Sunderland (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Lee the Blue]

Just back from Baltic Sunderland. Not our finest performance that and we were nowhere near sharp enough or good enough.

Plus points - Gigi was excellent in goal and made a couple of vital saves; Rodri came on and actually looked like Rodri for the first time in a long time.

Minuses - not one of our attacking players & those we rely on to win us games - namely Phil, Rayan, Erling, Bernie, Savinho or Doku - fired or could provide anything to get the goal we needed in the final third. I could've kept goal for Sunderland and would probably have kept a clean sheet such was the paucity of actual efforts on goal, or even still on target in that 2nd half. Nico O'Reilly meanwhile has hit a wall and desperately needs to be sat out for a game or two to recharge his batteries.

With Sunderland being down 7 players - and let's face it they were knackered for the last 15 mins and walking on quicksand - that was 2 points dropped by us.

May I also congratulate Sunderland on having the longest walk to the Men's bogs in professional football. If you were in the block P22 or P24 area it was a genuine trek to the only pisstone at the far other end of the concourse.

 

[chaddblue]

What was the score when Arsenal played there this season?

Arsenal played Sunderland’s full strength team. We played against their reserves

 

[chaddblue]

Just got back from a very cold Sunderland, some tired legs out there tonight, great to have Rodri back, need to beat Chelsea on Sunday

If they were tired tonight they’re gonna be knackered when they have to play Chelsea in less than 70 hours

A Chelsea team who have had 2 extra days rest and can rotate the entire team if they want to

 

[WestGorton]

It was so cold. Rodri the big plus today. Class act. Big shout for Donna too. Thought Ake did well also.

 

[its a Barm]

I will take a massive positive of rodders being back and I was really surprised at how he just played like the old rodders going to need him from now on

 

[geoff hammond]

And to kill the game and take 30 seconds to take the resultant free kick… and the dickhead ref fell for it every time

We also had several players go down, holding up the game, in the first half, but not get subbed. One even allowed Pep to do an impromptu team talk.
But we are whiter than white aren’t we

 

[bluetonium]

Frustrating game, but more impactful could be the fact we had to withdraw several players through injury. Ref seemed very happy to let them leave one on us, and the amount of shirt pulling was ridiculous, but at the end do the day they're unbeaten at home and it showed why. They're not pretty, they're not hugely skillful, but they're dogged as three legged street mutt who's got their chops around a hock of ham.

 

[red 2 hats]

On the balance of play I think a point was a fair result, but on reflection it was 2 points dropped against a weakened Sunderland team.

 

[melrose40yarder]

Sunderland do the one thing all fans ask for.When they put that shirt on they run throigh brick walls and the effort is never lacking.
When we were crap we had 3 players who are regarded as legends who were never the best players,I give you Morrison ,Horlock and Dickov they did what Sunderlands players did last night.

 

[surprisedbygrass]

Disruptive and determined performance from a well coached Sunderland side . We are simply too lightweight to slap down these sort of tactics and we need a bit of bite to answer back . That one to one duel Diaz had with their centre forward on the break in the first half was like watching old football Vs pep ball in one moment.

Foden riding the churn in midfield was like watching a small dingy in a hurricane . Gvardiol was a game changer taking on the O'Reilly role and so good to see Rodri ( albeit a cautious Rodri ) back .

Thought the ref had a tough job but mainly did well , didn't buy lots of striped red shirts falling over like felled trees as the final whistle approached .

Would have liked three points but glad Donna , Nico and Bernie came away without bookings . Slate for yellows wipes clean now .

 

[waspish]

Disruptive and determined performance from a well coached Sunderland side . We are simply too lightweight to slap down these sort of tactics and we need a bit of bite to answer back . That one to one duel Diaz had with their centre forward on the break in the first half was like watching old football Vs pep ball in one moment.

Foden riding the churn in midfield was like watching a small dingy in a hurricane . Gvardiol was a game changer taking on the O'Reilly role and so good to see Rodri ( albeit a cautious Rodri ) back .

Thought the ref had a tough job but mainly did well , didn't buy lots of striped red shirts falling over like felled trees as the final whistle approached .

Would have liked three points but glad Donna , Nico and Bernie came away without bookings . Slate for yellows wipes clean now .

Thing is we wouldn’t get away with how Sunderland played tonight one thing is we not smart as team! Haaland was roughed up all night and never tried to buy a foul and there was one moment Haaland tried to do that just put his hand on the back of Xhaka he dived referee gave a foul it’s weird that Sunderland’s defenders where running through Haaland all game to win the ball Haaland tried to compete instead of trying to win a foul! We never been match wise we to honest

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

Disruptive and determined performance from a well coached Sunderland side . We are simply too lightweight to slap down these sort of tactics and we need a bit of bite to answer back . That one to one duel Diaz had with their centre forward on the break in the first half was like watching old football Vs pep ball in one moment.

