Leeds Report

After my combined breakfast and lunch consisting of a half a box of chocolates and half a bag of Jellies (along with 2 tangerines to make myself feel better having some ‘proper’ food) I ventured out to the match. I like Boxing Day games and the whole holiday period in general for football. Its tradition, it means a load of games and it gives you something to do on an otherwise crap day. Whingers like Benitez can get stuffed if they’re not happy with playing 4 games in 10 days. It’s just the way it is here.

Focusing on the game and it was another must win after the Palace defeat in order to stay in touch, particularly with the standard of todays opposition. A game against Leeds always evokes great memories and gives a certain gravitas but while we still maintain a shred of decency and remain within a touch of the big time, Leeds are big in only their history. The squad is a list of nobodies and their performances and league position suggests they’re heading for another fall down the leagues.

Again, as so often this season, the first half was a largely turgid effort, lacking in any pace and guile. We had a few attacks on the Leeds goal but nothing sustained and never looked like scoring. Another game where we started slow. The management are aware of it, the players will be, so it must be just down to their ability – we aren’t good enough to batter teams from the off. Simple as that.

Keanes criticism of the Crystal Palace performance was that the players didn’t earn the right to win the game. Well, today you could say we did. The 2nd half was much brighter, the wide players were used much better and the play was quicker and passing crisper.

However after 20 minutes of the second period it was still goalless despite Connolly and Murphy going close. Stephen Elliott, once again was probably the brightest player on the pitch but stuck wide right so didn’t see much of the ball. When Keane decided to make changes, it didn’t go down well that he was one to be replaced. I could understand why Keane wanted Wallace on and to leave Murphy on but I’d have picked another player to come off rather than Elliott.

However, I'm not sure if it was good luck or good management but soon after Connolly (the man who I would have took off) came up with the first goal. A nice through ball from Yorke, Connolly brought it back from the touchline, moved into the box and sneaked a shot in the near post.

A little bit of pressure from Leeds followed but they never looked like scoring. I don’t think Caldwell and Varga have had easier games. The second for Sunderland was a great left foot shot from Leadbitter on the edge of the box after a nice breakaway. The game was over at 1-0 really but this was a final nail in Leeds’ coffin.

It’s hard to see how they’ll get out of the mess they’re in; they’re probably the worst team at the SOL this season.

Liam Miller once more had a fine game and despite having seemingly a lot of prejudiced criticism, Yorke (with a more advanced role today) again passed the ball around well and wasted it rarely. Nobody else stood out but Nyatanga again didn’t impress. He’s a solid enough defender but very average going forward and today, that was where we needed him most of all. It was no surprise he was subbed for Collins. The jury is still out on him.

The final 5 minutes could have seen 3 or 4 more goals but for last ditch tackles and good saves from Miller and Connolly particularly. However, it was a good win, in front of a good crowd. Hopefully a few of them will come back for Saturdays much bigger game.

Man of the match - Liam Miller

Report by marcopaul

Rockins'_rant

Driving down to the ground I kept expecting to hit a mass of traffic on every corner however, it never materialised. I started to question whether it was the right day as normally on a boxing day the roads are quite busy as we generally get a high attendance. Once we got into Sunderland and to the pub, things started to get busy and for the first time in a while I was excited for the match.

In typical Keane fashion he changed the starting line up from the Palace game. Nosworthy and Collins dropped to the bench and Kavanagh missed out altogether. Whitehead moved back into right back with Elliott playing right wing and Nyatanga went into left back. Dwight Yorke came in for Kavanagh, though he would have been more effective if he’d stayed at home.

We’re beginning to form a pattern for first halves at home; we control the game, have a lot of the ball yet do absolutely nothing with it and today was no different to any of the others. Leeds were very poor and they were there for the taking, however we couldn’t quite get our rhythm going in the first half. It’s definitely no over reaction to state that our first half performance was about as exciting as the Queen’s Christmas day speech.

Despite our lacklustre first half performance Elliott and Murphy looked very good down the wings but the final ball wasn’t up to standards and Liam Miller was bossing the game in midfield.

The second half began as poorly as the first had ended and something needed to be changed to breathe more energy and urgency into the team. Thankfully Keane acted quickly and brought Wallace and Collins on for Elliott and Nyatanga, Nyatanga had been very poor throughout his time on the pitch and should only be kept if we can’t bring anyone good in as he simply is not good enough. Wallace brought more urgency into our game and whipped in a few good crosses and slick through balls.

It was beginning to look like a 0-0; the atmosphere was beginning to slowly build. Thankfully though, this wasn’t going to be the case when Connolly found himself in the box with the ball. He cleverly beat the Leeds defender and slotted the ball past the Leeds ‘keeper and into the back of the net. From then on in we looked very dangerous on the attack and Leeds never looked like breaking out of their half let alone scoring. Miller was controlling the midfield both defensively and offensively and looked a very good player. With only ten minutes left on the clock the ball broke to Leadbitter who was standing unmarked twenty-yards from goal. Leadbitter hit a first time left foot shot straight into the ‘keepers’ bottom right hand corner. It was a fantastic effort and he looked ecstatic once he scored and kissed the badge.

The three points were in the bag and we could have even gone on to score another one or two if it wasn’t for some good blocks from the Leeds players. Hopefully we can kick on and go on another unbeaten run, though with more wins than draws.

Also, it was nice to see the stadium busy and not far from being full, hopefully the attendances won’t drop significantly after the festive period.

MOTM – Liam Miller, he bossed the midfield and looked top class at times. Definitely a good signing from Keane.