Our comparison to Stoke City is always crucial, none more than the next game. KJ replaced by Gyan - we now know a failure. Collins replaced by PDS/Aglineri - we now know a failure. They are in Europe we are not, and we are facing a a relegation season. Would Pullis allow his team to lose 9 out of 10 at the Britannia - dont think so. Its not looking good right now - but on the other hand I'd just love it if we beat them. We need to build the strike force around Bendtner/Ji and accept that the disruption of Gyan is now behind us. Possibly better off without him but why did we invest so much in a player with so much baggage?
Agree. Next week's game can't come quick enough. Gyan can sling his hook. All we demand is players who will play for the badge, give 100per cent, and try and play attractive football (whatever that is). Stoke have proved how it is done. Decent manager. Shrewd buys and lots of belief - plus a bloke who used to play for us who can take long throws.
Many fans say that we were right to sell Collins,Whitehead etc.,but at least they had pride in playing for Sunderland,and now are proud to play for Stoke.Our Manager said that we were looking to move to the next level,and needed to better our squad.We may have done that,but pride and team spirit means a lot.Stoke are in Europe,we are in the ***t!Dean Whitehead and Kenwyn Jones are a class apart from Bent and Gyan as true and honest people.
Selling Danny was a big mistake imo. We all had a go at Deano from time to time but at least the lad put in a shift & tried his best which is all anybody can ask.
What i wouldnt give for a few stoke like performances. Just so we bloody win! we need players who will play for the shirt. at the minute all i can see is bardo doing that consistently. The whizz is carrying the rest of the team. Its getting tough right now. and we need some players to step up to the plate and just put a shift in.
I was one of those guilty of maybe being to glib about letting them go too. Especially Collins who we still havent replaced. I look at the players they have, that we said were not good enough, playing in Europe and in Cup finals and sitting in the upper echelons of the EPL. Who was right and wrong? Well I dont look to have been very right do I. I put my hands up and admit I was wrong about some of them. Maybe i was even wrong about Jones and let my blinkers about his attitude sway my judgement on him longer term. I just didn't want to see the good in him in the end and thought with the likes of Bent and other acquisitions we could do better. Bent and Gyan **** on us. Kenwyne never did. We **** on him. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I always say I am happy to hold up my hands when I am wrong.
I said all along we should have built OUR team around KJ17. Wouldn't it just be ironic if he scores the winner next week. Bart. In comparison our team looks like a bunch of mis-fits compared to Stoke. I hate Pullis but he knows how to manage his team and accepts no less than 150%. I think many of our players are simply taking the pi$$.
I couldnt understand why you let Whitehead leave. Was a good player on his day. Better than Cattermole!
I look at the ex SAFC players at Stoke and the only explanation that I can come up with is that Tony Pulis can get that extra 10% out of the players. Steve Bruce couldn't, which is why they were sold.
I think Cattermole is much better than Whitehead. Collins was a makeshift LB. We don't miss Collins necessarily, we just still don't have a LB as we didn't whilecollins was here. If we still had Collins, we'd still be talking about needing a left back. As far as i'm aware, Collins doesn't get games for Stoke. We have better defenders than Collins now. I don't believe it's the ex Sunderland players going making Stoke a force. They've gone for the simplest form of tactics. As many big strong lads in the team as possible and get stuck right ****ing in. I get sick of people comparing Stoke to ourselves. For me, the comparison doesn't work. They're doing better than us, get over it. so are many other teams.
Then Stoke buy Crouch and drop Jones, maybe KJ should have been one of the strikers Bruce should have made a bid for!
