Thought the fans were magnificent today and stuck with the team right to the end. They responded with a much better team performance and put a shift in. The only difference between the two teams was in the last third where they were far superior and had the cutting edge. Thought Cattermole was absolutely outstanding until he naturally tired and his all round game was breathtakingly good. His Passing, tackling and drive from midfield will be desperately required if we are to mount an escape plan this campaign. Johnson, Giacherinni and Altidore put a good shift in and only Larsson was the failure, playing that central role he just isn't suited to. Ki impressed me hugely and could form a great partnership with Catts. I thought our defence stuck at it for most if the game but were again undone at a set pieces and on the counter twice. We have much of a muchness in defence whoever plays and it's our lack of a credible goal threat without Fletcher that means we are susceptible to become under pressure at the back too many times in games. Ugly was again the failure of officials to spot a hand ball goal and to punish divers and cheats. Webb is a master of bigging himself up but then letting himself down. Bad was conceding 3 Goals in the 4th game in 6. Very worrying. Whoever gets the full time job, and that appointment must come sooner rather than later, we have a squad still capable of survival and we are not isolated and cut adrift at all. Yet anyway. 6 points should see us right back into this season and there are still 32 games for someone to get us out of it. I sat about 10ft from Ellis Short yesterday and he looked in determined and solemn mood. He has the single most important decision to make in the next few days than has been made in many a year. Get it right and we can stay up. Get it wrong and such is the fragility of our position this season, the 15 point season is under threat. Please get it right Mr Short.
Bang on mate and although i wasn't there (overseas) i couldn't believe what i was watching on TV, i thought at first i'd tuned into the wrong channel. Up until their first handball goal we were magnificent and if we can put in performances like that all season, we will get results. It was a joy to watch. As you mentioned Cest, Catts tired and i thought as a team we went down a notch, get him match fit and keep him match fit and we'll be fine. Bad points for me and i'm being very critical here. Josy just isn't quick enough and isn't getting the right service to be effective in front of goal and Larsson isn't quick enough to link up with him. Josy ends up trying to hold the ball up and it's taking too long to link up. Quella (spelling) way too slow and cumbersome and shouldn't be played alongsdie JOS, they're too similar in style and neither very quick. Westwood is proving himself to be a class act, ok 3 goals but you couldn't really fault him for any of them, they were all defensive errors. We'll be ok, but as you said, we need a manager sooner rather than later.
some good points raised there Cest..I am very worried now about a repeat of the 15 and 19 point seasons..The confidence of the team must be shattered after the events of the last few weeks and constantly getting turned over. I just hope a new manager can come in and give this decent squad the self belief to turn it around, as each game goes by, its getting harder tho'. As you say Cest, this decision by Short will decide our fate as a football club for the next 2 or 3 years..get it wrong and we are fooked.
Ellis Short must be about at the end of his tether regarding managers. He has had two with potential and two with experience and a good track record. Nothing seems to be working for us and him at the moment. Maybe a blend of the two will be the outcome of our current plight, an old head manager and younger coach (why not Bally). Given our current Italian setup and what appears to be the desire to have a continental framework to build our future then I would not be surprised with a new manager with strong Italian connections, or even Italian himself. Maybe we could be a better prospect than Galatasary who have gone after Mancini. If he can do it here then his reputation will be restored.
How Oshea escapes criticism in any summary is beyond me he's diabolical. Even Cuellar who is slow and cap looked better. If Larsson and Oshea continued to be picked that 15 points is very under threat. I've read that Poyet like goalkeeper to roll it to his defenders and get them to pass it into midfield, I hope he gets the job cos surely that will see an end to Mr punt it to the opposition captain calamity
Spot on mate but I dont think we can blame the officials for that hand ball, no way the linesman could of saw it and same with Webb and add that nobody appealed from our lot, plus we would have been beaten anyway. The thing I was more pissed off with was Seb's tea pot pose on the post and he was totally asleep, anyone would have cleared that but he swang his foot totally mistimed due to him dreaming about his next hair gel, shocking. At the end of the day it was Suarez & Sturridge who were the difference and we wont play that kind of quality every week, just Rooney and RVP up next! The goals being leaked is a massive worry though, 9 in the last 3 league games with Man U, Newcastle, Spurs & Chelsea our next homes games, ah god its just against us at the moment.
