Is he hinting that Larsson, Johnson etc may be dropped? GUS POYET is prepared to sacrifice Sunderlandâs big names to inject some cohesion into the Black Catsâ ranks. Head coach Poyet will make changes from Sunderlandâs stalemate at Burnley last weekend, for tomorrowâs visit of Swansea, as the Wearsiders continue their search for a first Premier League win of the campaign. Poyet has already indicated that Billy Jones and Will Buckley â who both impressed in the midweek Capital One Cup defeat to Stoke â will keep their places, while Jordi Gomez and Ricky Alvarez are also in contention. And with Sunderland yet to convince in their performances this season, Poyet admits there may be some shock omissions from his starting XI. âThe biggest problem is I need all the players to stand up,â said Poyet. âThe big, big players. âThe ones who have played at the highest level or cost a lot of money, not the one we brought from Brighton (Buckley). âI think itâs close to a moment when Iâm going to have to make a bit stronger decisions and go with what I think will get victory and not what is expected. âAgainst Spurs, I was honest and said thatâs why you pay £30million for a player â for someone who is better technically than you, quicker than you and stronger than you. âBut, at Burnley, it should have been the opposite way around. âI didnât see that and itâs happened too many times. âIâm responsible. I make the changes and then the players need to take responsibility individually first and as a team afterwards. âThere are things we all need to improve. âItâs not as simple as people think. âItâs not just a case of âhe is better than someone elseâ. âThe team might perform better with the ones who are not as good individually. âYou need to find the right balance.â Unlike Sunderland, Swansea have started the season with a bang â winning three of their five league games and coasting past Everton in the cup on Tuesday night. But Poyet believes that, despite the inexperience of opposite number Garry Monk, Swansea have reaped the rewards from having a settled philosophy during their three-and-a-bit years in the Premier League. âOther teams have had a system and a core group of players playing a certain way, and getting close to being successful,â added Poyet. âThat helps. When you add good players to those teams, itâs very easy to adapt. âWeâve been kind of re-starting. Every year you kind of start again, which is not that easy and takes a bit of time. âOf course, we need to be calm and know we are better than in the past. âBut there is a time when you need to get better for the fans and everybody who is coming to watch you. âWe are definitely going in the right direction. âBut, of course, weâre trying to do it as soon as possible.â http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/sunderland-afc/poyet-ready-to-wield-the-axe-1-6862494
I honestly think he ballsed up big time at Burnley when he took Johnson off and replaced him with Altidore. Don't get me wrong, no player is above substitution but that was a mistake imo, to replace a pacey attacking winger with a striker who had a record of 2 in 62 ??? just don't get it and to make matters worse Altidore played deep and rarely showed up front where he was needed. Personally I'd like to see us go at Swansea and if that needs changes to be made to the team and formation then so be it, but at least let's make a game of it and like we did against Spurs.
I dont think AJs performances have been bad at all. As much as Verginni is a brilliant defender, we need Jones on the pitch to overlap with AJ on the right side. Verginni doesnt have the pace to do that, and AJ has been a bit isolated. Could poyet be thinking of dropping Brown and bringing in Jones at RB ? I'd be surprised if OShea is dropped as he is captain. Larsson dropped for Gomez or Alvarez. Manonne Jones, Vergini, O'Shea, PVA Catts AJ, Rodwell, Gomez*, Buckley Wickham *or Giacc or Alvarez
If we want to ruin any prospective central defender just play him alongside O,shea, Brown should be nailed, on not sacrificed because he isn't captain.
At lest he's trying to find a formula that works. I personally feel we'll never show balance unless we have two natural wingbacks, our system relies on our wingbacks, playing a cb their just doesn't make sense to me.
I agree its just leaving out Brown instead of O'shea is a travesty in my opinion O'shea is a good organiser but a rank poor defender, and has been ever since he arrived.
Our problem isn't in defence its in our lack of pace in midfield and our lack of striking options. Gomez, Buckley, Alvarez and Giacherinni all have much more pace and attacking attitude so they deserve to have a chance.
I think we play a system where our attack relies on what the defense does. What I mean is we play it out from the back and our fullbacks have a major part in attacking, so if you don't get the defence right, we can't really assess the problems from midfield and upfront accurately. I strongly suspect you're correct about pace, but Buckley, Watmore and Mavrias are our only fast, direct attacking options in the whole squad and Gus doesn't think two of them are ready, so we can't rely on pace so we need to create space. With that in mind fast attacking fullbacks are imperative to add a bit of pace imo, Van Aanholt looks dangerous and his pace on the left compensates for the lack of pace infront of him, There's none of that on the right. Imo until we can balance the defence, add some width which will allow us to stretch play and create space then our slower, more technical creative players, like Giacc, Gomez and Alvarez, won't be as effective.
I would go with: Mannone Jones Vergini Brown Aanholt Catts Buckley Gomez Johnson Giaccerini Whickham Wickham knows he's under pressure now Altidore has scored. Need pace at the back against Dyer and Routledge. Buckley and Johnson on wings for a bit pace of our own. Gomez for passing. O'shea got rolled too often last week so put Vergini in the middle with Brown. Interesting to see Vergini cope with Bony but if he is ever going to make it in the Prem at center back then this is what he has to cope with. Let's take the game to them. If we sit back again we will be asking for a lot of trouble.....60 minute mark we have Rodwell, Alvarez and Altidore if needed.....
Jones in, Gomez in. Wouldn't be upset with Fletch in for Wickham. Alvarez from the bench or starting instead of Giacch. Neither can play whole game, don't mind which starts.
