That sending off against City which seemed so irrelevant at the time does seem to have had an effect on us. Now bear in mind that Jordan had played every single minute of our PL campaign prior to the red card, it's now looking like he was a huge loss to us. The three games that he was out - Norwich 2 - 3 Liverpool Liverpool 0 - 2 Chelsea Crystal Palace 3 - 3 Liverpool Now I know we've conceded plenty of goals with him in the team, but his engine has been well and truly missed. Allen emoticon-0115-inlov) has done well in his absence, but for me Lucas has been the weak link in our midfield. He hasn't been deployed as a DM, nor as an AM, he's just been.. Well he's been a floater. Hasn't offered pressing, positioning, tackling, shooting or even passing.. I honestly think if we had Henderson in ahead of him we would of faired a lot better. But, it's all ifs and buts but for me it shows what a crucial player that he has turned in to.
i hear you, but still think we are ****e at the back is the problem. there is no organisation or leader, who is our Kompany or Terry? also we have absolutely **** all to change things from the bench to freshen things up, look at the squads around us and the options they have and we get wummed for being so close (we are top) with a thin squad lol. Henderson would have certainly helped, but then wouldnt a decent striker to rest Sturrdige and Luis now and again helped to? ruddy aspas and moses ffs.
I hear you Jenners, just think Henderson's general play and work rate have been sorely missed.. And as you say, squad depth is terrible as we've got a player who offers next to nothing in as his replacement. Major recruitments needed in the Summer if we are to sustain a top four finish, let alone top two/three.
Moses and Aspas being on the bench confuses me as both offer **** all, why wasn't Alberto on the bench? or even u21 players would have been a better option than those 2. when i look at our bench i just think i ****ing hope to god we don't need to rely on any of them coming on as they are ****e, even ruddy Spearing would have been a big help, and i never thought i would say that. we are not far off, but first team needs freshening up with a player or 2 and we basically need a whole new bench.
3 up and we get get cocky, OK so 1 3 and we still over commit, OK you think tighten it up, the 3rd goal, Skrtel was alone against 2 players no help, again over committed. ALL 3 goals came from over-committing players forward/
you need a spliff mate Henderson made a mistake, not his fault that our back up options are ****e or we are vulnerable (is that even the right word? ****e maybe!) at the back. we could go through a long list of what ifs, but considering we was written off by many to finish top 4 that alone challenging for the tile with 3 games to go (still not over but probably is) is a massive achievement, we don't have the same luxury as the other teams in the top 4, proud of the boys and just hope we learn from the naivety we have shown in games this season for the next one.
So you could argue that we missed Henderson's positioning and awareness? We had both Lucas and Gerrard on the pitch who both largely play the roles of DM, Allen is not really an attacking force either. Who should of been tracking the runs? Bad play all around.
Added to over committing we also failed to pay sufficient attention to the Gayle substitution because the goals came so fast. We were back to 3 3 in a very short time. Rodgers really didn't have time to address the problem.
The players have put themselves at least 1 season ahead of where we should have been according to the development plan. I strongly doubt that if we mounted a planned title challenge that we would have players like Aspas and Moses on the bench - or that we would play the system that we do with such a lightweight set of players. Also being brutally honest I'm sure that Rodgers himself would have preferred a little more experience at this level before mounting a challenge. After all he has made some tactical blunders during the season - and he certainly did last night! So now it's a question of ensuring that we have the player resources to move on from here.
At 2-3 he brought on Moses for Sturridge when he'd have been better served bringing on Agger to shore it up and take the points.
Thing is, if you've got a winning formula, you don't want to change it. Henderson was part of that formula and no matter how insignificant each little piece may seem to be, together they had what it took to win. Never discount the part psychology plays in success and for even one of the players to have let the loss of Henderson get into his psyche, that's enough to change the flow.
I don't think Moses was the right move either but that wasn't what killed us. Leaving all of that space in search of goals is what killed us. Tactical change was needed more than a substitution. We just kept attacking and leaving space, space for Palace to exploit against defenders who have issues with quick players. Moses at 3 1 not so crazy, at 3 2 looks bad, there's only 7 minutes between the first goal they got and Moses coming on. It's easy after the game to say this or that but Palace were real no threat until the Gayle substitution. 23 minutes later it was 3-3. Fair play to Pulis sussing it out and doing a number on us.
We at Sunderland will always have a soft spot for 'our 'Jordan. However I think the turning point for the run you were on was Gerrard's (cattermole) slip, doubt then crept into your minds. Although last night it was Johnson not closing down that gave Place a kick start.
IMO gerrard has lot it. before that slip he was sitting in his new role playing well... slip and suddenly he's chasing ahead of the ball, being impatient and just not playing right. yesterday all game he was running ahead of play, not taking it slot up. when we needed a leader to hold station and clam it he was nowhere. then tears at the end.... its just a head shaker. no sympathy is possible when you are shaking your head at such foolishness
