I thought the same about Gooch but he was canny wasn't he, good to have the old Gooch back he went missing some time last season. Got the old fire in the belly too I like to see that.
The thing about starting Gooch was that, in my opinion, he definitely isn't a right wing back. Glad he played well though. I don't get the argument about the wing back roll and them bombing forward and being covered etc. Liverpool full backs play in a back four but are capable of attacking and defending. The modern defender is. I've never been comfortable with a back 3 at Sunderland.
The way we set up yesterday should have given Gooch and Hume the freedom to bomb on all day as we had 2 sitting midfielders. The pair of them looked like they didn't know if they should defend or go forward. We got exploited down the wings a few times as neither wing back or either side centre half seemed to take responsibility for their wingers. Gooch when he was on the ball in the final third was the only one who looked like they could make something happen and ultimately he did. Hume saw a lot of the ball just couldn't put a decent cross into the box all day. Not convinced this system will work but willing to give it a chance. If we go with 2 sitting midfielders though our wing backs certainly need to be wingers more than full backs as yesterday we had 3 players up the pitch just getting the ball lumped at them. Hence we created **** all.
I think in today’s game there’s a tendency to get carried away with fancy formations. To me just use the simple tactic of the KISS principle. Keep it simple stupid so try two big guys at the back, two workers bees in central midfield with two out wide and two up front who can put the ball in the onion bag. I understand with one up when in EPL but we are in League One so we should be taking the game to the opposition. We talk we are a big club for this league off it so when not show it on the pitch. Hearts and minds, faint hearts and all that but we have to have a better mental approach this season. There’s nobody in this league with the players we have we can’t take apart. That’s what I want to see going forward. Long way to go yet but attitude is everything both on and off the field.
Match highlights: https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/2019/august/oxford-united/highlights-v-oxford-united
Ross has to set the team up to win games and use our advantages, at the moment we go out like an away team in every game imo. We have a big stadium, big crowd and some talented attacking players ... ... yet we go out looking like the underdog. FFS Ross, we have to use our status to intimidate teams, get the crowd going and put some fear into them.
