Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Bournemouth FC - Saturday 29th November 2025 - KO 15:00

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I was standing next to these two grinning while they discected the game.

They more or less said the Sunderland crowd controlled the game, the opposition players and even their manager.

Just seen mesel at 9.21 shuffling into shot and unnerving the lads <laugh>

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Brilliant...I watched that last night and thought it was you.
 
I’ve never seen owt like him mate. Knew he was a quality player and a bit of an alpha lad. We’ve had plenty over years.

What I have never seen is the intense and complete involvement. Every decision, lads look to Granit. Every goal celebration, he’s amongst it talking. Every decent bit of play, applause or quick word. Every mistake, he’s speaking and directing and encouraging.

We knew we were getting a level up player. We got so much more than that.

Having had him for a few months the now I understand how Leverkusen did the unbeaten season, the talent they had with that direction and encouragement must have been, and dealt was, dynamite.

He feels everything, he kicks and heads every single ball, and I’ve rarely seen a player so engaged and invested. The rest of the new signings have followed his lead and having him there has engaged the whole unit. It’s crazy to look at Nordi, who played a lot of games for PSG not just performing, but similar to Xhaka feeling it all.

The most stunning of signings. The most perfect of signing and the key to it all.

We have leaders behind him already, and we have visible leadership growing throughout the team, all driven by the inspiration of Xhaka.

Honestly, Big Dan, Omar, Trai, and the one that come up the most Enzo could all be seen as future captains. Enzo has developed and edge and determination this season that can only have grown from learning for Capitano.

It still happens yesterday, I’m still not over seeing him first out the tunnel for us. Best captain in the league. Best fit and box ticked for any club.

Spot on. The game makes less of these characters now.

You only need one like that. Then the others, the lads who might be leaders elsewhere gather around him. It makes a very strong dressing room.

All teams suffer in this league for spells, maybe not Arsenal this year, but every other team will have a run of games that go away from you, and a strong dressing room is one of the main things that gets you out at the other end of a bad run.

Bargain of the season, and we have a few of the next best bargains too!
 
The most shameful thing was when their defender, Smith, ran the ball out for a corner without a challenge ...

... then threw himself to the ground clutching his ankle.

Delicious justice when we scored from the corner and broke his little heart <laugh>

Aye, he shat the bed Smith mind, him and Xhaka contesting a ball on halfway in front of the dugouts second half, he left one on Xhaka and ran past him to get the ball. Xhaka just glowered at him and muttered something to him, Smith then protesting his innocence, Xhaka having none of it. I thought, right that's Xhaka's yellow sorted, he'll flatten him next time he gets chance. Few minutes after the goal Smith is subbed off.

I think he was glad to get off the pitch unscathed.
 
Petrovic and Diakite rumoured to be our first choice GK and CB signings in the summer, and a few on here were convinced they were "next level" players... Would anyone take those two over Roefs and Alderete, now? Not for me, glad we got our "backup plan" players, instead!

Edit: I'm not disparaging those who said the Bournemouth duo were a level above, I thought exactly the same... Funny how things work out sometimes, though!
 
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Petrovic and Diakite rumoured to be our first choice GK and CB signings in the summer, and a few on here were convinced they were "next level" players... Would anyone take those two over Roefs and Alderete, now? Not for me, glad we got our "backup plan" players, instead!
Was thinking similar. Petrovic in particular hasn’t been great for them so far. Still early but feel we ended up with the better options even before you consider the value.
 
Caught up with the thread after a good drink post match and I agree with what most have said, we were the better team, they had threat going forward and the ref was ****e.

I thought we started well and we're on top with being dominant when they scored. Talbi should have done better with a blocked shot when he tried to place it instead of putting his laces through it. Their first goal was due to Nordi slipping, probably due to the weather. It was too close to our goal to react properly and prevent a chance. Hard luck on our part. After that I thought we were ok and still the better team, though at times we were sloppy, again probably due to the weather. Then they scored again. Personally I thought it was a mess up from Talbi, Traore and Roeffs. Talbi was loose with the pass, Traore was slow to react and cover and Roeffs was too far off his line. Good finish, but we should have done better. The penalty was just rewards for not letting our heads drop, even though I thought the ref was going to over rule it. It kept us in the match and competitive. Watching it again on MOTD it could be considered "soft" as Reinaldo moves his leg out expecting the challenge, but it was a rash challenge and a tackle from behind is always going to be a foul. Scott could have been sent off for conceding it after being booked a couple of minutes earlier. He was lucky not to be sent off through out the first half and it wasn't a surprise he was subbed at halftime.

At half time I thought the next goal was vital, they get it and it's potentially game over, we get it and we get something out of the game. Fortunately we got the equaliser straight after halftime, personally I thought it was a lovely well worked goal and deserved for Traore who had a good game. Their disallowed goal was bizarre, he was clearly offside standing 2 feet from the goal line with no defender near him, but it took an age for the flag to go up making you think he'd been played onside somehow. They had some pressure after this without really punishing us, a lot of it due in my opinion to us being a bit slack, but we certainly looked at least as dangerous as them. A lot of end to end stuff at times and it was one of those bits a pressure that lead to the corner for our winner. A good corner and a great header from Brobbey, well deserved. Both teams had chances including them hitting the bar but I think overall we deserved it. Bournemouth are a good team, but I did think they were also niggly and petty. I agree with Areola that the ref never had control of the game, but I think it benefits them. A lot of niggly, cynical fouls and gamesmanship. An example is in the first half, Isadore was cynically clipped outside the penalty are as he was running through the middle seconds before Le Fee was about to play him in to run on goal (Le Fee played ye pass just as Isadore hit the floor), their player lying down "injured" when we got the penalty along with their time wasting. Areola and his bench were up and down as if they were on springs appealling for anything, putting pressure on a weak ref.

The referee was awful, allowed some soft free kicks to them but allowed similar for us to pass, Scott could and should have been sent off in the first half for his repeated dirty fouls and was subbed at halftime to avoid it. Ironically his replacement was sent off for elbowing Sadiki and they lost their heads in the later stages of the game. A stronger ref might have prevented it by clamping down earlier. Maybe he didn't like the cold and rain?

A word about their fans. The most spawny, pathetic bunch we've had at the SOL since the league one days, in my opinion. My ticket was in the premier concourse on the corner, fairly close to them. They were largely pathetic throughout with the usual "is this a library" chant starting just after kick off and calling the SOL "a **** hole", pathetic when the SOL is nearly 5 times as big as their home and they couldn't sell all their tickets. After we equalised they started on with the mags Adam Johnson chants. They never seemed to be getting behind their team, just trying to wind us up and we're pretty much silent after we took the lead. A pathetic bunch of small time fans with a small club mentality.
 
I know it's the Daily Fail but this is a decent write up on the match

There was a smile. Of course, there was going to be a smile. Regis Le Bris had just overseen a comeback that gave the locals goosebumps, one which left Sunderland in the top four, but while his contentment was obvious, he wouldn’t let joy dilute his stance.

‘We are still looking at 40 points,’ Le Bris said. Caution is understandable but the message was at odds with the scene around him. Sunderland’s magnificent form continues at pace and what a joy it was to be inside the Stadium Of Light, as a storm battered the roof and goals rained down.

This was what a midwinter Saturday at 3pm should be, a glorious throwback to an old-fashioned dust up. There was drama, incidents that made you gasp, noise that made you lose your concentration. The pace was breathless, the teams were committed and, at the end, the right side won.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...land-bournemouth-premier-league-analysis.html