Foden riding the churn in midfield was like watching a small dingy in a hurricane . Gvardiol was a game changer taking on the O'Reilly role and so good to see Rodri ( albeit a cautious Rodri ) back .

Thought the ref had a tough job but mainly did well , didn't buy lots of striped red shirts falling over like felled trees as the final whistle approached .

Would have liked three points but glad Donna , Nico and Bernie came away without bookings . Slate for yellows wipes clean now .

The dias duel - dias was fuming at the liner for not giving a free kick as the Sunderland player was grabbing his shirt, but yea totally agree hes got to be dealing with that and it was weak. I thought we were doing pretty well until that, then Nunez got bullied off one afterwards and they were too easily getting in behind Nico OR, which all spurred them on and we struggled to get anywhere near their physicality and aggression after that until Rodri came on

Great analogy on foden. Why were him and Haaland taking so many touches every time in such a congested midfield? Constantly losing the ball

 

[surprisedbygrass]

The dias duel - dias was fuming at the liner for not giving a free kick as the Sunderland player was grabbing his shirt, but yea totally agree hes got to be dealing with that and it was weak. I thought we were doing pretty well until that, then Nunez got bullied off one afterwards and they were too easily getting in behind Nico OR, which all spurred them on and we struggled to get anywhere near their physicality and aggression after that until Rodri came on

Great analogy on foden. Why were him and Haaland taking so many touches every time in such a congested midfield? Constantly losing the ball

Thanks . I think Foden did well given the circumstances but never had time to get his head up . He really needs a minder in games like that .

Haaland was in there to help his mates and add some flailing muscle at times but he's not deft enough to keep hold of the ball and his interventions created more chaos without any outball as he can't pass to himself .

 

[M Gaudino]

Naaah, he talks shite. And that fucking dancing!

tbf it was what 10 years ago?

 

[M Gaudino]

i dont understand the complaining about the ref. He let loads go but a lot of the time it was us fouling them.

anyway, not a terrible result. you cant win them all and if we can win most of our games in January we will be close to arsenal - they have a really tough january. ours isnt easy but its mostly home games

 

[Eaststander1]

A foul for me. Not even looked at.

I didn't think there was enough in it for a penalty ....

 

[Dobsy]

Nunes got slated on the radio commentary, and I thought both our full backs were really poor tonight.

Politely disagree.

I appreciate it often comes down to the eye test but you've mentioned radio commentary so here's a source worth considering: he was the top scoring player on the whole pitch for fantasy premier league. Without goals or assists the points are based on stats for defensive blocks, interceptions and duels. He made it into the overall team of the week based on his defensive contributions this week being one of the top 4 defensive performances in this round of games.

 

[Dobsy]

Not to digress as this is a football board, I'm not here and never have ventured to bore anyone with my practice- however I will not be called out by some two bit "I wiki-ed Zen for a minute" fraud.

Zen doesn't work, Zen simply is. Zen does not step in to solve problems, it doesn't take credit for wins or make excuses for losses- it simply is. Zen isn't given, taken or received or lost.

It is there in absence of everything , it is there in the presence of nothing.

Zen doesn't understand, doesn't misunderstand. It is not some magic rubric for devining. Facts are irrelevant, after the fact is exactly the same as before the fact.

Those who ascribe some value or worth to Zen have absolutely zero understanding. That said, Zen is not to be understood- Zen simply is.

Once the purportedly wisest man claimed to understand Zen and as such stopped searching. He was never as alone or lost than at that moment.

Zen cannot be quantified or qualified. It will not be questioned as it is has no answer and is no question.

Zen simply is awareness of the absolute present moment and knowledge that the only thing that exists is that one inherently and infinitely fleeting present moment and then to simply accept this reality without judgment, qualification, sanction or exception.

Bottom line, any charlatan who raises the question "are you Zen" by definition will and can never truly "know" Zen.

This is all very interesting. To the original point of dropping the celebration, I don't expect he's thinking about it this deeply.

 

[heslops barnet]

Well I for one am very happy to get a point against a team who so far have had some wonderful results on their pitch.
We weren`t brilliant but people complaining that we dropped points are panicking at fuck all.
Loads of games left and Arsenal will also drop points make no mistake about that.

19 games left, a long way to go

 

[GX Blue]

Even though we were not the best in an attacking sense we did create enough chances to win the game.

Savinho has to score his chance.

Haaland had 1 in the first half and he does exactly what he did v WHU - straight at the keeper.

Gvardiol header.

Doku when he cut inside. Instead of blasting it at the defenders head, side foot it in the corner.