Sunderland post match thread

[Marvin]

Perfect summary!

I'd just like to add that Willie had a very concentrated performance and a nice footwork. Well done.
Must have been a tough situation for Joe, but Willie has earned some credit though.

Not seen any replays. What looked like a phenomenal close rang save from Willy, but some loose kicking early on. I enjoyed the passing out from the back. Interesting ways in which players like Fernandinho dropped and then moved out of defence, and interesting role for Clichy.

We were not so good around the penalty area, but not really worried too much about that. The quality is there

 

[moggymoz]

Thought Navas had a great game when he came on but could have fucked it up for us with that pass in the dying seconds when he only had to find a player in the middle of the park for us to break and score...

 

[Alex B]

Atmosphere was poor. Hope fans start staying till end now players clap us.

 

[Bluemanc100]

Saw Ilkay and Sane arrive at the ground.. Said welcome to City and Ilkay gave us a big thumbs up

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Thought Navas had a great game when he came on but could have fucked it up for us with that pass in the dying seconds when he only had to find a player in the middle of the park for us to break and score...

That was a shocking pass. He created lots of space and got in some great positions. I thought it was a good sub

 

[marco]

with all these tweets coming through from players its as if we have a very happy dressing room,long may it continue i'm sure pep will weed any bad apples out

 

[ianw16]

I don't disagree, however to say we were lucky to win, in my opinion can be countered by saying they were very lucky to be level. Football is about scoring goals. If we dominate games possession wise, our quality going forward means we will score goals. This is almost an entirely new way for us to play, it will take time. I don't think anyone can overestimate how different this set up is, from back to front.

Entirely agree. We just didn't look much like it today. As I say, with most teams in the PL, they will get at least one gilt edged chance per game. Even Burnley! So possession is fine to control a game. However, how did we manage to give them the chance to get back in it?
I am sure this will improve. Kolarov isn't a CB, as well as he did. Stones was playing his first game. Who will he be playing alongside next time? Sane and Gundogan have to come in. The second coming of Jesus is due in January. We'll be fine. Just wasn't overly impressed today. I'm of an age where it takes a bit more than what I saw today before I start wetting my knickers! :)

P.S.
Just heard that about 50 SCUM fans were kicked out of a pub in Bournemouth after behaving like complete twats. Jumping on tables, kicking off. Didn't get the full story, but it came from a doorman in the pub that I am currently in. Sounds reliable. If anyone knows the pub formerly known as the Litten Tree, then that is where it happened.
SCUM.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

Well a win is a win is a win as they say. There were a lot of good things on display today. Clichy was pretty wasteful with the ball today but you can clearly see what Pep wants. Sunderland are our boogie team and when they equalised I thought here we go again. At least it means the "Mag Slayer" can't give me shit when we get together for a beer, he'd have been unbearable if we hadn't have won. Well done Pep and well done City.

 

[cucumberman]

Not sure if it has been said but today Aguero was off form and the ball just didn't fall for him. Still one of the best players though. Credit to Sunderland they also defended hard and kept their shape.

Stones so far has shown his presence, Sterling will get better and we can already see glimpses of a different City side. Would do us good considering we hadn't had a proper preseason with one less game and the Euro.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Atmosphere was poor. Hope fans start staying till end now players clap us.

75% posedsion but only 10 or so chances will do that.

That was so turgid I'm going to blame it on us being undercooked Pre-Season and leave it at that. Things can only get better..

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

Entirely agree. We just didn't look much like it today. As I say, with most teams in the PL, they will get at least one gilt edged chance per game. Even Burnley! So possession is fine to control a game. However, how did we manage to give them the chance to get back in it?
I am sure this will improve. Kolarov isn't a CB, as well as he did. Stones was playing his first game. Who will he be playing alongside next time? Sane and Gundogan have to come in. The second coming of Jesus is due in January. We'll be fine. Just wasn't overly impressed today. I'm of an age where it takes a bit more than what I saw today before I start wetting my knickers! :)

P.S.
Just heard that about 50 SCUM fans were kicked out of a pub Bournemouth after behaving like complete twats. Jumping on tables, kicking off. Didn't get the full story, but it came from a doorman in the pub that I am currently in. Sounds reliable. If anyone knows the pub formerly known as the Litten Tree, then that is where it happened.
SCUM.

