Buzzing with that today and enjoying going back through the comments. Wife and I are in London this weekend and were in the natural history museum when the game was on. Had Sky Sports on the phone and every time I looked away from an exhibit, there were the lads celebrating another goal and all the replays. Class from all the players and RLB. This has probably been on but it’s worth another airing:
not seen it mentioned but does anyone else feel as if patto's kicking has improved? not saying it is perfect but he looks like his kicks are finding a target more often now...yes, there have been some straight out into touch but 'in general' he also looks more comfortable now kicking it out. as i said earleir, i am not getting carried away after a couple of decent results but adding pre-season into the mix we have seen the lads stuttering along in the first couple of friendlies and could see it all starting to come together in the last one, there were a few 'hiccups' last week but today pretty much showed us that RLB and the squad are right on the same page, wednesday are one team we were a little worried about the way they finished last season yet they looked very ordinary bar the first few minutes...burnley are another one (more so) to worry us, guess we find out next week.
The thing I noticed at the game with Jobe was he was constantly looking round and checking, either for space to move into, runners to pick up or a team mate to play a pass to. It meant he was nearly always an option to receive a pass and had options to play a pass when in possession. He also seemed to glide round the pitch today, never seemed rushed or hurried into anything. It was a very mature performance and those stats back it up. The midfield three were all excellent and showed so much maturity considering their ages. All in all it was a superb team performance, the only player you'd give an "average" marking to would be Patterson, and that was purely down to having almost nothing to do. And even then I thought his distribution was the best it's been for ages, so there a positive as well.
Literally just mentioned it mate. His distribution certainly looked much more comfortable today than I can remember.
On the way down to Cardiff last week I said to my son that the one player I was really excited about was Jobe. Thought that he would "grow" into his body from last year by being a bit quicker and stronger and boy, has he lived up to my hope in the first two games.
i noticed last week but (as you well know) if you praise a player for something he does in one game, the next he will have a mare, so i waited to confirm my own suspicions
Tbh I only noticed Patterson's kicking when he sliced it out for a throw in on the left, might have been better than I recall. I think distribution will always be a weakness of his but not a significant one, he's good on the ball and never panics.
Patto’s command of his box used to be poor, yet it’s arguably his best asset now. His distribution is improving every month. At the moment, his worst passes is an occasional one that goes out of play. I can live with that. He very rarely makes a poor decision and plays a pass that gets us into massive danger, which plenty of modern keepers do.
It’s a good sign that our goals are being spread around the team and we aren’t reliant on Clarke. Massive positive
Special person that Rigg. Ridiculous how advanced in ability and maturity he is for his age. It's very unlikely but imagine if he ended up staying at Sunderland.
Would not be a match day without me complaining about the Ref! The Mayenda “hat trick” moment was a ridiculous decision! That number 6 of Sheff Weds is a joke.
What a great day some top class performances been a long time since we’ve had so many in contention for MOTM,thought Jobe put a shift and half in and young Mr Rigg was class, great all round team effort can’t wait for next Saturday come 5 o’clock we’ll have a better take on things COME ON
He might if we go up this year. I would put that as high as 50-50 after watching that today. Was excellent. And I (still) agree with everything said about Cirkin!
Not a day to mention it but I thought the ref got a few wrong. Was trying not to 'influence the game' though I think, the way he made the calls.
The scary thing is that IMO this team is still learning how to play RLB system and I honestly think that as the season unfolds they will get better again. If that is the case then we could do some serious damage this season. Hard not to get carried away when you think of it like that but I am sure there will be some tougher tests no the journey.
