Sunderland ratings (18 Viewers)

[Grendel]

Get a grip lads. That was daylight robbery by Sunderland. We’re 1-0 down going into the next 90 minutes against a team we know we can beat. And Sunderland will be very nervous if we get the first goal. Onto Tuesday and a very iconic performance. We’ve been here before and got it done.

It was hardly daylight robbery

I thought our tactics were ok. The first leg you just don’t lose.

Again though we were punished for two terrible errors.

 

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[Evo1883]

This just isn’t true. The amount of times he had two or three runners off the back line and both fullbacks to hit in space and he passed it sideways was ridiculous.

I felt that grimes did his job and did it well , I thought sheaf and rudoni being off his game were the biggest issue in midfield

 

[DannyThomas_1981]

It was hardly daylight robbery

I thought our tactics were ok. The first leg you just don’t lose.

Again though we were punished for two terrible errors.

This happens in football at all levels. MVE is an elite player and in the conversation if we think about our best right backs in history. Not going to get tied up in the criticism of the team and individual errors when we have 90 minutes to turn this around. As MVE would say: ‘vamos.’

Bring on Tuesday - I believe in this team.

 

[Grendel]

I felt that grimes did his job and did it well , I thought sheaf and rudoni being off his game were the biggest issue in midfield

yeah he was great

 

[Ccfcisparks]

I still think we will get more joy in the away leg. I just can't see them employing the same tactics at home.

 

[Jimmy87]

I think we were too predictable all round unfortunately. Probably where we miss Torp who provides more creativity or Allen's busyness.

Yeah, we definitely miss Torp.

 

[Snaily]

Wilson 6
MVE 6
Thomas 6
Kitching 7
Da Silva 7
Grimes 8
Sheaf 6
Rudoni 8
Saka 7
BTA 5
Wright 5

 

[Diogenes]

Wilson 5

2 attempts at him, 2 goals conceded. Still, Collins would have also conceded both and thrown one into his own net for good measure. Small mercies and all that.

MVE 6

Did great all night and had some kind of brainfart. Always looking for space and raced back in his usual fashion to cover. Great assist.

JDS 7

I got laughed at for saying play him wide left with Bidwell at LWB and Haji in middle. Anyway, JDS got forward well and did his job at the back. Still think he’s a better advanced than defensive player.

Thomas 6

Thought he played the offside trap
Ok, just the Lino got it wrong. Still. Did ok.

Kitching 6

Should have made a meal out of being grabbed. Watch it back.

Grimes 7

Bossed the game but should have spotted through runs quicker instead of constantly looking to go wide. Watch back at how Torp cut through last time out by going through the lines.

Sheaf 5

You know when your iPhone goes down to 10% and switches to low power mode or whatever, Sheaf reminds me of a person in constant low power mode. A bit dim and less able to react. Even in the tunnel before gave he didn’t look fully charged. He’s the skipper - where’s the getting into the ear of the Ref? Where’s the rallying of the team? His attempt at goal when he had bags of time was hilarious. “Best stats in the blah blah at blah blah” is the line trotted out by the usual suspects on here. Look: his stats are good because he passes backwards, or, like last night he found a player in bags of space out wide. We turned down £8m for him? FFS. Anyway, he played poorly last night. Drop him next match and get Bidwell left and with the armband. JDS WM, Rudoni BBM with Grimes deep and EMC roving and probing as an AM. Worth a try.

Rudoni 8

Plus one for the goal. Busy. Got around well.

Wright 6

FFS he got walloped and kicked early on by some little bloke and ended up apologising to HIM. Haji, you look and sound like a 6foot4 LA gang member. START INTIMIDATING DEFENDERS. Anyway, did ok in parts, should have put himself about more.

BTA 6

He’s not a target man, he’s a race on to through balls at pace player. Crosses aren’t for him. Has the first touch of a bent 50p - could go anywhere. Mad choice.

Tats 7

Lively. Should have got at the lb more after the booking.

Subs

Can’t be bothered.

On JDS I agree. When he goes forward he doesn't look out of place he looks comfortable and the ball sticks to him and he can get a good cross in.

He'd have done a better job than Wright that's for sure.

 

[Adge]

We drop him though and put in the striker who hasn't scored since 15th Feb?

Who is the one striker who can pretty much win a game all by himself? It's Wright.

