Sunderland (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Prater70]

After last night Gvardiol has got to be our next Harry McGuire (don't laugh). Throw him up front with 10 minutes to go.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

True sadly, I thoroughly enjoyed the game last night and some of the comments on here are baffling. We dropped 2 points and the injuries aren't good but it was a fun game to watch overall.

It was an entertaining 0-0

 

[Asa's left peg]

Glad to see it's calmed down on here from last night.

Looking back on it now, I think O'Reilly has had his first setback but will come back stronger for it. It felt like they targeted that side. I don't know how long I can keep giving Savinho the benefit of the doubt though. He's still young but he has to break this mental thing he has when a shooting chance or chance to score makes his head go blank.

Plus side was Rods. Slipped back easily into the grove. I expected some rustiness, but none. He was blowing a bit at the end though. Jeremy was good too.

I thought Nathan, Nunes, Dias did ok. The rest looked like they were a little off it but it was really tough. At then end it felt like they had 8 players in the six yard box. It will have made some more mentally strong. You can beat them 3 nil at our place, but away! Difference was the crowd imho.

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

And nobody, let me repeat, nobody, other than City, has played them at their place while they've been missing 5 or 6 players. Other than Leeds perhaps who were 16th at the time and also drew. Hence I believe it's two points dropped.
They title isn't decided in January, but we've already lost at Brighton, Villa and Newcastle, and still have to go to Anfield (where we hardly ever win) and Chelsea.

Spot on. If we want to challenge for the title, we can't keep saying, "yeah but this team did that here" we need to focus on ourselves. They were missing a ton of players last night and we had three really good chances to score. A lot of players looked a bit half arsed but the main positive was Rodri played 45 minutes and still looks like the best player on the pitch.

 

[East Level 2]

Should have and could have won against a team that I think has lost 7 players to afcon? Poor really

A bit like when some defended a 0-0 at Southampton a couple of years back when they were in danger of becoming the worst PL side in history.

 

[surprisedbygrass]

Personally I thought it was a blatant foul as he was pulling Dias's shirt all the way through that run so I'm not surprised Dias came off second best.

I agree. But this season pushing , tugging, shirt pulling and dueling are being dealt with leniently . At least for some teams . Usually those in red .

 

[supercity88]

A tale of two halves. Nico wasn't finding the pass through the lines, Sunderland forced us to go long too often and we didn't show enough patience. When we did we carved them open easily for that chance for Haaland which he should have scored. We played into their hands though and they created a few chances.

Rodri comes on and you see why he's the best in the world. Instant passes through the lines or out wide to get us going. Savinho should have scored but then with Doku and Gvardiol on it felt like we'd get the goal.

In the end not a bad point, but feels disappointing.

I don't like how narrow we can be at times and it was interesting to see Rodri have a debrief with Gvardiol to get him to stay wide when he was on the ball. Rodri is the conductor and we're so much more effective with him. Nico's excellent but he can't spread the play the way Rodri does.

Plenty of time left to win the title. Semenyo will make a big difference.

 

[blue_danube]

Beat Arsenal at home and City are only a point behind.

We don't play them until April

We could be a dozen points behind or half dozen ahead by then.

 

[Dogtanian]

Did you see the game, and how hard Sunderland worked?

Yes they worked hard, still should be beating a depleted side like Sunderland

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

The difference in O'Reilly when he's got a top defender like Josko next to him, compared with having Ake there was visible. He wouldn't push forward, was scared to pass, caught out of position. He's not been like that all season.

 

[waspish]

Sunderland weren’t really weakened that much except up front which looked obvious to me. They lost one senior defender and one senior midfielder but the replacements certainly looked capable and good luck to them. Le Bris is a decent manager and has the whole squad playing for him. It looks like all those who have gone to AFCON were new recruits over the summer (a couple of them have less than 5 games) so I am guessing the replacements who came in were either existing players from last season or junior players taking their opportunities.

Think Xhaka is there best player by a distance he give the belief to the rest of the team he keeps talking to him he was continually putting those diagonal balls left and right over our fullbacks! I would of told Haaland his job this game without the ball was make Xhaka or make it difficult for him he had an easy ride always had plenty of time to make a pass!

 

[waspish]

And nobody, let me repeat, nobody, other than City, has played them at their place while they've been missing 5 or 6 players. Other than Leeds perhaps who were 16th at the time and also drew. Hence I believe it's two points dropped.
They title isn't decided in January, but we've already lost at Brighton, Villa and Newcastle, and still have to go to Anfield (where we hardly ever win) and Chelsea.

I would of rather played Sunderland with there full team

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

Yes they worked hard, still should be beating a depleted side like Sunderland

So, having seen the game, we just disregard what the Sunderland team put into it?

May as well just say that we should win every single game and every single title if that’s the case.

 

[Centurions]

And nobody, let me repeat, nobody, other than City, has played them at their place while they've been missing 5 or 6 players. Other than Leeds perhaps who were 16th at the time and also drew. Hence I believe it's two points dropped.
They title isn't decided in January, but we've already lost at Brighton, Villa and Newcastle, and still have to go to Anfield (where we hardly ever win) and Chelsea.

Can you tell us who are these nailed on starters for them, that was missing last night?

 

[Centurions]

Think Xhaka is there best player by a distance he give the belief to the rest of the team he keeps talking to him he was continually putting those diagonal balls left and right over our fullbacks! I would of told Haaland his job this game without the ball was make Xhaka or make it difficult for him he had an easy ride always had plenty of time to make a pass!

Xhaka, like Rodri for us, is good enough to make his own time and room to play a pass. It had nothing to do with Haaland who had his own battles going on.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Sunderland will rightly earn their premiership 2nd season status next season as they're a bloody decent outfit. They fight for everything and were in our faces from the 1st minute, something we hate. Regis Le Bris might be one to keep an eye on

 

[give it to gordon]

The difference in O'Reilly when he's got a top defender like Josko next to him, compared with having Ake there was visible. He wouldn't push forward, was scared to pass, caught out of position. He's not been like that all season.

I would have said it was more likely to be Savinho was the reason. Savinho doesn't tend to help out his left back.

 

[Pingu the Penguin]

The match day and post match threads confirm one thing. There's some proper entitled twats supporting city nowadays.

We’ve got to the stage with some now it seems that if we didn’t win 20 games in a row to win the league everything is a total disaster. Bizarre

Given the way we’ve won leagues and clawed back deficits you’d think it might’ve different but apparently not!

 

[Bewar3them00n]

Extra shooting practice for everyone!!
Joking aside, that was an entertaining 0-0, on any other day, Haaland & Sav both score & we come away with a win.
Semenyo will definitely add the much needed physical presence that Haaland needs in games like this, & he can finish with more efficiency than Haaland.
Still so much to play for, it’s only 4 points.

 

[richards30]

Poor result and puts extra pressure on for Sunday