https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/20...ours-even-after-a-lively-pre-season-encounter Anthony Patterson: 6/10 No chance with the well-placed header that levelled the game, and not really much else to do other than with his feet where he looked comfortable and played one really good ball over the top for Bellingham to run on to. Trai Hume: 6/10 Quiet in an attacking sense, other than one blast over from twenty five yards out late on, and steady defensively. Stepped into midfield well on occasions, especially in the first half. Dan Ballard: 6/10 Quiet in the first half but looked comfortable. Got turned at one point after the break by the big Mallorca striker but a pretty easy game for him. Luke O’Nien: 7/10 Maybe concentrated too much on battling for the ball for Mallorca’s goal rather than trying to win the ball but battled throughout. Used the ball well and wound up Mallorca enough that one of their players tried to wipe him out, getting himself sent off in the process. Dennis Cirkin: 6/10 Got stretched a few times behind and took his usual clattering to the face but a good return to action for the left back. Dan Neil: 7/10 Looked to have more license to get forward today but still worked hard defensively. Covered a lot of ground and kept going until the end where he hit a shot over with the last kick of the game. Pierre Ekwah: 7/10 Continues to build a fine understanding with Neil and played a brilliant reverse ball in the first half that set up an attack, and also got a dangerous shot off that led to the corner for our goal. Patrick Roberts: 7/10 Put a peach of a cross onto Hemir’s head for the striker’s goal and delivered some dangerous corners in the first half. His dribbling wasn’t quite there today but he played an unbelievable ball from deep for Jobe in the second half, but the midfielder couldn’t quite get on the end of it. Jobe Bellingham: 7/10 Played an interesting role, floating from central midfield to giving support to Hemir up top. Made some good runs from deep and could maybe have got shots off rather than playing the ball wide to Roberts a couple of times. Dropped off in the second half but a promising display. Jack Clarke: 6/10 Had a couple of half chances in the first half but kept quiet, which was more a result of the team going down the right or middle than by the visitors shutting him down. Hemir: 7/10 Good movement for his goal but he also showed good movement throughout and looked to be handful for the Mallorca defence with his strength. Brought his teammates into play well, too. Substitutes Abdoullah Ba: 6/10 Started a little slowly but found his feet and looked very dangerous on the ball late on. Chris Rigg: 6/10 Had one really good run down the right where he skipped past a few defenders and had to be brought down on the edge of the box. Nectarios Triantis: 6/10 Very comfortable, both defensively and on the ball. Isaac Lihadji: 6/10 Had a couple of dangerous runs down the right but couldn’t get past the last man. Jewison Bennette: 6/10 A lot of willing running up top but not many opportunities on the ball. Niall Huggins: 6/10 Got caught a couple of times trying to turn onto his right foot but looked lively going forward. Man of the Match: Pierre Ekwah Another good display by Ekwah, who looks set up to have a very good season. Mallorca struggled to get near him in the first half, and it was his good shot that led to the corner for Hemir’s goal. He played some really good balls around corners to set the team away and seems to have built a good partnership with Dan Neil. please log in to view this image Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images
Ekwah has looked great in a midfield trio with Dan and Jobe. He’s clearly a level above them like. We’ve got a real star on our hands with him.
That was a decent game marred by some stupidity leading to a deserved red card, even though there had been no animosity throughout the game The new technology has been tested and failed, and we eventually went in through an open door without even having a chance to test it ourselves ! Most players looked alright, but I wasn't impressed with Bellingham, who seemed to be slow and unsure. He's just a bairn who has only just started, so he's raw, and needs time to settle, but I was a bit disappointed. Tony will 'put his arm around him' though, and he'll improve noticibly, I believe. Shorts & t-shirt weather and we enjoyed it
Thought jobe was very good first half and looked a little bit like his brother, 2nd not so good as they came out and hunted us down and pushed further up and everyone of our players had a tougher time of it. Overall I don't think any player had a bad game and I'm hopefull that we'll go further than last season
First live match of the pre season for me and I think we coped really well against a top spanish team, got high hopes for this season with this team and I think we'll be pushing top two. Let the rest of the league worry about us and let the young lads do what they do best. Special mention for young Rigg, outstanding bit of play when he took the piss out of 4 players and they had to bring him down to stop him
If the way we appeared to set up first half in midfield (to my eyes anyway) I can see why we signed Dack and possibly why Embo and Matete will have a role this season
That’s a great interview with the insight into training, the quality surprising Jobe a bit and what not. I thought it was Roberts doing all of that skill at the end! Very impressive from Rigg.
People keep spelling out what system we'll be playing this season and that's fine, I wish I was that clever tbh. There's time for the squad to change significantly so I can't really weigh things up. As things stand, with Pritchard, Evans, Emberton, Ba, Dack and loads more, all in the midfield mix, we could play half a dozen styles a game ... ... perhaps we'll play a totally new style of football and have it named after us
It's scarey mate ... ... if there's a football god he'll be with us for years and become an international at Sunderland. You can tell Mowbray is already tormented because he knows he's good enough for this league but doesn't want to just say 'Feck it son, you're in'
