Agree with this. Neil has been excellent last two games and could lighten the load on him and the other two if Samed was able to come in and be effective. Neil could well be the one to get Isidor going again, he's the most likely of our side to play the channel pass Isidor is looking for. All that said we need a lot more from Isidor than he's offering. Very poor again last night. 09 was a big miss and should come back in on Saturday. Neither of the CB's were good last night. Frustrating night all round, and was again disappointed with how long RLB let the game drift. Rigg has been poor since he had that chest infection and looks gassed early but we are leaving him on far too long.
Neil was excellent,agree about Rigg. Thought Ballard played very well first half...looked more shaky in the second,culminating in the melee for their goal!
Disappointing game for me. Slow build up play particularly 2nd half. Needed to take a chance in the 1st half to open game up. Isador needs to do much more work to lose defenders and help in build up play. Big blow losing Watson. Thought the centre backs looked unsure and slow without onien who goes straight back in instead of ballard for me. Mayenda worked hard Roberts worked hard and pleased he's got his goal. Listening to his interview didn't sound to good, bit chesty. Thought dan neil was best player on pitch by a country mile . Good to see him back to his best. Rigg looked leggy and tired. It's another point still 4th and on we go to Saturday.
Regis Le Bris praises Patrick Roberts after Sunderland draw https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/s...bris-praises-patrick-roberts-sunderland-draw/ By Scott Wilson REGIS LE BRIS claims Patrick Roberts is the “perfect example” of what Sunderland are going to need if they are going to win promotion this season. Roberts was dropped to the bench for last night’s home game with Bristol City, with Le Bris opting to start with Eliezer Mayenda on the right-hand side instead.... Le Bris was delighted with Roberts’ response to finding himself on the bench, and felt the wide-man’s persistence after coming onto the field provided an ideal example for the rest of his team-mates to follow. “Patrick made the cut-back against Stoke (at the weekend) for the victory too,” said Le Bris. “Today, he got the late equaliser, and it is a good example of character. “He is the most experienced player, and it is good that he can show that this is the right direction for us – to be ambitious and to keep going. It is a good example for the rest of the team to follow if we want to achieve our ambitions in this league.” Sunderland fell behind shortly after the hour mark last night when Luke McNally fired into the roof of the net. However, while the Black Cats were far from their free-flowing best, Le Bris’ continued to plug away against a well-drilled Bristol City defence. Chris Rigg saw a backheeled strike blocked on the edge of the six-yard box, before Sunderland broke through in the third minute of stoppage time. Adil Aouchiche dribbled in from the left, and Roberts squeezed a shot between goalkeeper Max O’Leary and the left-hand post. “I said in the dressing room after the game that we have to show our ambition, and this late equaliser is very important because it shows that we have good character,” said Le Bris, whose side also scored a stoppage-time equaliser against Leeds United earlier this season. “It was very late, and if we want to achieve our goal in this league, we have to show that type of character. It is a desire that we need to have. We need it every day. Probably, there is five or ten per cent missing right now, so we have to take the responsibility to find a solution for that.”
I’ve posted this OTR feel free to read or ignore Think there’s been some fair but also a lot of unfair criticism in the last run of games. RLB getting a lot of criticism but we’ve been the better team in the last four games. Results haven’t came though, why is that? Simply because the finishing is really poor at the minute. The tactics employed by RLB are working, we’re missing too many chances. 3 goals scored in 4 games despite having 80 shots in these games a chance conversion rate of 3.75%. On top of that out of the 80 shots 19 have been on target 23.75% (10 of the 19 were against Stoke the other 3 games we’ve seen 2,2,5 on target) We have a real tendency to shoot over the bar I’ve noticed a lot of leaning back when shooting and it’s causing a lot of good chances to be missed. Wilson is still getting in good positions, yes he could do better in possession for us but for me he’s just not this kind of player, he’ll score goals in and around the box, is going through a bad patch, but he stretches defences and causes problems, even with limited touches last night he forced the keeper into a good save and set up a couple of chances in the box with little touches that players aren’t taking. My only issue at the minute with RLB is subs, we’ve used the least in the league and by a long shot. I know he might not trust them but I’m certain a player not ready is probably better than Rigg come minute 60/70 atm because he’s out on his feet and is losing his sharpness, he’s an unreal player but simply needs a rest he’s still a boy. I’m hoping this gets better when we get players fit but we should still be using more bench players The goals we’ve conceded have been sloppy and against the run of play because of the finishing issue. For most of the game the defence is solid but there’s only so much they can do if we’re not putting the ball in the net Other than that if we look at the performances on face value including the first half last night there’s a lot to be positive about and the general thoughts should be that the results will turn once we start to finish chances because we’re doing everything else right. 6 points from the next 2 games would have us on 43 points in 22 games 1.95 PPG but even just 3 gets us on 40 in 22 which is 1.81 PPG and still very good for a side like us. We’re not the only team dropping points and there’s a lot of football to play. Rant over
Easy to forget we’d have all snapped the hand off for 4th at this stage pre season. If we are 4th with gaps to be filled, what we gonna do when we fill them? We’d be top with a heavy scoring striker, that’s straight fact.
