Yeah he’s a good player I agree but Beale won’t drop Neil. Only 1 of that midfield 3 will be on the pitch if we sign Diallo and a DM
It'd be great to have the opton of resting Clarke too, but sadly we don't have anyone who can play left wing, never mind anyone as good as him
I seem to remember a Ross County fan warning us about Ross Stewart along the lines of, 'Great deal for us especially as he's gone off the boil this season'. Some people just moan by default tbh.
Middlesbrough will be a hard one to judge. My brother is a Boro season ticket holder and he told me yesterday that they had struggled at home and been quite poor for a while.
I deliberately left out the result tbh. If we can win, brilliant, but if there's evidence of a change like there was on Saturday the wheels are beginning to roll in the right direction regardless.
It's been frustrating. Very stop start. Going into games full of optimistim and leaving sick as ****. It's the Sunderland way.
If Beale sticks with same midfield formation until the end of the season, with Neil the deep lying midfielder, like we did towards the end of last season I reckon we could get away without bringing in a DCM. If we do bring in one though, Jobe would be the one to bring out. But that won't happen. Wish he'd try 09 in that role, just to try it. All my own opinion of course.
Three points off the play-offs when he left. If it was 'the Sunderland way' we'd never have been promoted or been to Wembley. I know what you mean though, sometimes seems like it.
And it's why we have scouts and data. Just because someone didn't work at one club doesn't mean he won't here. Could be a range of factors it doesn't work at one place.. face doesn't fit, manager likes mobility over technique etc etc. Folk will moan when he makes a mistake on Sunday and will write him off. Just like they did with Ekwah, Ba, Neil, Clarke, o9, Roberts, seelt, Stewart, Hume, hemir...
I don’t think we’ll sign a DM if Diallo comes tbh but I wouldn’t mind Ekwah/Neil and Diallo in 10. I don’t think O’nien could play under pressure as the DM it’s such a difficult role that some players have the gift of making look easy. Receiving the ball under pressure and constantly on the turn with players pressing you and being able to play out whilst creating space for the midfield/full backs is tough. Both Ekwah and Neil struggle at times when they’ve played there and they’re light years of O’nien as a midfielders. If we’re still struggling then Evans will be back from injury and give us another option.
Well we must have been playing scintillating football and sweeping all before us then, as the threads from the time clearly indicate. That must have been why he was sacked.
You said we're usually poor which is ridiculous. Of the 15 months Mowbray was there we were usually good. You can't be 'poor as usual' and be in contention for the play offs, two seasons running ... ... however many hairs you choose to split. It's just moaning by default.
Yeah Neil can play any role in CM and he'd probably do well as an AM even, I think DM is the natural fit for him though. He's really taken to the physical side of the game and he's great at picking the ball up from the defence and playing it forward without giving it away, something I don't see the other lads being as good at whereas they're probably more of a goal threat.
it was reported we wanted him on loan with an obligation to but in the summer, it was worrying me, we had no money and were basically using are future sales to fund transfers now
