Well after watching the last 60 mins at work "on the sly" I can provide some information on the old/new guys, Mannone - Made a quality save From Adebayor and looks very solid, one howler when is mis-qued a goal kick but it was down the joke of a pitch. Brown - What a perfomance! Man of the match by an absolute mile, shackled strikers, crunchy last minute well timed tackles and a back wards header to go 2-1 up, hope we keep him fit. Cabral - Class, class, class and a very well taken goal, very mobile and not afraid to put his foot in. Sessegnon - If anyone watched that then the words Sessegnon and "luxury we cant afford" should never be mentioned in the same sentence again, great assist for the last goal and set up numerous other goal scoring opportunities that should have been put away. Altidore - Great touch and assist for Cabral's goal and should have really scored a few more after great individual work to create the chance but Friedel made some quality saves, very promising indeed and very good in the air. Moberg Karlsson - Came on for last 15 mins and destroyed Rose! Ran past him for his goal and curled it around Freidel, another promising player who will only get better. Agent Danny Rose - Great the way he left Karlsson on purpose to go through and score, seriously though he looked totally dis interested, that performance would have took money off him, great plan by Agent Rose! One point to note about the whole squad, they all look lean and very fit, totally out ran Spurs as the last 15 mins it was all us as Spurs faded badly. We shouldnt get too carried away but......WE WERE ****ING CLASSSSSSSSS!!!! HAHA
Cabral looked fantastic, he could be a real key player this season. Took his goal superbly and he can pick a pass.
A quick mention for Colback and Gardner who both played well at full back. Neither of their prefered position. Vital we keep both for me as even if we sign new full backs they may take time to adapt and bed in.
Good summary (from the 40 mins I managed to see). Was impressed that we fought for everything, even lads doing sprints to try and save corners and throw ins. All looking great, although City on a dry pitch will be a better marker. Delighted.
Ba came on and put in a great tackle on Adebayor who was through, Wickham nearly scored with his first touch too after a class cross from Karlsson but Freidel's save was absolutely amazing, you have to watch it and to think hes 40 isn't he!
Very good summary, would only add AJ to the list - looked really bright, and was picking the ball up in areas where he can go at the defenders, long may that continue. Fitness wise though we just got stronger and stronger as the game went on - even on that cow field. Long live Wes Brown, Wes is our King !
Just up from nightshift, and I'm well happy with that score...PS..PDC is going to be talking on SKY in a couple of minutes..
Who was that team masquerading as the lads? They had loads of movement, could find their own men with the ball, they closed down the opposition, they even scored from a corner. Great start for PDC with “his” team, looking forward to the new season even more after watching that.
cracking game and result, was just getting into it when some bastard called me and stayed on the blower for 40 fookin minutes so i missed our goals/win/end of the match. the other positive spin from this as anyone watching, considering if we're a good bet to come and play for may think a lot more positively about us.......
the summary at the top is spot on. I think we are going to have a canny season this one and I think we are still far from done. It looks like Mavrias is over tomorrow so yet another young, quick, exciting attacking player in the squad and for me I think we still need a RB, LB, CM and if Alfie goes another CM. Just a mention about Sess, I hope all the doubters were watching today. We need the lad, he is the heartbeat of the side and he makes us a dangerous side. Surrounded by better players Sess will be more consistent/effective. Hopefully we can get all the signings done and dusted in the next 10days and Fletcher is back for the start of the season, hopefully it doesn't take him a month-6weeks of the season to catch up. Going to be a good battle between Altidore and Fletcher to see who Sess plays off this season
Cheers mate. My favorite goal was Brown's for two reasons, the corner beat the first man! And browns movement was fantastic! Beating the first man and making defenders work at set pieces has been a problem for us for years. That corner was pure training ground work. Fantastic goal.
Lets hope as time goes on the doubters will start to believe we are making progress as a club in the way its being run by a forward looking scouting and training team we have now in place , no more dull dismal predictable boring football from this set up , roll on the start of the season .
Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio feels his side are moving in the right direction after they came from behind to beat Tottenham 3-1 and secure their place in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong. Gylfi Sigurdsson gave Spurs the lead before goals from new signings Cabral and David Moberg Karlsson either side of a Wes Brown effort sealed the win for Sunderland. "A win is always good but the way it came made me happy because it is the first official game in a tournament against one of the best sides in the (Premier) League," Di Canio told Sky Sports. "The pitch wasn't good but the team have made a sort of revolution playing at this level. "I saw many things that made me happy and we want to create a clear identity. "We did OK. There is still a job to do but I am very satisfied and we are going to work harder because we won only one game. "We still don't know each other but we went 1-0 down and came back to win 3-1 in style. "Today I saw what I want to see at this stage of the season. To be honest, I saw a bit more than I expected." Brown returned to action having been out of action since injuring his knee in an FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough in January 2012 and Di Canio admitted he was glad to have him back. "Wes was a very good player already but he didn't have a very good season last year," added the Italian. "This year he decided to push harder because he is a very good professional. "Thanks to him and thanks to my staff he has the chance to come back. He is an important footballer for me and I am very glad to have him back in the squad. "He still has to improve because it is only the first friendly game but with his experience he can handle the situation and he can have a big part in my squad, I hope."
@YoungSunEcho Revealing from PDC afterwards - suggested club had offered to come to a settlement with Wes Brown, but he wanted to prove himself ‪#‎safc‬
translation... 'actually, that settlement is way less than my contract ran to term, so chew my nuts...' If he's fit, he's quality, so i'm happy for him to stay, but I'd wager that was financial, not the spur of making a mark at Sunderland after those awful times he had at that tinpot club from Salford...
