Agreed. I guess injuries requires rotations but no matter what, Yaya needs to not be in the midfield two. Declining strength and pace. He's been amazing for us and still has stuff left in the tank and needs to be played to his remaining strengths, not used in a way that exposes his weaknesses.
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Sunderland Post Match
- Thread starter buckshot
- Start date
Agreed. I guess injuries requires rotations but no matter what, Yaya needs to not be in the midfield two. Declining strength and pace. He's been amazing for us and still has stuff left in the tank and needs to be played to his remaining strengths, not used in a way that exposes his weaknesses.
I thought we were incredibly unbalanced throughout the game. Silva 'out wide' on the left doesn't work with 2 strikers playing ahead of him - there were far too many bodies in the middle of the park and Sunderland (particularly Kirchhoff and Kone) were able to just get in the way to break play up. I think Sterling should have come on at half time for either Silva or Nacho.
Bit lucky as Sunderland can definitely claim they deserved something from the game, but some fantastic defending at times from Hart, Otamendi and Demichelis. You can't expect to play beautiful stuff every week so it's good to pick up the points when we offer so little.
Bit lucky as Sunderland can definitely claim they deserved something from the game, but some fantastic defending at times from Hart, Otamendi and Demichelis. You can't expect to play beautiful stuff every week so it's good to pick up the points when we offer so little.
Poor performance. Very disappointing seen as we've looked like we'd turned the corner recently but manager and players making the same mistakes again, but we got the win (mostly down to Otamendi and Hart) so all eyes on Saturday now
Normally I would agree. Take the three points and move on. But the issues that turned a bright opening 20 min performance into a desperately hanging on last 20 mins are recurring and will sabotage our season if they're not addressed. It wasn't a case of us having an off night but getting a win, a sign of champions. It was a case of a hard working but very limited team putting us under the cosh because they knew what our weaknesses are.
I was just glad that we were playing Sunderland and not Stoke or West Ham. If Sunderland had just one player with the quality of a Payet we would have dropped points yesterday.
feedmpenzaandhewillscore
Well-Known Member
Poor performance. Very disappointing seen as we've looked like we'd turned the corner recently but manager and players making the same mistakes again, but we got the win (mostly down to Otamendi and Hart) so all eyes on Saturday now
Results are all that matters at the moment, before Christmas we would have drawn or lost that game. Glad the two centre halves and Hart dug in and stood up to the onslaught from Sunderland. Two up top was asking for trouble there was so much room in the middle of the park for the game to open up for the other team.
Space of 7 days we've sorted a couple final, moved another round of the fa cup and edged forward past the team that is seen as our biggest threat in Arsenal. Pellegrini needs to get it right on Saturday as Leicester don't seem to be going away at the moment.
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Airbags Optional
Guest
Bad display as had been said already. Dave does not seem to be able to get his form back and was basically a liability last night (my fav player).
YaYa looks spent. He either needs a rest or to be played behind Kun with the 2 ferns or Delph behind.
Think we got kicked off the park which did not help as every tackle we made seemed to be a foul! Defoe was a bit lucky not to get 2 yellows as well.
The game on Saturday is huge, if we do not win its going to be hard to win the title, Spurs and Leicester are in form and playing well
YaYa looks spent. He either needs a rest or to be played behind Kun with the 2 ferns or Delph behind.
Think we got kicked off the park which did not help as every tackle we made seemed to be a foul! Defoe was a bit lucky not to get 2 yellows as well.
The game on Saturday is huge, if we do not win its going to be hard to win the title, Spurs and Leicester are in form and playing well
3 dogged points - excellent tackles from Otamendi and Dimichelis some were truly world class - and as for Joe's saves they were 'out of this world'.
Yes Dave maybe a little short - his movement is good but passing has slipped below his amazing standards but we are in the hunt , the others will drop more points and we need to win all our home games from now on.
Bring on Leicester- they were not impressive at theirs and I felt with a sharper Kun we could have won that so let's show them on Saturday and roar them home!
Time for every player to show their class- we are due one!
Yes Dave maybe a little short - his movement is good but passing has slipped below his amazing standards but we are in the hunt , the others will drop more points and we need to win all our home games from now on.
Bring on Leicester- they were not impressive at theirs and I felt with a sharper Kun we could have won that so let's show them on Saturday and roar them home!
Time for every player to show their class- we are due one!
Put things into perspective shall we. Third game in seven days whereas Sunderland had had a longer rest period. They had introduced new players which, along with a home crowd, galvanised the players. Had we scored a second I think we would have knocked the stuffing out of them and gone on to score more but at 1-0 they were always in with a chance hence they kept on pushing. We have key players injured and we weren't as balanced as we should have been. Yaya cannot play in a two man midfield with Silva on the left as we are too easily exposed on the left. At the end of the day we won the points, kept a clean sheet and gained two points on Arsenal. Win our next two games and we will be sitting pretty although the down side is if we lose or draw. Spurs are on a roll and as well as playing us they also have three relatively easy home fixtures coming up (Watford, Palace and Swansea) which I would expect them to win. They are a huge threat and possibly more so than Arsenal at the moment. Let's take the points on offer and move on. Desperately need some players back from injury to be able to rotate the squad and keep players fresh.
BooksReject
Well-Known Member
7 unbeaten now, 5 clean sheets. Time to push on. Beat Leicester and Spurs, it's ours
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blueinsa
Guest
Well done guys and girls...massive 3 points for you...championship for me
Cheers mate. I bet you watch a committed performance like that and scratch your head as to why that effort isnt there every week?
I don't understand the negativity to last night.
In some respects we weren't on top of our game but in other respects I thought we were magnificent.
Third game in a week, injuries, freezing, gale force wind, shite pitch, away at a fat sam Sunderland who put in every ounce of effort they could.
I'm more confident of winning the league after last night than I have been at any other point this season.
In some respects we weren't on top of our game but in other respects I thought we were magnificent.
Third game in a week, injuries, freezing, gale force wind, shite pitch, away at a fat sam Sunderland who put in every ounce of effort they could.
I'm more confident of winning the league after last night than I have been at any other point this season.