Got to stop leaking them first though mate, whilst you're not scoring goals the most important players are your leaders, that's why I highlighted Cattermole as he seemed up for the scrap. Goals will come in time more than likely, or maybe you can buy a few in January but plugging the gaps and scraping boring 0-0's in the mean time could be where the difference is by the end of the season. My only objection to what you say, is that if you're still bottom by the time the window opens you're going to struggle for a top goal scorer. You've got a £15m striker who needs to get fit and a big lad who needs a goal for confidence, I'm sure a new manager with a good attitude could at least sort out the latter then things might start looking a bit brighter.
it was a recurring knee injury (Which has been operated on now) and I firmly believe it was down to both Bruce and MoN bringing him back to early. Paolo put him and fletch through a really careful fitness plan which involved no ball work at all and to be honest, he looks fitter than he ever has in his whole sunderland career which can only help in fending off another recurrence. Fletch was looking really sharp until bad luck popped his shoulder out.
The good thing about Fletchers injury, if there is such a thing? it wasn't his ankle or anything leg related, it was a freak accident. He should be fine once he gets match fitness back.
I think a front 3 of AJ, Jozy and Johnson would rain goals from AJ and Giacc if the ball is put into jozy correctly. In the Man U Game Bally played Giacc on the Left for long spell only tucked in a bit further then Paulo used to have him and they looked fantastic together, tuck aj in a bit further to help give Jozy more options and I think there's goals in him. I bet Giacc is our top scorer come the end of the season. I reckon Poyet will see how strong both Jozy and Fletch are at bringing others into play. I can see the flexible 433/451 being our primary formation this season with an empathic of retaining the ball. Defensively we need to tighten up and expect it's where poyet has focused most of his attention on this fortnight.
Yeah man deffo. He was back running a week later so I expect he'll be ready to go as soon as his shoulder is ready.
if you are expecting rain from johnson forget it , so far its been dry as a bone with no hint of a cloud in the sky, more like a drought
Don't agree mate, I think he's showed better form this season and like most of the others, he's suffering from a lack of confidence and goals, a win will sort that out.
He's our best in that position so do we him as his is or do we adjust what we're doing with him to try and bring more out of his game? The latter imo.
That's good for Cattermole if he can keep off the treatment table then, would like to know what his longest run of games is without injury or suspension is, now wouldn't be a bad time for him to go and set himself a new record! I like him, he was like a pit bull in that game at your place.
Captained England at every level except senior level. He needs to aim for fitness and I think he can get a call up. That's if Hodgson can make it past Lancashire to watch some games.
I got a feeling he could be on the bench Saturday and definitely on the bench at least for the scum game. Just having him there will spur is on.
I am Comm mate. I really rate Cattermole and think he gets a lot of bad press. He has been our best player more times than he has been the worst. Been the victim of some horrendous officiating! Castigated by some of our own for doing his job and doing it very well. One mistake in a game for some, negates how well he played in the rest of the match. I have seen Vidic and Rio make numerous terrible decisions during games yet they aren't hung out to dry! (Well Rio may get more stick now, as he seems to have hit the wall! ) The position he plays is always going to be a hard one. Sometimes he has even taken one for the team, where his detractors would have had a go at him for letting someone get a shot off if he hadn't put his body on the line. He has been far and away my MOTM the last two games. I would have him in the England side in front of that plank Carrick any day of the week!
Sorry but I'm going to defend my players. You can have the Rio one I can't defend him at the minute but Carrick? I'm just going to assume it's because he's a Geordie or because you haven't watched him. It's not like you have to cast your mind back too far to the last time you seen him play, he dictated the game 2nd half and you lot were running around chasing shadows. I read that he played 116 passes which was nearly twice as much as any other player on the pitch and the most passes by anyone on your team was 37. He controls games by moving the ball around effortlessly, he spots people in space and gives them the ball, it's not glorified flair like you maybe see with Hazard or Silva but it's effective, he's the reason you lot ran out of steam 2nd half and we could win that game. He does this all the time. I don't mind when people don't think he's that great, I can understand why people don't get off their seats when he's on the ball but to call him a plank is ludicrous, he was probably the most consistent midfielder or even player in the league last season.
