Match Day Thread Sunderland v Rotherham United - Tuesday 17th September - KO 19:45

Said that last night - no idea how good De Bock is as I've seen nothing of him - but McLaughlin is poor. O'Nien is a miles better right back - mind they targetted him last night - sly little elbows in the back of the head loads of times. He looked like he was enjoying playing up the pitch in midfield before McLaughlin went off. McGeouch was decent until things got tough, then seemed to vanish. I forgot he was playing second half.

 

2 games in short succession. Leadbitter rested, maguire also. O9 played in the middle with a RB at RB (as supporters have been asking for since last season)... I don't see any issue with the team he chose.

Rotherham are a newly demoted championship, expected to be at the top of the league or thereabouts who won by a 5 goal margin in the previous game. I don't see why we should have been expected to just walk over them. Bloody disappointing result mind, because we could have won it.

 

Was only watching on safcsee, as I was in Scotland...

I find it hard to work out who was playing well...or not..Roker Report has a poor score for C McLaughlin, mind was it his first game in RB..

 

Connor McLaughlin was very poor IMO. O'Nien did much better when put in there but he looks much fitter than McLaughlin and just much more able to get up and down the field. Mind O'Nien is getting some stick on social media but, as I've said before, some of our fans are pricks!! (not you!!)

 

The concern overall for me is that we’ve played 2 sides so far that looked like they had anything about them.

Played off the park but pinched a draw due to an error at Ipswich.

Battered by Peterborough.

We aren’t a promotion team as it stands, and I still firmly believe, man for man, we should be.

The next couple months and Christmas period there’s a whole bunch of games, we are enough games in now to judge where we are and we look short.

We look about par with last season, and we were short then, and for me it’s the same issue as I kept saying last year, no magic in midfield.

We have tidy players, but the blend is wrong. We will be in touch, but we are crying out for a Maddison.

 

Agre totally about the penalty - but completely disagree about the formation. it was 4-2-1-3 with McGeouch and Dobson in front of the back 4. We were miles ahead of them until the penalty - played some decent football too and confident - can;t have a go at anyone for the formation - it was a standard formation

 

It's the Peterbrough loss that hurts the most. As long as c that is a one off, we should be OK.

22 wins 19 draws last season (5 losses)
If we can convert 7 of those draws into wins (so 29 wins) , even if we lose 9 games (so 8 draws) we finish on 95 points and probably top of the table (automatic spot 100% at least). So I'll take a few more losses, if it means winning more overall.

 

Get the feeling everyone is happy on here, nothing to worry about. Its not how I see it.

 

I was annoyed last night and we haven't played well all season - but we still sit with 3 draws, 1 defeat and 4 wins plus 2 cup wins alongside that - to be playing poor/average at best and have that record says a lot about the quality we have in the team for me.

I am very much a "glass half full" supporter - but I even found myself disappointed last night - we had the game in our hands at 1-0 with the penalty and it all fell apart after that and we seemed to simply sit and wait for them to score. Then created a couple of half chances after that but nothing more. I found 30 minutes of decent football and looking confident was ruined by the penalty - we'd have been better off if the ref didn't give it!!

 

I agree first 25 mins was probably the best we've played this season. The penalty miss knocked us and gave them a boost. Mind you the ref missed a blatant handball by ONien in our box about 5 mins before our penalty. 2nd half we were poor couldn't hold onto the ball at all and resorted to long hopeful punts really. Wykes chance was created from their centre half falling over and to be honest he never looked like scoring it. Couldnt really have complained if we had been beaten but for some reason once they got level Rotherham seemed happy enough with a draw when the game was there for them to win. Our problem is a massive lack of pace in midfield and up top. We have technically good footballers but you can't beat a bit of raw pace in the attacking third. This is what cost us last season and it wasn't rectified in the summer and I can see it costing us again this season.

 

At this I would like to Ross to continue. The results to date have been ok. My concern is that we are just not playing well or clicking for more than 15/20 minutes at a time. This has been an issue since the start of last season (and obviously beyond).

 

as Smug says on another thread Ross days are numbered the new owners want results, and fast if he can't deliver then they will get someone who can,I am of the same opinion, we have had years in the doldrums, i go with what they want ,they can afford it and i'm onboard,sick to death of being also rans

 

Result against Bolton this Saturday is the key for Ross.

Rotherham result, taken by itself, is OK. Anything less than a good win against Bolton would weigh heavily against Ross if the new owners are considering his future

 

OaU.

 

Strange comment that but I completely agree!! They were a whole division above us a few months ago and still have most of their championship squad. The issue with the result is simply how we should've put the game to bed before half time but we missed a penalty and they pressed us for the rest of the game!

Absolutely right about Bolton - we have to win by 3 or 4 at least to appease most of us (and I'm including myself in that) - although it'd just be our luck if Bolton playersw suddenly click and start playing well on Saturday!!

 

Didn’t they get a 0-0 midweek, already started...