When Whickam came on I thought he was great - good determined effort. Vergini can't really play football. Defoe must just be frustrated. Cattermole largely great and did what he need to do bar afew mistakes. Larson - quality at times. Fletcher - waste of space. Alvarez disappointing. Brown and O'Shea solid. Graham just don't know.
Wickham was great as a SUB. Why can't he put that performance in 90 mins?? As for Alverez, I won't miss him come May. 8m for a permanent deal is a pishtake.
Alverez today, I didn't think he did too bad for what was only his fourth premier league start ever and being played out of position, he needs time. He didn't hit the byline today but he was well marked and he doesn't have the speed to beat defenders on pace. He created a couple of chances, would have an assist had the goal not have been disallowed. He also only missed two passes all game. Wasn't his best game, we know he's capable of more but he certainly wasn't the worst player on the pitch. Wonder if he's carrying a knock? We're low on wide men and would have to have been risked.
Wes was **** on his first 3 passes apart from that i aint got alot to say, we did enough to win and should have won
Quick question, are our full backs told to not take a run past their opposing fullback, (Vergini especially) to the bye line, which would allow the opportunity of a pass being made inside the fullback or create space for our wing man to exploit. We need to be able to get behind a defense, especially when it is packed as was WBA on Saturday. Pace is something we need to address in the future.
Vergini is a centre half by trade so it's not natural for him to do that. Reveillere I think is better at that overlapping run (best full back we have IMO) as its PVA but PVA is not as good in defence! Difficult one to balance. Our last home win was down to two overlapping full back runs! PVA set up Defoe and Reveillere set up Wickham! Nuff said!!
How is going to go on the outside when he lacks pace and had no fullback support at all to help give us width? He's a Central player. It's not his fault Gus is using him wrong.
Don't think I can argue too much with the Echo's assessment - http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/sunderland-afc/player-ratings-sunderland-0-wba-0-1-7119668 although I'm not sure I'd be quite so generous to Graham. Looking forward to a bit of magic from him at some point rather than just good effort!. However, he did deserve a much better rating than Fletcher who was pretty pointless.
7 for Greham and 5 for Alvarez? Disagree there like. Alvarez missed two passes all game. Graham did naff all as per. I don't reward effort, it should be a given. There's 100s of players in league two who'll give 100% doesn't mean they should be anywhere near a Premier League starting line up. Danny Graham: Chances created 0, Shots 0, 8 passes in 70 minutes and didn't get anywhere near his strike partner the whole time on the pitch. Alvarez: Chances created 2, Shots 3, 90% pass success, missing 2 passes in 70 minutes and one of them was a long ball, 5 take on's 3 of which successful. But Alvarez is marked down to 5 for cutting inside when Gus set us up to have no width while DG is given a 7 based on 'Worked hard, made several good runs down the channels' I know people see different things in football but those two ratings are completely wrong imo.
I wouldn't say johnsons the fastest play but he mixes it up. I'm hoping for Buckley back sooner rather than later, I'd say he's one of our better impact players
I wasnt able to watch all the game, but about 10 minutes after I tuned in a commentator said something about Graham - I didnt even realise he was playing ! He did ok in the previous games, but I didnt think he contributed anything positive against WBA
