This may be controversial and I could be well off but Mundle suits this Sunderland side better than Clarke. He may also just be an outright better player but he needs to do it consistently over a period of time for that to be true. His pace and power just offers us something that Clarke didn't.
Excellent, battling win from the lads and thanks for the top thread again RTB. The players are fighting as one whether we are going forward or defending and it’s great to see.
He’s a better player than Clarke but Clarke had one “play” that he did brilliantly and was so effective at this level. I’m pretty confident that Mundle will be a better premier league player than Clarke will be, even if Clarke is probably still the more effective championship player (atm)
Aye. Clarke didn’t play well against Boro normally, I think due to Jones’s pace and good defending. Mundle was occupying and beating 2 or 3 players on a few occasions today.
He sniffs it out quicker than I have seen anyone in the current squad. An air of supreme calmness. Ballard, unbelievablely will be benched.
I think what we can say so far is that the decision to allow Clarke to leave and put our faith in Mundle is most certainly a reasonable one. He may never quite be as effective for us as Clarke was last year (though the early signs are excellent). But he’s certainly done enough to consign that habit of blaming the Clarke-Mundle swap for every setback to the annals of history at least!
Ballard could have commanded a fee of £12m a month ago, we could have taken Mepham on a permanent deal for £3m at around the same time, it's a strange game.
Was a very good performance. Nice late block from Ballard to help us see it out though. Having that much strength in depth in that position is such a good sign.
Not seen him mentioned so i'll do it. Thought Mayenda was pretty good today. Not your typical striker performance but did the dirty work, held his shape, cut off the passing lanes to the midfield, held the ball up fairly well and carried the ball with purpose. Pretty sure he won some defensive headers from set pieces as well. Really enjoyed his celebration when he won a throw in near the end.
He didn't have that much of a sniff in terms of chances but I really liked what Mayenda did today, overall. I thought he looked pretty sharp and he's definitely bought in to Reggie 100% and was grafting away in his own half when we were out of possession. More than happy for him to lead the line as it stands. Not great in the air, that needs work, but he seems to have the attitude that suggests he'll be more than happy to work on that.
Just back. A battling performance and no doubt too another few years off my life. Thank goodness for the blood pressure tablets!! Really like the look of Mepham, Rigg what an audacious back heel l, Jobe does he lose the ball?
How can we drop Mepham after today. Also how can we drop Ballard Onien and Alese was also one of our best CBs before injury I honestly reckon we finally have the squad ro get us promotion
