Thoughts? I'm thinking you're the master of understatement! It wasn't an awesome performance. Wouldn't say it was high on guile or skill either. We must, MUST keep and hold the ball better! But there was shape, grit and commitment. It all made their possession worthless in the end. We may not have turned the corner yet, but the indicators might be blinking After this weekend's end, the red and white corner of the north east will be sleeping just a little easier this week.
After slating some inept defending this season it's great to be able to praise some. I thought Coats was excellent tonight as was Kaboul. O'Shea organised well and Big Sam got his tactics right of not leaving space in behind us. We weren't expansive at all and yes the passing at times was woeful but as Sam said, it takes time and we are trying to build from the back. clean sheets earn points, it may not be pretty but we frustrated Palace, they eventually left more and more space whilst commiting players forward. We could have had 2 with more clinical play in the final third. Yes we needed a slice of luck but who doesn't.
All of the above. We weren't great, but we were solid and overall deserved a point, so 3 was happy days...
I think Stoke is a big one, as well. Not easy - no team on 19 points already is easy. But if we win that, I think it will turn the whole mood in the club around. Two on the trot would be major right now.
Big Sam got his tactics spot on imo. Defence was solid, 3 central defenders worked well (Kaboul and Coates did v. well) and both Jones and PVA had good games. PVA got skinned a couple of times by zaha, but also made a few excellent tackles against him as well (e.g. when he ran back and onto Zaha, nicking the ball from him) . Catts and M'villa were excellent, and it looks like they are forming a good partnership. Both have confidence in each others ability, and because of that there is always 1 of them getting a bit further forward to help out in attack when needed. Larsson had good "quiet" game, running around and slowing play down when Palace were in possession and generally just getting in the way. Nothing stand out, which is why I say quiet game, but did his job. Defoe and Fletcher were top notch, even though we played deep when defending, having 2 forwards meant we could effectively counter attack and stopped Palace from being able to commit too many players forward. Now if we could stop giving the ball away due to **** passing, and keep it a bit better, we should be all right this season.
2 best passes of the entire match came from Cattermole and M'Vila - the ball from M'Vila, where the sky commentator said "well M'Vila has overhit that" and it was perfectly into the path of PVA (I think) was one of the best passes you will see this season! Cattermole's through ball to PVA was also an excellent pass - but Cattermole can;t pass and only kicks players according to everyone else! He looks like he's getting back to the Cattermole we know and M'Vila and him are excellent together in there. Bamford likes throwing himself to the ground mind doesn't he! The only issue I had with Defoe was his touch - couldn't trap a bag of cement last night! But it was there when it mattered most!!
Was it the Catts or M'Villa pass where PVA had a bad 1st touch (came off his shin and went out for a goal kick) ? Beautiful pass that.
That was Catts. If our first touch was better up front, and we could keep possession from the back, we'd be well sorted sooner rather than later.
Aye, were missing that bit of composure. Wish Pants could distribute the ball a bit better as well like, would help enormously if the keeper could kick the ball to our players consistently.
The number of times he hoofed the ball upfield and immediately put us under pressure! Other than that though, which surely to god, someone will eventually get that message across to him, I'm glad we've got him. Great shot-stopper!
Do you Blame him for that? He has a goal kick., the nearest Sunderland player is 45 yards from his position - what else is the keeper supposed to do? Fletcher won a lot in the air in the first half (awful lot more than Wickham did for them!) and I think Sam has told them to get the ball up there quickly rather than from the back - under Advocaat we tried passing it out from the back - it didn;t work. Under Di Canio and Poyet we tried passing it out from the back - it didn;t work except for short spells which lasted no more than 1 or 2 games. Maybe we need to be more direct. You can;t blame a keeper for not going short if the boss is telling him to go long - or if his defenders (who are not the quickest) are not sticking around the box to receive a short pass - also, if he goes short against a team like Palace who had Wickham (who isn;t slow), Bolasie and Zaha to close down - you'#re surely better letting them have the ball in their half than 30 yards from our goal.
Wasn't the only one last night though Nordic - his first touch was woeful for most of the game but it didn't matter when he needed it. Do you think his touch was good last night prior to the goal?
