a straight swap for Welbeck (unlikely) that would be amazing. The massive hype and premature England cap has ruined him (if he was that good in the first place).
Seems as though people cannot remember the situation with Jonesy. Tbf, Jones set Sunderland and the prem alight in his first season and a half, everyone was loving him. Keano came out and said Jones was worth ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã40m, Spurs and Liverpool came in for him, and we refused to sell for 18-24m depending on which sources we believe. Then, Jones went downhill (the same sort of downhill Henderson is on now) and we were lucky to get the 6m we paid for him from Stoke. If we were offered 20m (or that sort of figure) in the summer, we have to take it. The lad is just not good enough. Drop him, drop him now Brucey, or you may as well write off points from the next two or three games at least.
Apart from the offside, Gordon was fouled by Shawcross for the first goal and Carew bundled the ball goal wards with his arm. The refereeing gods were not with us today at all
At the end of the day, we all have our own opinion on whether Henderson is good enough or not? Whether we should sell him or not? My opinion is he has excellent potential and is one for the future and a player that we must keep. I would be gutted to see him sold for ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã15m to Man Utd, only to see him sold for double that to the Chelsea's of this world in 5-6 years time. None of us can see what the future holds, but I say let's wait and see, before making rash decisions based on short term lack of form.
should our defenders not have protected Gordon at all today I kept seeing their two big lumps of forwards Carew and Jones all over Gordon no protection from the referree and our centre halfs doing nowt to protect him.....not a good game foe gordon no but I think the defenders should have offered him a little more protection
just got back and dissapointed, not going to complain about the offsides (you get them or you don't) but the referee i thought was poor, i mean isn't there a law about "studs showing", because i think if i saw one such tackle from stoke, i must have seen at least 30!. i can't knock stoke for their style of play, they do what they do very well, but referees are going to have to give teams a little more protection or there will be more broken legs. and before anyone says anything i know we had a couple of tasty tackles ourselves, but it had me wincing the amount of times stoke players went in with their feet up and studs showing. besides that i thought muntari did ok for his first game and i do think that hendo could be rested when we play the more physical sides as he does tend to go missing (think he needs a few good steak and kidney puddings and a few lessons on tackling from bally)
Let's stop this "rest" business he is a fit young lad he does not need a rest. What your all saying us drop him. I agree he has been poor recently but who do you drop him for?? When or Meyler are back their is an option but I don't see anyone else being any better.
Couple of things to add to the debate, positives - two good signings, it was great to see Muntari going to collect the ball from defenders and orchestrating things (ok, not every ball was perfect, but he saw opportunities and only execution was rusty at times), Sess looks a great prospect and a nightmare to play against. Henderson? I have said it before, he is a raw talent, one of the best ever to come out of the academy and hopefully he will be with us for a long time!! Defence? My God, what do they practice on the training gound? If you set your defensive line 3 yards inside the penalty box then the sort of delivery that Pennant gave will always result in everyone being on top of Gordon when the ball reaches him. Answer, you move the line up atleast 3, if not five yards! this will give Gordon space to claim the ball with confidemce. Secondly, defenders should each take a player with a simple job "Thou shalt not pass!!", experience tells us that manhandling in the box is aloud! But one spare defender should always be attacking the ball. When Jones was with us, he was the one who attacked the ball, drawing comments from some of you that he was at times our best defender. Today, most of our defenders were ball watching, especially on the last goal. Fortunately, we dont play Stoke every week. We are still a much improved team and a very early stage of the 5 year plan. KTF - Brucie, Quinn et al will get us there
overall i think we played some great football and for periods we were awsome but the fact is ref or not fowl or not big brusing stoke or no need i go we canot control any game dosent matter how well we play and we can play very well we must control games and very soon
correct why we defend like this i dont know your just as likely to score a own goal never mind getting scored against it gives them the chance to just barge the ball in if the ball is swung in low with pace and in front its very hard to defend so you are better further out to give the goalkeeper and the defence a better chance of dealing with it you can also play the offside better as the linesman can see the better
If you look at the way we defend, it is the same way Man U defended when Brucey was there. We should have pushed the line up, definately, I agree.
