Nothing more nothing less. All them draws man, oh for a goal scorer. Poyet told the Echo: “We should have a healthier gap with the relegation zone. “I like to analyse the season at the end of it. “But halfway, realistically after the last two years, we are okay. “I don’t think it’s more than that. I don’t want to be over-positive. “We are okay, the players feel alright, the atmosphere is much better and more relaxed. “We know we are close to winning two or three games in a row. In that respect, it’s great. “But it’s another thing doing it. “We have been looking to make sure we feel like we are progressing. “I think the feeling inside the dressing room is that. “There is a bit of frustration, but I think that’s natural because we know we’ve been so close to being on 24-25 points and the feeling would be totally different. “But that’s the reality of the league and that’s why it’s been so difficult in the last few years.” http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport...l-in-half-term-report-on-sunderland-1-7027161
Yep. We are two good players short of being a very good team imo. Forward with pace and an attacking midfielder. I have a feeling we'll utilise the domestic loan we have (Joel Campbell?)
We need to be more positive, particularly at home, and for that to happen we need an injection of pace in attacking areas..
I think even with what we've got now we should be playiny one more attacking player. Giaccherini sat just in front of Catts and Seb would make a world of difference I think. Johnson and Alvarez either side of the striker interchanging. Atm we attack 3 against 6 and thats why we dont score many or win but why we are fairly solid and dont lose much.
Can I cast people's minds back to the early half of last season for a minute? There was a 3 or 4 game spell when Giaccherini paired up front with Altidore, and Emanuele got about 3 goals in 4 games or something like that. So I wonder if we haven't already got the answer to the attacking midfielder problem under our noses. We just need to play Giaccherini a bit further forward than we are. Any thoughts?
When our attacking options improve from the full back positions I think we will see an improvement sufficient to see us well safe. PVA and Billy Jones will give us this imo., I would also like to see Mavrias given a run out against Leeds with an otherwise strong team just to increase our options in this important role. Would still go 4-2-3-1 tho' with the current squad. Give it a try against Leeds.
We are indeed very close to being half decent, and we just need a bit of patience. As mentioned above someone like Joel Campbell would add an extra dimension, also Fletch getting a proper run of games and fully match sharp would be massive, if he got back to 1 in 3 we'd be winning likely one in 3 given the outstanding general form at the back, we'd be about 8th if that had been the case. I'm ok going into New Year, after 40 years of **** I can handle a couple more, I think.
I think ok is a reasonable assessment. Gradual improvement seems to be order of the day and I`d go along with that. We are better defensively and a bit of improvement at the sharp end will make a big difference. Gus knows what needs to be done. The question really is about Short and trust.
We seem to be fixated on the attacking capabilities of wing backs or wingers who can help out in defence. Christ, if we just moved the ball about quicker we might catch the opposition in disarray through speed and power rather than pretty passing. Let's tell it how it is, Hull went for it in the second half with more power running out of defence before passing forward then following up into the space. Half time team talk by Bruce would have been interesting to hear .