I am sure we will see a better Wright on Tuesday. If not, he's off.

But if Simms plays, I think you have to play Wright too. BTA struggled last night.

You mean like the 2 Sunderland strikers who hadn’t scored since God knows when.?

 

[Samo]

Some observations:

This was always going to happen, everyone was way too cocky.
Wright has the first touch of a warthog with it's boots on the wrong feet.
Sheaf couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.
Rudoni must be getting a bad back from carrying our 'strikers'.

 

[shmmeee]

I felt that grimes did his job and did it well , I thought sheaf and rudoni being off his game were the biggest issue in midfield

He doesn’t hit forward passes early. We’ve seen he can drop balls over the back line for wingers and strikers to run onto and when he picks it up he has runners, he had Dasilva free of the left most of the first half and continually chose to play inside to Thomas or something instead. To be honest no one was really brave enough in their choices last night.

He’s a technically excellent player and some of the stuff he does he does really well, but I think saying he slows us down more than he should is fair comment.

 

[Evo1883]

He doesn’t hit forward passes early. We’ve seen he can drop balls over the back line for wingers and strikers to run onto and when he picks it up he has runners, he had Dasilva free of the left most of the first half and continually chose to play inside to Thomas or something instead. To be honest no one was really brave enough in their choices last night.

He’s a technically excellent player and some of the stuff he does he does really well, but I think saying he slows us down more than he should is fair comment.

Last night, Sunderland dropping 10 behind the ball slowed us down not matt grimes .

Lampard alluded to the fact that people think we can move the ball quicker but generally sheaf and rudoni being off their game had a much bigger impact on our game than anything .

When our midfield plays poorly , we generally play poorly as a team

 

[Major Tom]

Out of interest do we know who Sky gave MotM to?

 

[Evo1883]

Bad result , great photo

 

[Speedies_Chips]

I still think we will get more joy in the away leg. I just can't see them employing the same tactics at home.

Of course they will. They know we can’t break them down if they park the bus. Why would they go for a more open game in their position?

 

[mmttww]

Wilson - 3
Distribution ok, both goals partly down to him.

MVE - 7
Made the goal, did well overall, made a howler

Thomas - 7
Tried to break the lines often, defended well.

Kitching - 6
Played their man onside, didn't help in build up.

Dasilva - 7
Had a good game, put in some good crosses.

Grimes - 7
Tried to keep us moving, defended really well.

Sheaf - 6
Not his best game, not his worst. Need more.

Rudoni - 8
He was everywhere, great goal, did all he could.

Sakamoto - 6
No one up top did great, got targeted all game.

Asante - 4
Offered very little, made hardly any real impact.

Wright - 5
How many f'kn touches do you want, Haji! FFS.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

It was hardly daylight robbery

I thought our tactics were ok. The first leg you just don’t lose.

Again though we were punished for two terrible errors.

Well we did lose the first leg, so the tactics weren't ok.

 

[Grendel]

Well we did lose the first leg, so the tactics weren't ok.

You can’t legislate for schoolboy errors

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

You can’t legislate for schoolboy errors

Indeed, but I could tell from 5 mins in it was a game we were going to struggle in. All season when we've played that ponderous, slow passing around at the back when teams sit back and choosing to turn back when a chance to cross or shoot presents itself. We have possession, don't really create chances then fuck up at the back and gift the opposition a goal. We've been doing it all season so why should yesterday be a surprise?

And due to that the tactics were wrong. It played into the oppositions hands.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

Wilson - 5. Maybe could have been stronger with their first and was left totally exposed for the second.
Dasilva - 6.5 Did an admirable job and didn't get caught out behind too often,
MvE - 5. Got to lose at least one mark for that backpass.
Thomas - 5.5. Seemed to be covering their striker for the first then let him go, possibly playing for onside.
Kitching - 6.
Grimes - 6. Good in tight spaces and accurate with his passes, but wasn't causing Sunderland any problems at all. Often took the easy option.
Sheaf 5.5 Ineffective
Rudoni - 7. Good goal and tried to get some stuff going.
Sakamoto - 6.5 Caused trouble for O9 but should have been trying to run at him as often as possibly after the booking, instead turned back too often.
BTA - 6. Always thought he'd be better off the bench against tired legs. Can't fault the effort but had virtually nothing to feed off.
Wright - 4. Haji Shite turned up today. Being naturally laid back and languid doesn't help, but didn't trouble their defender and ended up throwing himself on the floor a few times to try and blag a free kick. Was just jogging around a lot of the time, especially when defending and his movement was poor.

