Match Day Thread Sunderland v Stoke City (U21) - Tuesday 4th September KO 19:45

This is a worry, with three at the back especially you need pace and awareness, not sure about our defence apart from Baldwin so far.

 

I had high hopes for ONien. Hes been a disapointment so far.

 

That's a tad strong Clock. Its not like he did it on purpose

 

Looks a bit limited doesn't he.

 

No love lost there then..

 

Yes he does abit. There was alot of hype about him when we signed him. Hes meant to be a box to box midfielder capable of scoring a few. He looks abit out of his depth at the moment.

 

Luck and confidence. It's that second word that's the key thing here. Saffy is right, we rode our luck at times against Gillingham but you could feel the confidence in the team and in the crowd. Even if Gillingham had pulled it back a bit, there was no way we were going to lose that game. Maguire tried twice to score from near halfway, the midfield were playing nice little triangles and ripping through the Gills easily. In recent years, if we'd gone 1 down as early as we did in that game heads would have gone down and that would have been that. We will lose a game or two along the way, but I don't think it will keep this team down for long. We a different proposition now.

 

We were in that vicious circle of the players heads going down when we conceded which made the crowd depressed which meant we more likely to concede another, which repeated into infinite and resulted in two consecutive relegations, but as you say those days have gone now.

I've been really impressed with the resilience in the team and if we're occasionally lucky to be having an off day but playing against a team who can't hit a cows backside with a banjo then great.

 

The problem he has is that our midfield is almost practically sorted in terms of who’s the first names on the team sheet, Maguire, Gooch, Honeyman, Power, Catts, and then with McGeouch coming back too, it’s tough competition.

Needs to quickly find his place and role within that lot or he’ll be left behind quick, think he’s lacking a bit of confidence and maybe a bit daunted coming from Wycombe

 

Id say Mumba's infront of him aswell in the pecking order and hes only 16, so if anyone should be daunted it certainly shouldnt be ONiel.

 

Forgot about Mumba too.

I don’t know, it’s just the impression I get from seeing him play, he looks nervous.

Shame, I really thought he’d crack on.

 

Yes me too mate. He needs a spell playing with the U23s.