Tbf they had two buses well and truly parked that's where peps system comes into play

 

[jimharri]

Atmosphere was poor. Hope fans start staying till end now players clap us.

Seen several digs on a forum over here about us not selling out Pep's first game. I wasn't watching the game (listened to it on the radio and followed it on here); what was the story today re. empty seats?

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Seen several digs on a forum over here about us not selling out Pep's first game. I wasn't watching the game (listened to it on the radio and followed it on here); what was the story today re. empty seats?

Most seats were filled (corporate wasn't full) then once we scored the winner, 10,000 were empty.

 

[Peggy's a blue]

First game three points, Sterling will come good have said this all along now we have a better coach and not just a c.v. builder, all in all happy, with great players to come in the team. Not sure about the keeper selection though!

 

[bobmcfc]

Vinny and mangala were sat above us to our left during the game, zinchenko was a few rows away from them with a couple of the other youth lads

 

[marco]

75% posedsion but only 10 or so chances will do that.

That was so turgid I'm going to blame it on us being undercooked Pre-Season and leave it at that. Things can only get better..

its a vast improvement from the dross that was dished up last year under MP,,like you say things can only get better and they will.pep has a big job on and thats to replicate the standards he had at Bayern

 

[ianw16]

Tbf they had two buses well and truly parked that's where peps system comes into play

I'm sure it will. Just didn't happen today. Lost count of the number of 'passes' that didn't find a man. A number of which just missed the man completely and went straight into touch. It'll improve. Then again, it'll need to.

 

[blue by birth]

To be honest I wasn't quite sure what to expect today performance wise.
But I thought we dominated the game and just lacked match sharpness.
Big pluses were the workrate and tracking back which we lacked n many games last season.
Major plus was performance's of Sterling, Kolarov,Stones and Dhino.
Once we are match sharp and have a full squad to pick from I think the future looks very good.

 

[jimharri]

Most seats were filled (corporate wasn't full) then once we scored the winner, 10,000 were empty.

Seems we'll never get rid of that mentality in a sizeable section of our fans even with the best manager around in place. It makes you wonder just what it would take for them to stay until the end. And yes I know; it's entirely up to them when they leave.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Glad to get a potential banana skin under the belt, even if we didn't exactly come out all guns blazing.

Enjoyed seeing the fluidity of the team, with the fullbacks coming into RM & LM respectively, as Fernandinho dropped into the back line when needed. When we are attacking, it is clearly a back two, with a DM protecting them. That'll be fine against most teams who play one upfront against us, which is 80% of them, but we will have to be slightly more traditional when coming up against a front two.

It is easy to see where Sane and Gundogan fit in, and I liked the fact that we looked very attacking in possession. I'm sure that as soon as the team mates gets a bit used to each other, things will start to click a lot better. Nolito looked sharp early on, but then fell off the pace. Sterling looked reborn on the right, even though he still has a tendency to just run INTO the defender, rather than around and past him. Stones had a Steady Eddie start to his career at City, with his only forward error being bailed out by the ref for a foul. Some will question him stepping up on the goal, but we are usually screaming for th defender to close down the attacker. Too bad he got megged on the goal, but at least he attacked the ball. Defoe made a brilliant run in behind, and then just did what he's done for a decade or more....scored a good goal.

All in all, a decent first display considering the players that were NOT on the field: Hart, Kompany, Otamendi, Yaya, Fernando, Sane, Gundogan, Zaba, Mangala, Nasri, and no place on the bench even for one of the kids.

Now, it is all about recovery and a hard, hard game against SB on Tuesday night! Need to come away with a win or draw, and an away goal at the very least!