Sunderland kicked off their pre-season tour of Germany with a trip to Bielefeld. Their home, the Schuchoarena is a tidy ground that holds about 27,000 (I think) and is surrounded by trees and roads that go neewhere near the ground, we found this out on the way in and out, much to everyones annoyance. We did find a pub though, always a necessary part of the matchday routine and set about their Krombacher beer having built up quite a thirst in our quest to find the ground.
Pre season is always great for people who live or work away from Sunderland that don’t often get a chance to cheer the lads on and today was no exception.
We spoke to 2 lads from Essen, German born and bred who were staunch red n whiters (and didn’t support any German team either), met the lads from Feyenoord, top blokes who follow us everywhere and another lad and his family who have lived for years in Germany, who said we’re not an international brand?
Anyway, to the match…7 euros entrance fee was good value and whilst it cannot be compared to the Premiership in any way it makes you wonder what the hell Anfield will provide for nearly 40 quid more come the seasons opener?
Sunderland lined up with Mig in goal, O’Shea and Bardsley as right and left back respectively, Turner and Titus centre halves, a midfield 4 of Kieran, Catts, Vaughan and Larsson with Steeeeed playing in the whole behind Ji Dong-Won.
I couldn’t tell you who played for Bielefeld but the tannoy announcer did that goddam awful thing where he shouts the first name and the crowd chant the appropriate surname, a la Arsenal – cheesy shit, nee place in football for crap like that in my opinion.
The first half was pretty forgettable in terms of football, yes we looked neat and tidy in the most part however the final ball and chances created were disappointing overall. Vaughan looked busy, covering a lot of ground, Larsson curled a free kick round the wall forcing the keeper into a good save and Dong-Won put a canny shift in, holding the ball up well but lacking any kind of support from the midfield runners.
Turner looks shaky and Catts reminded us that although he likes a tackle, often they’re mistimed leading to unnecessary cards and suspensions, if he is to progress to the next level he needs to learn quickly… 0-0 half time was spot on for what was, in all honestly, a pretty drab game.
Second half began with Wickham and Sess replacing Dong-Won and Malbranque and this, almost, paid immediate dividends with both players creating half chances for each other, neither converted. Larsson threatened with a couple of well delivered balls and Richardson did well with a couple of lightning runs to the byline, wish he would do this more often, he looks so natural flying down the wing and has pace to burn.
Elmo came on and did well, initially at right back and then in a more advanced position following another re shuffle that saw Laing come on, who in turn put in a good shift, showing composure well beyond his years. Anyhow, back to the match action and Bielefeld took the lead in controversial circumstances following a corner where Turner rose well at the near post to power a header clear, only for the referee to inexplicably point to the spot. The penalty was duly converted, cue scenes of mild hysteria in the stands accompanied, cheesily, by the Kan Kan blaring out over the tannoy…
The goal sparked the lads into life and following good play down the right a corner was won. Quality from dead balls has been lacking at Sunderland for donkeys years so maybe, just maybe we’ve bought an expert in Larsson who swung in a few beauties today, this one in particular bringing a deft flick from Turner, into the path of Sessegnon who buried it from about six yards out. Cue mild celebrations from our travelling fans, but no hysteria and nee dancing girls music, fireworks or nowt.
There was still time for Mignolet to nearly hand them the game with a Roy Carroll style fumble but recovered in time to save his blushes. Full time came not long after and a draw was probably about right. Nowt to write home about (see what I did there?) but nee disaster either.
Cheers
Paul (TAFKARLC)