Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Coventry City – Play-off Semi Final 2nd leg Tuesday 13th May 2025 - KO 20:00

He's exactly what we needed/need. The result at Wembley wont change that at all for me. Perfect fit for our club at this moment. His calm methodical demenour is the perfect foil to our emotional fanbase.

 

Agree mate, he tows the party line about being connected but he's clearly here to do a job.

I have no idea how we will line up next Saturday or the tactics, Wilder won't have a clue

 

The most insane moment I've experienced at the SoL, and theres been some good competition.

Everybody completely lost control in unison, including the players. Absolutely tremendous. I still haven't come back down yet, I find myself replaying all the Youtube content over and over for another hit.

Wembley all sorted, one to go lads.

 

Brilliant post mate!

 

The extra time performance, especially 2nd half, justified his approach the last month or so of the season. We had energy in that last 30 Coventry didn't have and we were able to switch it up from a disciplined defensive approach to more forward thinking quite easily.

It may not have been pretty to watch, called 'anti-football' by some, but it was effective and got us to Wembley which is the main aim.

RLB and the players aren't getting the credit they deserve for getting to the final.
Pundits all mention Coventry being the better side and dominating both ties but fail to miss how we let them have the ball, have all possession and they managed 4 shots on target over 2 games and the saves Patterson had to make were simple catches.

Got no idea how we'll approach the final but quite confident RLB will have these mentally and tactically prepared.

We'll go in as underdogs, already written off by some, but Anything can happen in a one off game!

 

In 48 years of going to Roker, SoL and many other places that noise when Ballard scored was without a doubt the loudest I've ever heard at football - like a huge explosion that exploded for about 3 minutes. Incredible - ears were still ringing the next day.
So nervy for that game it was horrible to watch but the relief and excitement rolled into one made it worthwhile. The finals a free hit in my eyes - yes we want to go up but if we don't it's still been one of our better seasons over the last 50 years.

And on another note that's the Coventry cheating stunt from 1977 made even now in the best way possible. Ie fairly from us and painful for them.

Looking forward to Friday. Htl

 

Think I heard Sky say Coventry crossed the ball 80 times over 2 games and Dan Ballard cleared 40 of them.
Yes their crossing game yielded 2 goals but they also managed to concede 3 which in the grand scheme of coaching means they failed in their objective.

Lampard continued this approach with no plan B, can't really recall them playing through the middle once and as has been said Patto was rarely troubled with shots on his goal.

Coventry gave it their all and had little left for extra time whereas we did and got the result.
High percentage possession means **** all if you end up getting beat.
That should be in chapter one in the coaching manual.

 

While recovering from the exhaustion of Tuesday night I've watched the full 90 minutes again.

Despite how we all felt, at the time, it wasn't an entire game of Coventry domination, our nerves just made it seem that way.

They didn't make any impression until the 27th minute and that wasn't really threatening then did very little up to the break.

After that they had no option other than attack but it was all quite tame, if relentless, with no real courage from them.

If Sunderland were lucky, as some are claiming, where were the world class saves, the clearances off the line, the one on ones, the last ditch tackles, the shots off the woodwork and all the sitters missed ...

... the answer is, 'Not one of any kind', absolutely nothing but cowardly passing the buck and hoping the forwards would get their head on something.

Their keeper made a great save from Hume, Mundle had a great chance that was blocked and Rigg missed a sitter when he first came on.

And, as you've said, the energy saved, in those last/lost six games went into the last 15 minutes, the goal and the jumping into the crowd

That's clever coaching, not doing 'a Luton', feeding the winger and flinging endless balls onto Ballard's heed ....

... sorry Mr Lampard, you're just not a great coach.

 

I think the domination narrative is a bit ott. The two games, especially the first didn’t look to dissimilar to what RLB set up for the games to look like. In the first, I would have liked us a touch higher but we defended brilliantly (nothing wrong with that btw, more than just attacking in football) and then we took the moments we got.

Second leg I thought again defensively we were great but on the ball I thought we were as poor as we’ve been this season. Fair play to Coventry, second half especially when they had to force a way back in because they kept moving the ball, overlapping and eventually got their reward. As in the first we were too deep for me but this time just not good enough in the moments we got.

Extra time though we finally started using the ball well. Hume overlapping, Rigg was crucial and outstanding when on the ball (17 years old!) mundle of course changed the momentum. Mundle then had probably the best chance of the game which was well blocked. Not saying we were knocking the door down by any means, but there was only one team that looked like they had a chance of a goal in the last 20 minutes.

RLB got one over big time in the first leg and ultimately that was enough to see us through. Tough and tight tie, unlucky for Coventry but we earned our place at Wembley over 48 games for sure.

 

Good read. Just to add on a couple of your points, we earned the right to rest in those last few games from our performances in the previous 40 games which saw us have more steam in extra time. On top of that the 4th place finish had us at home second leg and the crowd roaring us on in extra time. This wasn’t just won over two games, the 46 before it played a huge part.

 

Burnley defend = top class performances and coaching

Sunderland defend = anti-football

Since when did playing well, defensively, mean you're not playing well ffs ...

... we've just seen two very good performances from a team not used to playing that way, Wembley will be different imo.

 

I said during both matches and still maintain it was difficult watch from our point but not because we were lucky or Coventry looked class just because they had loads of possession and as you watch a team have possession it feels like they have to do something with it soon. So you sit there with nerves etc... which is magnified due to the gravity of the match (because it was playoff and them!).

But they never ever did much with all the possession and the reality is on clear cut chances we created more at there place and ours! They did very little with it in the places that count due to Dan Ballard and even O'Nien having their number.

The reality is we got what we deserved and so did they. Still hate watching us be dominated possession wise but honestly think if we get promoted RLB will look to set up to be hard to score against and dangerous on the counter and play similar to the last two matches!

 

Saw plenty nobbers on twitter after the match saying hope they don't get promoted horrible team playing anti-football!

Tell us you only watched the last two matches without saying "I only watched the last two matches" mate. We do tend to allow the opposition to have more possession but not like that, people going on like we have spent the season playing like Pulis' Stoke!

 

Wembley could come down to who holds their nerve, ranter and raver like wilder v calm and collected regis not saying it will be the difference but will definitely be a factor

 

Absolutely. People were saying the same about prime Jose as he lift trophy after trophy.

Do we want to see that style over a season? Of course not. We haven’t, we’ve seen a cracking style in the first half and then possibly ran out of steam with the size of our squad and injuries as the season went on. RLB adjusted and found away, that’s what great coaches do.

I’d ask any Coventry fan or Lampard himself, would you rather have played the way you did, easier on the eye, or would you rather have put your ego to the side, did what was needed and have a visit to Wembley? We all know what the answer is.

 

I think we had their number in both matches and were unlucky not to win both. Same as that amazing defensive team Burnley. Only reason we didn't get automatic is they didn't put in those performances consistent enough. Leeds was the only team that was better imo!

 

You've absolutely nailed it mate, we earned the right for a day out at Wembley.

Coventry have won games through attrition and Plan A followed up with more Plan A ...

... we've won games with breathtaking attacks and wonder goals.

We've also won by changing the tactics mid-match and being courageous, there's no courage in flinging balls into the box relentlessly, it's what's known as 'the law of averages' and is a poor way to play football. Coventry weren't brave and failed through bad luck or poor refereeing ...

... they failed because not one of them had the guts to run the ball into the box or try something spectacular.

They're f*cking boring in all honesty, Luton mark 2 ... and the Coventry fans are talking about the automatics next season