 

[Seymour_East]

How are some fans happy with thst performance honestly can't get my head round it.

We were literally fucking garbage, apart from Thomas, Kitch, Rudoni and DaSilva every one played shit.

Sunderland sat back and exposed us they did fuck all the whole game and beat us 2-1

Unbelievable some of the nieve fans in this forum.

Sheaf and Grimes couldve made a fucking glass eye fall asleep.

We all have opinions, calling other fans naive doesn’t make yours true

 

[Shannerz]

We all have opinions, calling other fans naive doesn’t make yours true

Tbf, he's called other fans 'nieve'.

 

[Grendel]

Indeed, but I could tell from 5 mins in it was a game we were going to struggle in. All season when we've played that ponderous, slow passing around at the back when teams sit back and choosing to turn back when a chance to cross or shoot presents itself. We have possession, don't really create chances then fuck up at the back and gift the opposition a goal. We've been doing it all season so why should yesterday be a surprise?

And due to that the tactics were wrong. It played into the oppositions hands.

We didn’t struggle

 

[Shannerz]

We didn’t struggle

We struggled to fashion anything approaching a decent chance, other than the one that went in.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

We didn’t struggle

We hardly created any chances despite them defending for 90 mins and got caught out the few times they tried to break, scoring two.

 

[SBT]

Out of interest do we know who Sky gave MotM to?

Ballard, their CB.

 

[Grendel]

We hardly created any chances despite them defending for 90 mins and got caught out the few times they tried to break, scoring two.

we could have scored after 5 minutes - their keeper kept well against a lot of balls in the box. Our defence makes basic errors and the goalkeeper is an idiot so the notion we should have barraged them is laughable

 

[blunted]

What do you take from a match like that?
Collins distribution is better than Wilson but the mistakes have lost him his place. Dovin has made some worldies when one on one. Would he have saved either Sunderland goal? (see his Leeds stops).
MVE great going forward, lucky when he missed the header on the edge of our area. Schoolboy error for their goal. Safety first in future.
Thomas at fault for their first goal.
Kitch good
JDS good again. When is he going to have a shot? He needs to buy a ticket.
Sheaf. Played ok but his shots from the edge of the area have got worse.
Rudoni again ok, great goal but corners disappointing.
Grimes good. Corners average.
Tatsu good. Two games running has hit the goalie from the byline instead of pulling ball back.
Asante, no service. Better on the break than in a crowded area.
Wright. Again little service. Sunderland realised they have to tackle immediately rather than let him control and move.
Allan bad luck with the bicycle kick.
EMC, one great run to set up Wright who maybe should have done better.
Sunderland's set pieces were varied and better than ours.
Overall, we gifted them two goals which has been our defence all season.

 

[Shannerz]

we could have scored after 5 minutes - their keeper kept well against a lot of balls in the box. Our defence makes basic errors and the goalkeeper is an idiot so the notion we should have barraged them is laughable

Their keeper had his only flappy moment early, and yes, on another day, those fall for you. It didn't, however, and you can't take the keeper flapping as creating chances.

We didn't play badly per se, but picking BTA to start was a mistake, and they did a job on us; they won the tactical battle hands down. That's not even up for debate, imo.

And I thought you weren't into personal insults against the players, btw?

 

[Essexrobbie]

We are so predictable and a coaches dream to play against. Its no surprise we have the highest goals scored from crosses in the league, and considering Simms and Wright cant head a ball to save their life, it speaks volumes for the rest of them. We need to be more imaginative around the box, take chances and ok if it does come off then we win it back.

 

[quinn1971]

We are so predictable and a coaches dream to play against. Its no surprise we have the highest goals scored from crosses in the league, and considering Simms and Wright cant head a ball to save their life, it speaks volumes for the rest of them. We need to be more imaginative around the box, take chances and ok if it does come off then we win it back.

Worrying bit is it was mainly our left side that was being targeted now we’re just as bad down the right, that high line doesn’t work with the players we’ve got, especially against teams that sit in, cant Remember one time where the Sunderland centre halves had to chase back, ours were being Turned all the time, was too easy for them