Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Aston Villa - Sunday 21st September 2025 - KO 14:00

If you watch hopes Rogers positions himself, he turns his arm into Hume. As if he expected the free kick. He made sure Hume couldn’t miss him. Not that I think Hume was bothered!!

 

Wouldn't VAR would have looked at it if they thought it was reckless? Either they didn't look or thought it was fine.

 

I honestly think, by that time, the officials were sick of their endless whining.

Their manager, bench and players kept it up all game …

… well, except when he ran down the tunnel in a huff.

 

Trai's tackle . . . . he did touch the ball (a very slight touch) but it was dangerous.

I'm (obviously) glad that the ref. didn't, but I used to be a ref. and I'd have sent him off . . . . and I've got absolutely no doubt about it

 

Thank God we kept Matete

 

Good job we got plenty players that can cover.

 

Big opportunity for Chris Rigg....or when Mundle is fit, ELF maybe plays there. It's certainly not the disaster it would have been in previous seasons...

 

Rigg was well on his way to earning a place when we went down to ten men ...

... I've no doubt he's already at PL standard.

 

Completely agree

 

I felt for Rigg coming off Sunday but it was the right sub. Got a feeling we got 3/5/2 now

 

agree on both counts.

although 3-5-2 would also be harsh on Rigg as he’s likely the one who’d come out for the second striker.

anyway this could be the making of Riggy. We might get to January and wonder how Diarra gets back in the side

 

That's the perfect scenario

 

Trai Hume happy with defensive resilience this season



https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/s...appy-sunderlands-defensive-resilience-season/

TRAI HUME has been delighted with the quality of Sunderland’s defensive displays in the Premier League, and expects the Black Cats’ ability to shut out the opposition to continue to be one of their key strengths as the season progresses. Sunderland have conceded just four goals in their opening five league matches, with Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa leaving them seventh in the table....

“Whether it’s the whole team or the back four and Robin [Roefs], we stick together and we work as a unit,” said Hume, who has been an ever-present at right-back in the league this season. “I think that’s shown over the five games. We’ve been very defensively solid, and that goes for the whole team, all the way from the front to the back. It’s nice to have that faith, but we need to keep sticking together.

“We’re not going to go up against most teams and have the ball most of the time, so we need to be defensively solid. That starts from the front with the striker, and goes out through the whole team. We have done that fantastically throughout the first five games, so we need to keep that going.”

Last season, Sunderland’s never-say-die attitude was a key factor in their promotion success, coining the phrase ‘Til the end’ which is now plastered across a giant mural in the city centre. There might have been a number of personnel changes in the summer, but the strength of the team’s collective mindset has remained intact.

“We stick together as a team,” said Hume. “We have a good togetherness, and we believe in what we’re told to do. Even with ten men, Regis came in at half-time and gave us details on what we needed to do, and we went out and did it perfectly. We stuck together, and we created chances when we needed to.”

 

Spot on. Looked every inch a premier league player. Even to the “managing to foul a villa player without touching him!”

He was excellent for the short time on the field. And you could see how gutted he was coming off. Bet he was livid with Reinildo!

 

Agree Smug, for the half hour he was on the pitch, he looked a very good player and almost got an assist with a brilliant ball to Isidor

 

Could that allow us to keep him away from the African Cup thingy a month later?

 

Depends how quickly he recovers. Senegal's first game in 23rd Dec, so as he's "out until dec" that suggests he'll be back playing around the Liverpool/Man city games at the start of the month, then presumably disappearing after the Saudi game, or possibly the Brighton away gam on the 20th

 

Was that preceded by the brilliant chop/turn that sent the Villa player off down the corner shop? Loved that.

 

Aye, that was the full monty, pie, bovril, packet of crisps and a paper that mind..