Our second worst performer stats wise, lot of clearances but apart from that defensively didn't score well at all. Back to O'Nien and Mepham for me, Ballard is a good player but those two have been virtually immaculate all season. https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...nd-Championship-2024-2025-Millwall-Sunderland
Don't forget how good Alese was in the first few games too. We are blessed with the amount of quality we have.
For me the eye test today he was absolutely essential. His physical contribution was vital and allowed us to hand on for long periods. Think he complemented Mepo well too.
Ballard was immense today. Kept coburn quiet which is not easy. but at home I’d rather O9 for his ball playing ability. Ballard has immense physical power and was brilliant today
Alese is a quality player, probably the most exciting defender we've got for me, in terms of potential.
This is what puts me off stats, mate. I watched the game and there’s no way he was our second worst player. Most touches out of our defenders and joint top arial duel. He had a very good game regardless of what them stats are saying. I agree about O9 and Mepham. They’ve been great, I’d put them back together until they give us a reason not too.
I was mainly looking at the defensive tab and they don't put aerial duels on there for some reason, definitely an important stat. I'm not trying to say he actually was one of our worst players necessarily, just that it wasn't the kind of performance that automatically gets you back in the first team regardless of who drops out.
Back from the game with some thoughts. the conditions were very wet and windy. Would have been an outstanding victory had we held on with such a young team. Thought we looked good first half, and they looked v average. A lot of sideways passing at the back, and then long ball. thought we dealt with that very well. We gave away a lot of unnecessary free kicks, but dealt with those well too. Mayenda looked electric on the right, gliding past people and finding his man with passes in the box. Think he is in our best eleven, just not sure if that is up top or on the right. Nice to see alese and Ballard too, both dependable lads to bring in when we have many unavailable. We were disappointing second half. I’m delighted with our points total so far this season, but concerned about our inability to keep the ball when we have a lead to relieve some pressure. Surprised we didn’t see more subs to give us energy and fight the relentless pressure of the second half. They didn’t actually create much in the second half tbf but we barely had the ball. Great to finally see Aleksic. His first involvement was a touch, spin and pass that oozed quality. He’s quick and puts himself about. Think he’ll eventually become a really important player for us. It’s a long coach journey north to be stewing over that miss, but hope he is given minutes off the bench later this week to make amends. Mowbray have ekwah a start against Cardiff after he gave a last min penalty against hull, think it was good management. it’s a long season but a win against WBA would be an important return and make the sheff United game less daunting. Ha’way the lads
Not usually a problem and I said this OTR. it’s no coincidence who’s not played the last couple games when we’ve tried to defend a lead and not been able to hold the ball like we have been earlier in the season. but we’ve not lost. Still joint top. Have potential to take points off a promotion rival or two this week. There’s positives and yes we need more subs but today the bench really was stretched. I’ll judge that when we haven’t a strong bench
Have read some of the posts saying it was Alexic's fault for not scoring or 09 for not tracking the runner, both of which are are valid points. The truth is we couldn't keep hold of the ball in the second half again so sooner or later someone was going to make a mistake which could lead to a goal. It's been a theme over recent weeks. RLB needs to address it and make earlier subs in my opinion.
Bit of a reality check. After 16 games if it was last season we’d be 3rd (behind two teams who had freakish starts) and the season before we’d be two points clear at the top with 3 more points than Burnley and 6 more than Sheffield United who went up
Don't try and fool everyone with facts - you'll spoil their night moaning for the sake of moaning man
