As the massive Sunderland following left the SOL after the 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool, the majority of the fans would have expected to walk/drive home knowing that was going to happen. Indeed the same feeling of two seasons ago was familiar but overall the performance today was poor for most periods but the most encouraging sign is that the lads did try their very best today but sadly against a Liverpool team who never got out of 2nd gear.
Keane, after making his comments about his loyalty was close to stupidity decided to wield his axe and drop a massive one player from the humiliating performance against Wigan last weekend…is that a sign of lack of quality pushing for our starting eleven? Hopefully by 1st September we will have another 4 players to add to our squad so that the players who Keane has had enough of can be given some strong treatment and dropped from the team. Not surprisingly Stokes was dropped so that the impressive Liam Miller could move onto the right wing.
Liverpool who rested a few of their big name players and with Gerrard out with his fractured toe gave Sunderland a real chance to push them all the way and try get at least a point against them. The only problem was we had one half chance all game and that is simply not good enough especially against a top team like the scousers.
We started dreadfully and the theme of the game was normally found in the total lack of talent from new boy Greg Halford misplacing a back-pass from his first touch to let in Vronin only for classy Gordon to save by his chest away to safety. I have now watched Halford in every game he has played and he had me concerned from day one, why would Reading be so keen to let him go after they paid £2.5m – maybe we all know why, because he is shite? Hopefully he is a confidence player and once he settles in he can become an attacking fullback who can deliver good deliveries into the box because at the moment just for him to make a pass to a red and white shirt is seen as a positive for Greg.
The central defenders McShane & Nosworthy done what they had to do in all honesty with a few mad moments from Nozza but in the air and position ally they did not seem to bad together against the lively Torres and Vronin, who seems to be a good buy from Rafael Benitez. We managed to play ok from the back and pushed out well but they always looked more encouraging going forward with a few passes allowing them to come and play football in front of our defence.
Chopra was his usual self and bursting across every blade of grass but as everyone knows a striker without service is about as much use as Shearer on the comedy stage at Edinburgh festival. The amount of times not only in today’s game where we seem to waste the chance to get in a good corner or cross is frustrating but we can all see that Chopra is trying everything to get something from each Sunderland game and that’s a great thing to see early into our huge season.
Stokes came on for the injured Richardson and replaced him on the left to add a bit more flair and attack going forward. Stokes improved dramatically and looked comfortable on the ball and bright, he had the best chance of the game when Chopra slid him through but he failed to connect with the ball as he met an oncoming Reina at his feet. As far as chances go that is all I can see from the highlights after the game finished and this is something we need to address especially for our trip to Old Trafford next weekend.
Their opening goal in my opinion was sloppy from Sunderland point of view; we allowed them to have possession without any challenge or players pushing onto them. Allowing Liverpool time and space only results in one thing and that was a goal from Momo Sissoko. At the time I thought Gordon could have done a lot better to be beat at his side of the goal but after watching TV highlights it was a fantastic strike to leave him stranded.
Another concern has to be for Keane is our distribution from defence to midfield or strikers we seem to just hit it anywhere when it gets to our back four and we kept losing the ball in dangerous places far to regularly.
Gordon kept the score down to a respectable figure with 2 great saves and showed that he will be useful for this season but if we keep losing the ball we are going to be giving Gordon no chance to have a go at getting clean sheets. The 2nd half was much of the same, Liverpool simply strolling around the park and Sunderland unable to create any real chances or openings.
Leadbitter replaced the anonymous Yorke and received a great reception and he repaid this ovation from his local fans by adding a bit more spice in the centre of the park. This can be seen as another bonus the fact he has came back so quickly from injury and seems raring to go. We should definitely start even maybe with Miller in the middle against United as these would perform better alongside each other.
Their second goal came inevitably and it was a quick flowing move that made Sunderland fans realise how easy it is to score a goal on the break. A sloppy pass by Halford lead to them passing four times and Vronin sliding past Halford to beat Gordon to send the scourers home happy, again!
Leaving the ground I did not feel hard done by, it was a fair result and another lesson for Keano and his boys to learn from defeat but you could see there is far more encouraging signs than on the way back from the JJB. Hopefully when we get all the players in and they gel into a squad we can start leaving grounds in a familiar state to the Championship last season on a winning high!
Clancey_Wiggum
Gary Johnson