Think about this one then, KLD likes the high life and mixes in the best of company, Speakman is stuck on KLD'S Coat tail Do you think a rough toughy smoggy fits their way of thinking.
I get that bit.....but also you can't compare Sunderland to Monaco or the south of France if that is their mindset. I'm a council house lad and proud of it therefore I don't need some artsy foreign coach sounding name to be sucked in. We are salt of the earth people and that's why we need a rough tough smoggy and this clearly works us. Played some of the best football I have seen in my sixty years this season. To be honest I think with this team even 'Pep' couldn't have made them play better with what we had. After the rumors after the WBA game of this potential new guy it needed to be addressed by the club quickly due to the critical nature of the time of the season. Then it's resurfaced again recently.....somewhat over shadowing the season end. My advice to the club is to give TM a five year contract and bring some stability to the club as we work with these young kids for the future. I just hope we don't shoot ourselves in the foot again.
Absolutely my thoughts, mate. Couldn't have put it better myself. On a small, tight pitch, their press can be more effective (less ground for them to cover, less space for opponents to use to get at them, less chance of tiring out and blowing up) than somewhere like the SOL. The long balls pinned us back, our lack of height meant we were under pressure and weren't able to deal with it effectively. Not having a recognised target man (Stewart or Simms) stopped us having a outlet to relieve pressure and stretch them when we were on the attack and the lack of height stopped us lobbing a few high balls in of our own to mix things up. Add in the niggly fouls and **** housery from them and it was always going to be a tough call. I thought beforehand that we needed to get through the first 25-30 minutes without conceding, that if we got that far they might get desperate, blow up a bit and lose ideas. Sadly we conceded on 10 minutes, which gave them a boost. After that we needed to get through to half time without conceding again to regroup, only for them to score just before halftime, making it a massive uphill task. The second half followed the same pattern without them scoring and try as we did, we never really looked like getting one back. Though, if anything, both games showed their weaknesses. On a large pitch their press isn't as effective for a full game, they rely heavily on set pieces to score, teams that don't get dragged into their physical, **** house tactics will be able to outplay them, and under pressure they're likely to give away a lot of cheap free kicks. If either Boro or Coventry take anything from our games against them, they're both capable of beating them.
They rely on set pieces normally anyway by looks of things, but the fact we were so small against half of their team meant they were even more effective at it. With ballard, Batth and Stewart we beat them I reckon but it wasn't our night because we didn't have the players to cope. All ifs buts and maybe bow whether playing the two cbs we had on the bench would have made a difference. I reckon it would have been better to play them and potentially take them off on 50 minutes or so then bring them on when 2 down. But hindsight etc... Just feel we may have stopped then scoring for longer then and caused them to start to panic.
That is what some people demand. A first eleven of our best players, then a reserve 11 with equally skilled players happy to play 2nd fiddle, plus another 7 or 8 at the same level ready to step in if we suffer an injury crisis
I don't think that's relevant at all to his ability as a manager, would be disappointed if KLD / Speakman have given it a single thought!
Well got back home this afternoon. Disappointed with the result obviously we just didn't get going 2nd leg. 3 goals against from set plays seems to sum things up. However I would like to thank safc players for giving me my son and grandson and many thousands of others some fantastic memories this season. You have been fantastic. Thank you. To my lads and all the supporters we've shared so many Happy moments with keep the faith and we look forward to catching up with you all again very soon. Stay safe chill out have a great summer and come back ready to make more fabulous memories.
I agree that height in the game helped Luton win but do you honestly think that if we had our 2 main CB's, LB and CF playing they would have had the same impact? IMO they wouldn't and our football style would have won the tie.
A couple of quotes from players @AjiAlese Last nights result stings. Knowing just how hard everyone has fought over the course of the season and how incredible our support has been each and every game, makes it especially gutting. Thank you for all your support, see you next season! please log in to view this image @patrick7roberts It hasn’t sunk in yet. A tough one to take. However, its been a great season overall and we’ve battled throughout. Thank you for all your support please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image