Whilst watching the game against Derby I also noticed a phase of the game in the second half where Enzo moved centrally and belive this was used to measure how he would play alongside Jobe. It made us unbalanced at the time and contributed towards Derby having their best spell of the game. But is also clever by RLB getting him minutes in an area we will need to use him. Guess there is more to this simple game than meets the eye.
Yeah it definitely contributed to the momentum shift. However, I think a good part of that was that it also meant Rigg was playing right wing and Mayenda on the left. Neither are at their most comfortable in those positions. Ultimately it was just a lot of reorganisation on the fly and we suffered short term because of it. As you say, though, it's good that he's now had a taster through the middle.
I suspect it’s because they have the best team in the league and guaranteed to go up. I doubt anyone disagrees that we’ve failed to kill teams off, it’s obvious as we’re very much a work in progress. Nor does it mean Leeds always kill teams off, they thought they’d done it with us, Hull, etc. I don’t think they’ll kill us off, down there, and a tight 1-0 win would do me nicely.
I find it much more enjoyable than fretting about every setback, injury or missed goal … … I don’t understand the reluctance to be optimistic ‘in case you jinx it’. I stopped believing in jinxes around the time I lost faith in Santa and the tooth fairy
As a Sunderland supporter, I know I'm going to get kicked in the proverbial on a regular basis. Therefore, when good times come along, I try to do my best to enjoy them. I mean, when things are bad, there's still gallows humour to keep a smile on my face. What's that song again? Ah yes Always look on the bright side of life
Exactly mate, I know we’re all different and people mean well but I don’t believe some will ever he happy with things … … it’s always ‘let’s spend just a little more/show a tad more ambition/sign just one more player/replace that player/serve beer I prefer at halftime’. Our aim was playoffs, if we're being honest, but now we want automatic. If we go up people will want us to push on, establish ourselves, overhaul the squad, etc. If that happens ‘consolidation’ won’t be good enough … … you only have to look at Man City when they were winning everything, the fans were still moaning
Probably more to do with Human Nature or at least Modern Human Nature, I want it all and I want it now Sometimes the journey is better than the arrival , if you catch my drift
Really didn't expect Rowett to do that well. Fair play to him. Seems to be playing a different style to the awful stuff his Millwall teams played.
When he was at Derby I spoke to him a few times. I took a liking to him. He was trying to play football too with players like Huddlestone. He was a little unlucky in the play offs to come up against Fulham. Then he did an Alex Neil and went to Stoke. Millwall as well. I was really disappointed he made those moves. Oxford seems a bit of a rebuild mission for him, and so far so good. They do have a footballing squad though, and I just think that suits him as a coach. Get good players making good decisions and let them have some freedom. Hope he does well for the long term.