I expect the comments depend on which 'metrics' you're choosing tbh. If it's the bare facts of shots at goal, etc, as I've posted that's one thing ... ... if it's projected XG and percentage of headed duels that's virtually meaningless imo. With a battle hardened and more experienced side I'd expect more consistency but with so many players that are either young or inexperienced I don't expect that. To build a side that has real team spirit, plays for each other and improves you need to play them even if things don't always work out. We've seen how 'playing while learning' can work with the likes of Neil and Jobe but they'll sometimes have poor games. The alternative is to bring in a few more experienced Championship standard players to force your way to the PL ... ... but you restrict the youngsters and end up with a squad that will struggle as we've seen before. Call me naive but I'd rather keep building the way we are despite the knocks.
Everything was falling for us at the start of the season it was always going to balance out, on the whole we’re playing well for large parts of games just lacking the luck we had earlier on, aslong as we keep playing well the results will come, I do think we should probably forget about the top 2 mind, we’ve got a 7 point gap on 7th but Watford have 2 games in hand, I’d rather have the points than the extra games though, stay in the play offs until Jan re-invest and we will stay there
Spot on mate. I do think we need some more know-how in the squad, the bench is really poor at the minute and I get that we’ve got injuries but how long do we handicap ourselves waiting for players to come back from injury? The subs really changed the game for them yesterday. Huggins is a hell of a player but is he ever going to reliable? Probably not. Samed is head and shoulders above this level from what I’ve seen of him at Lens but he’s missed half the season now.. do we sign a midfielder in January to cover ourselves or do we risk his injury pushing on into the second half of the season? I don’t think this would be as much of an issue if we’d seen more of Aleksic but at this point he might as well be playing for the U21’s. Our use of the “squad” as a whole has been really poor so far and we risk the lads becoming dead on their feet before long. Teams are throwing 4-5 subs on second half every game and I don’t think it’s coincidence that, apart from a few last minute goals, we seem to perform much better in the first half of games. People say such and such is too good to be subbed off but if you have the squad then it’s a non-issue. Much better players than ours get subbed week in week out for fresh legs.
It’s fine margins for me, the fact we’re ‘struggling’ yet comfortably in fourth fills me with confidence with bodies back and potential new signings we’ll have no issues getting into the play offs, little bits of luck we’d arguably be in the top two, some lads need a rest 100% and we need to trust those in reserve a little more but we’ve got a team that’ll fight to the death, they play some lovely football, they’ll do for me even the lads in the box yesterday were right behind the team as if they were fans themselves, blondy seelt and samed in particular were going mental when we scored, even Ba had a smile on his face
Compared to the majority of the time we have had to endure since Premier League relegation, I think we played well.
Haven't read the whole thread but we haven't beaten these at home since 1994...and some say there's no such thing as bogey teams....makes you think though doesn't it.
AA , H Jones , Connolly or Alecsic , my choice would have been Caden Kelly great to watch along with Tommy Watson last year, and just might have been a wild card played in the right set up .
Some interesting and intelligent comments on here....this is a good forum. I think recently the lack of goals from our first half periods of superiority can galvanise the opposition in the second half. It's a boost to them,and they draw confidence from it, when they see us all over them, but still going in at half time level. I wonder how much of a factor this is,rather than our supposed tiredness and getting leggy as the match goes on. Also,I agree with @Smug in Boots in that it would be a mistake to add some expensive experience and delay the progress of our youngsters.These young players are gaining know-how as we go....we're playing some top notch football,albeit without the end result in the final third at the minute,but I'm confident that will come. The comments about the use of subs are valid imo....Riggy and Aji should have been off earlier...hopefully some press person will ask RLB about it...his response would be interesting. I like Wilson,he's very mobile.I'd like to see him a little stronger rather than an apparent willingness to go down at the slightest contact. That pull down he did in the first half last night to the ball coming over his head and then to lay it back for Rigg was brilliant.If our decision making was improved and we can play the ball into the channels for him at the right time,and provide some accurate cut-backs,I'm sure he'll get goals. He's getting a little anxious I feel....he needs a couple of goals to settle him down and give him some momentum.
First of all I think there’s no doubt that Onien brings out the best in Mepham and Ballard (and any others who partner him) and for me would be the first name on the team sheet. Onion and Mepham seems the best pairing but Ballard can be a good sub (sub…what’s one of them) When Tommy went off I wondered where the threat would come from. Him and Roberts make things happen. Strange that we rely on a lad who has only played a couple of games to win us the points. If Roberts is fit for Saturday that means we only have one ‘tricky’ player who can cause panic in the opposition’s box. Mayenda is more direct. If Tommy is not available on Saturday we will be very one sided even if Cirkin starts. I thought Jobe often kept the ball for too long instead of passing it. Possibly there was no pass on but others manage to find someone. Our corners and most throw ins and set pieces are poor. If Cirkin is back in we can do the corner over everyone then Cirkin heads it back in to the middle routine again I suppose. It would be interesting when these various people who give the player ratings (Echo and Roker Report for example) would give a mark for the manager. We all know his main failing and my mark for the last couple of games would be 5.