The good, a decent crowd turned up for a televised game pity most of the players didn't. The bad, our defence is a joke have said since day one JOS is too slow too old and too eager to point and shout at others instead of doing his job and defending. Westwood was okay today nothing flash but, still nowhere near as good as Mig was as quite a few on here reckoned. Ballys team selection put the mockers on before we even got to our seats, JOS and Cuellar in CD was a joke quite possibly the slowest players in the PL. Then we see no Celustka at RB which meant Gardner at RB (half decent) but, why no Celustka is it because he said that PDCs regime didn't bother him as he was a professional footballer or did he take a "knock" in training. By the way do we still do training? because our set up for set pieces from the opposition has been terrible in every game we have played. All in all nothing has changed the players did have a bit more heart to them for 20 or so minutes till Sturridge scored with a Meadowlark Lemon impersonation (still harsh to blame the ref for that for me). Catts looked good but out of juice by about half time. The officials were again a bunch of tired and useless **** stains, as said the first goal although handball was hard to spot but, the diving constant fouling of Altidore and that back pass (had the rules changed overnight or something) were a joke. That however doesn't mask the fact that we shipped 3 goals again and will probably ship the same next week, I bet Moyes cannot wait to come up here and get his season started as we will as always be more than accommodating in that respect. All those asking why not give bally the job your answer was there to see yesterday a team made up of the old hands a team picked by the players, until Bally picks his team then we will be looking up at teams like Crystal Palace, Cardiff, Hull etc. all season. We have been in the PL for 6/7 seasons now and still we are way way off the pace compared to teams that have just been promoted and other teams who have professional players who just get on with the job in hand instead of bitching like a bunch of ****ing girls when things get a bit tough. Having said or ranted all that the thing that got me the most was that Liverpool didn't look that good and we still made it easy for them.
Sad, but true. And I'm taking back my thoughts on Bally as (interim) manager out of concerns he may be making 'yes man' judgements over players. We can just about get away with one of OShea and Cuellar at the back, definitely not both - what's wrong with Diakite who was looking promising? Time to make Celutska a permanent right-back, pushing Gards into the middle ahead of Larsson. At least we can start by fixing the defence and stop leaking goals. As for up front, we don't have much choice, sadly......
Ball shouldn't even be considered as manager, it would be a disaster and we'd be relegated. I can't believe people think he's the man to get the best out of this squad or attract the players we'll need in January. The current players won't look up to a man who's never won a thing in a long career, never been at a top club, never won a cap or managed before.
If he's still manager against Man U and doesn't change it then I'd be worried, those players played well for him against The Posh so reckon he had to start with them and go for premiership experience but it didn't work and if he can't see that and change it then he's not for the job.
That was my point about Bally though against L1 opposition maybe even Championship he should be okay but, at PL level he is out of his depth.
Fair point personally wouldn't like ti see him get the job as he's a Sunderland hero and would hate to see him fail.
Hindsight is wonderful, but just how different was the team put out, to what people beforehand wanted? The players have got to be held responsible also, just look at the Man U situation, how does that team lose to West Brom? Players need to be held accountable, as well as the manager.
Think that one is in the back of everyone's mind to be honest, one lad said get him some experience at a decent level with another club then have a crack at it, would need to be under a very good manager though.
The only way Ball will manage is if he leaves Sunderland. I'd rather he stayed where he was but wouldn't dream of allowing him to manage a Premier League club. I really believe the current squad of players need a new man coming in without any affiliations or favourites.
Having been at the match yesterday I watched the lads - O'Shea and Larsson looked poor - Cattermole was a brighht spark as was Giaccherini. Altidore will not score goals - he is not a "goalscorer" - this isn't a dig at him as I think he's a decent player but he's not an out and out goalscorer. We need Catts fully fit in midfield as he makes a massive difference - Johnson - frustrating at times yet looked good at timesa - a consistent (good) 90 minute performance would be great if it was possible!! Ki was decent as well. Central defence is our weak spot blatantly - I have been O'Shea's biggesdt advocate over the years but he needs someone with Pace next to him - no good have him and Cuellar in the same side - Diakite or Roberge need to be alongside as O'Shea looks better with some pace alongside him. He also was certainly not captaining that side yesterday - Cattermole was leading by example!!
