Give him an hour then swap for Altidore, Flectch is the only front man who can produce something out of ordinary. Altidore and Wickham are bashers by comparison.
To my mind Sunderland played well against the team that will finish at No1 again, Aguero is in another league
Agree with you here, re Larsson, Catts n O'Shea - the only players to keep trying all game. Or it could have been a cricket score. Horrible game for Coates to come into, but no choice. I thought he was okay, and could do nowt about the brilliance of the wee Kunt. But it seemed to unsettle the back four as Vergini and Revels both had off days - poor passing and decision making. Buckley started brightly but dissappeared. Rodders lacked belief and application and was generally too weak / paid reverence to his ex-colleagues. Fletcher almodt tried too hard. He needs to get back some composure. Wickham - box of Crawfords. Too many average performances to stand a chance against that lot, in that form. It happens. But I'd rather that, and then get players back on form for a game where we have more of a chance in getting a result i.e. liverpool. with Wes back, at least the back four should be more settled.
Aguero is currently the best striker on the planet and that was the difference. After they scored we lost our way and showed them too much respect. The Good: Vergini Larsson Oshea Cattermole The bad: Fletcher Buckley Rodwell Thought Altidore did alright when he came on, he was desperate to get at them and you could sense his frustration when he was begging for the ball to feet but Buckley kept giving it back to Réveillère No shame in that tonight, disappointing to concede 4 but hey ho
This is exactly what I am trying to say. I also think Catts needs help and he did'nt get it last night. With Wes out he was our only ball winner and after he was booked, quite correctly imo, he had to back off , this allowed them to score the last two goals, where was Brido ? I like Gus but he called it wrongly by sticking rigidly to his "system" instead of using what is available, which to be fair is limited when compared to what we are up against.
Even though Fletcher had a bad game I didnt think it was the right kind of game for him. Altidore would have been the better choice imo to start with, simply because Fletcher isnt any good playing as a lone striker when he is so isolated. In fact, I reckon Altidore and Fletcher would have made a good partnership yesterday, if Fletcher hadnt picked up a knock I reckon Poyet would have swapped Wickham for Jozy instead.
Id start Jozy on the left against Liverpool if Fletcher is fit. I actually think he'd do a job, he'd win more balls in the air than Wickham and itd take the onus of Fletcher having long balls knocked up to him. Hoping Johnson is fit for Saturday if not id start Alvarez and use Buckley from the bench.
It should have been Whicks or Jozy up front for 60 mins and then give Fletch a crack after that, saving him for more winnable games, we got it all wrong last night imo. As for two strikers, it is a luxury we just can not afford against anyone in this league, we just are not good enough to even attempt it, we would be over run by even average teams never mind City.
Coates must've only played to protect Wes really. Coates can't be involved on Saturday so Wes has to play in the back 4. Buckley shouldn't get anywhere near that team. Fletcher may also miss out - stick Wickham up top and AJ and Alvarez on the wings.
Any one know when jones comes back into contention ? We really need to be able to move Vergini into the CB position if needed
Not a lot of comments on how Gus got it wrong last night which is interesting. We all stood off after going ahead, that must have come from the bench. It's without doubt what led to conceding 4 goals. We were pressing them and they really didn't like it. Should have kept pressuring them. If it's not broken and all that. Think it's what upsets me the most last last night is that we crumbled like a Bruce team to Bruce tactics.
Johnson and Brown could return against Liverpool. Adam Johnson and Wes Brown are pushing for returns ahead of Saturday’s trip to Anfield. The winger missed Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat to former club Manchester City after picking up a knock against Chelsea, but like Brown he could return to face the Reds as the Black Cats look to respond on Merseyside. Speaking to safc.com the head coach says he's hoping both players will be available for selection against the Reds. “Adam had a problem with his quads at the end of the game the other day and he didn’t train for one minute with us, so there was no chance. “I think we have a great chance to recover him for Saturday, but let’s see.” He continued: “Wes didn’t train for two days and of course we have the situation where Sebastian [Coates] cannot play on Saturday, so it was better not to risk him to make sure he is 100% for Saturday. “It was an easy decision in the end but for Seb it was a tough game to play, especially against the quality of Sergio Aguero and the quality of form that he is in at the moment." Wednesday’s defeat also saw Ricky Alvarez return to action following a two-month spell on the sidelines, and the head coach admits he may reshuffle his pack in order to combat the risk of fatigue. “Ricky started dribbling, taking it past people and winning a few fouls, so I am sure if we control the ball more and we are better technically he will be important for us. “We are also going to have to refresh the team because there are a few heavy legs after Saturday, so it is going to be interesting and I’m looking forward to the game.”
