WILL BUCKLEY has called for Sunderland to get over Saturdayâs humiliating 8-0 defeat to Southampton quickly, but insists the team did not give up at St Maryâs. The Black Cats equalled their worst ever defeat against Ronald Koemanâs men, a result which left them sitting one point above the Premier Leagueâs bottom three. Santiago Verginiâs calamitous first-half own goal set the tone for an embarrassing afternoon with the Saints allowed to run riot. Graziano Pelle and Jack Cork added a second and third before half-time, but the floodgates opened as they added another five in a remarkable second half collapse from the Black Cats. Gus Poyetâs team were accused of throwing the towel in once the Saints scored a fourth, and goalkeeper Vito Mannone admitted as much, but Buckley, who arrived from Brighton in the summer, insists that was not the case. âFor us who started, we dug ourselves into a hole really,â the winger said. âThe first two goals were poor mistakes from us and it cost us. âFrom then on, we capitulated and it's not good enough. The first ten minutes we started well and were well in the game, but at this level mistakes cost you. PROMOTED STORIES Recommended by âI don't agree that we gave up. But everything went wrong and we came up against a team in form. They took over the game in the end. âWe came into the game confident that we could get a result and for the first ten minutes, it looked like we could do that. âAfter that, we made errors and got punished and I suppose our heads went down. âI don't think we went stopping, but everything went wrong. It was individual mistakes and every mistake they punished us.â Buckley admits is it crucial the Black Cats bounce back from the defeat sooner rather than later with Arsenal next up at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. More than 2,500 supporters made the long trek to the St Mary's Stadium to witness what Poyet described as his most embarrassing moment in football and Buckley insists it is down to the players to make it up to them. Mannone has called on supporters to be refunded and Sunderland were last night quiet on the issue. Buckley said: âWe need to get over it fast. Nobody is over it yet, but we're on to Arsenal next week and it doesn't get any easier. âWe need to pick ourselves up and make sure our performance is 100 times better than it was at Southampton. âThere were a lot of fans still there at the end. If it was other people, I don't think they'd have been there. âIt's credit to them and hopefully they can stay behind us and we can put it right next week. âWe need to sort it. This has to be a one-off definitely. I've never experienced anything like that professionally. âIt's a horrible feeling, especially for how many fans we brought down. It's gutting for us and we let ourselves down. We let the manager down and all the staff who have shown good faith in us. âWe need to make sure we put that right next week.â With the score at 2-0, Sunderland were denied a penalty when Steven Fletcher was tripped by Fraser Forster, but Buckley refused to use the decision as an excuse for what happened next. âThe penalty incident is no excuse when you get beat like that,â the 24-year-old said. âMaybe if we'd got beat 2-0, you could say it was a big decision, but that would be cowardice if we blamed it on that. âThose are the kind of results you see in Sunday League, so we have to make sure that doesn't happen again.â
I was all for giving them a starting place to redeem themselves but this lad needs dropping like a bag of spanners with that attitude. He and Wickham giving up let their fullbacks attack freely for most of the game. If he honestly feels he gave 100% for 90 minutes he should be dropped imo. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Yeah you really tracked back didn't you. Lazy c**t.
That's bollocks mate, it doesn't matter if you're playing in a world cup or a Sunday league match, you can still give 100%. His ability isn't the problem here. It's his character.
not the first time gus has bottled it.. the play offs come to mind and he bottled it in so much he took a ****e in the changing room
Better than that cock Le Tosspot on Sky who was completely classless - even Phil Thompson showed remorse for Sunderland fans - le Tissier was jumping about like a school kid and basically all but rubbing our noses in it. The match stats from yesterdays game bore some resemblance to the stats from Southampton v Sunderland - similar shots for Man Utd (compared to Soton) and West Brom (compared to us) yet that finished 2-2. I think there was an awful lot of luck attributed to Southampton's 3 goal first half - we certainly didn't deserve to be 3-0 down at half time. Let's hope we take it out on Hull!! Wickham and Buckley, IMO, should be dropped against Arsenal. Put Johnson and AN Other on the wings (Mavrias - is he still here?) - and those of you who know me on here will be surprised at me saying to drop Wickham as I rate him - he just did so little for the "team" on Saturday (as did Buckley - has Bri maybe said the same before about the "team" and Wickham?)
Hmmm "Capitulate: cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; yield. synonyms: surrender, give in, yield, admit defeat, concede defeat, give up the struggle, submit, back down, climb down, give way, cave in, succumb, crumble, bow to someone/something; " Another case of foot in mouth disease - do it on the pitch not in the press!
Whicks should be played through the middle and no where else imo, the 433 set up does not allow both Fletch and Whicks to start a game, so it is a straight choice unless we change to a 442 formation. He drew the short straw on Saturday, he was up against a very quick unit, who came on strongly later as Whicks understandably ran out of steam, after being one of our better performers for a good portion of the game.
I did but saying that Wickham worked well out there against Stoke, as soon as PVA arrived in the area he'd join fletch up front to wait for service and it worked. But I don't think it will work every time, not every fullback is as weak with opponents running across them like Bardo is. I just don't think we play our front three close enough together to put a striker like Connor on the left of that three, It needs a wide man imo. Mavrias & AJ with Fletch up front for me Marcous-cous. You?
Problem is a 5 man Arsenal Midfield will rip a Sunderland midfield 4 a new arsehole. I was more impressed with Fletch than Wickham, don't think think Fletch deserves to be dropped for that. I would send the wrong message imo.
Our real problem is how we cover a very weak defense and support our striker/strikers at the same time, the midfield set up is not capable of doing both against the stronger counter attacking teams. I still think O'Shea is our main weakness, but he is not alone, and we have no alternative at the moment but to stick with him, he really should be in politics.
My only reservation with this is I doubt Fletcher can play the lone striker as well as Whicks, he is the better goal-scorer no doubt, but he lacks strength in this particular role, so it is a very close call, for what its worth I would play one or the other from kick-off, and shore up the midfield against Arsenal, as you suggest, as our defense needs more cover than most imo.
That maybe true, not seen enough of Wickham as a lone striker to judge. But dropping the only player who maintained a workrate for a player who completely abandoned his defensive duties sends the wrong message for me like. Wickham doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the pitch let alone replacing the only player who pulled his weight.
