Man of the Match...Sunderland - A - PL

[Morse]

Result: Sunderland - A - PL


1. Pennant...................356 votes...............5 points
2. Sissoko....................325 votes...............3 points
3. Torres......................224 votes...............1 point.
4. Voronin....................154 votes
5. Arbeloa.....................70 votes


YNWA and Est1892 had it Momo ahead of Pennant, 6CM had Voronin in 3rd, TLW voted as above.


Current Standings:

1. Gerrard........................................... ....10 points
2. Mascherano/Pennant............................5 points
3. Torres............................................ .....4 points
2. Kuyt/Hyypia/Sissoko.............................3 points
3. Carragher/Voronin/Arbeloa....................1 point


Thanks for voting.

[Big Dave]

Sissoko
Pennant
Torres

[Tinkerbitch]

Momo
Pennant
Arbeloa

[paulcooper4]

Sissoko
Pennant
Torres

Momo
Pennant
Arbeloa

Bit late:bird:

[RedReet]

Can’t believe no one mentioned Alonso. Because he doesn’t feel the need to ping his 60-yard passes now, no one seems to appreciate his contribution. I thought along with Momo he controlled the midfield with effective tackling and simple passes. He hit one 40-yard volley over the top straight onto Torres toe that didn’t even get a reply on TV, as well as his vital contribution to the first goal.

Thought it was a close call between him, Momo, Pennant and Arbeola.

[Big Dave]

Bit late:bird:

The pitfalls of posting in a thread without first reading it all

[Morph]

Can’t believe no one mentioned Alonso. Because he doesn’t feel the need to ping his 60-yard passes now, no one seems to appreciate his contribution. I thought along with Momo he controlled the midfield with effective tackling and simple passes. He hit one 40-yard volley over the top straight onto Torres toe that didn’t even get a reply on TV, as well as his vital contribution to the first goal.

Thought it was a close call between him, Momo, Pennant and Arbeola.

Because he's playing no where near his potential so for me at the moment he doesn't deserve a mention, he was overshadowed by Sissoko and seeing the amount of people calling for him to be sold recently, I think that says where our supporters rank him at the moment

[NICKZS]

Because he's playing no where near his potential so for me at the moment he doesn't deserve a mention, he was overshadowed by Sissoko and seeing the amount of people calling for him to be sold recently, I think that says where our supporters rank him at the moment

Alonso gets a lot of undeserved stick, all as a product of his own ability. Fair enough, he set himself a massive benchmark in his first season, but since then he has had to cope with playing a role which sacrifices his passing game. He is consistently our highest-ranking tackler and passer, and normally puts in the best cross of the match.

I agree he is not playing to his full potential, but I really think the supporters need to demonstrate a bit more leniancy and appreciate the fact that Alonso has a very difficult and, evidently, thankless task to perform.

[Morph]

Alonso gets a lot of undeserved stick, all as a product of his own ability. Fair enough, he set himself a massive benchmark in his first season, but since then he has had to cope with playing a role which sacrifices his passing game. He is consistently our highest-ranking tackler and passer, and normally puts in the best cross of the match.

I agree he is not playing to his full potential, but I really think the supporters need to demonstrate a bit more leniancy and appreciate the fact that Alonso has a very difficult and, evidently, thankless task to perform.

Well the more educated might see that, of course I don't think he's playing terribly or anything like that, but if I was going to pick my first choice 2 in midfield I don't think he'd be there at the moment unfortunately (assuming Stevie is fit). The problem is many argue he's only found his top form in a few games since his first season, and that isn't really good enough. Many got on Stevies back when he had a quiet season by his standards last year, but he seems to have come through it, I hope Alonso does the same

[Hansi]

1. Sissoko
2. Arbeloa
3. Pennant

[RedReet]

Because he's playing no where near his potential so for me at the moment he doesn't deserve a mention, he was overshadowed by Sissoko and seeing the amount of people calling for him to be sold recently, I think that says where our supporters rank him at the moment

Ha ha Morphorino, these are the same supporters who said sell Momo too. They also said Voronin is crap because he's free, Benayoun is useless, Torres was too expensive and not that good because he wasn't Eto'o, we'll win nothing with the signings we made, United will win absolutely everything because that's what the paper said, etc. etc. etc...

Alonso wasn't great last year, no one can deny that, but few of our players were. After a summer of rest he looked pretty sharp in preseason. He plays a different role now than when he first joined. I don't know if his long ranging passes he was so famous for in his first season are rarer now due to Rafa's instruction, or if like Stevie G with better players around him doesn't feel the need to as much. But he's still capable of them and his efforts this year seem to be a bit more accurate than last.

Having first watched the Sunderland game in the bar I must confess I didn't notice Xabi too much. Having re-watched it on Sky Plus with time to appreciate the simple things, Xabi was very impressive. Unfortunately alot of our supporters form their opinions by what they see on Match of The Day and Xabi's simple and effective work doesn't get a look in. He breaks up play wonderfully and I've noticed when making alot of his tackles he stays on his feet, so they don't look as extravagant as Momo or Mascherano. He now plays simple accurate balls and is always the first to receive it from defence and start us on an attack. There's still few better long passers in the game and even last year when he wasn't playing well his shooting was still pretty precise.

Don't get me wrong, Xabi is capable of better and there might have been better performers on the day, but just because he doesn't hit 10 perfect 60 yard passes or score from his own half, people shouldn't overlook his overall contribution to the game and his value to the team.

[Morse]

Ha ha Morphorino, these are the same supporters who said sell Momo too. They also said Voronin is crap because he's free, Benayoun is useless, Torres was too expensive and not that good because he wasn't Eto'o, we'll win nothing with the signings we made, United will win absolutely everything because that's what the paper said, etc. etc. etc...

Alonso wasn't great last year, no one can deny that, but few of our players were. After a summer of rest he looked pretty sharp in preseason. He plays a different role now than when he first joined. I don't know if his long ranging passes he was so famous for in his first season are rarer now due to Rafa's instruction, or if like Stevie G with better players around him doesn't feel the need to as much. But he's still capable of them and his efforts this year seem to be a bit more accurate than last.

Having first watched the Sunderland game in the bar I must confess I didn't notice Xabi too much. Having re-watched it on Sky Plus with time to appreciate the simple things, Xabi was very impressive. Unfortunately alot of our supporters form their opinions by what they see on Match of The Day and Xabi's simple and effective work doesn't get a look in. He breaks up play wonderfully and I've noticed when making alot of his tackles he stays on his feet, so they don't look as extravagant as Momo or Mascherano. He now plays simple accurate balls and is always the first to receive it from defence and start us on an attack. There's still few better long passers in the game and even last year when he wasn't playing well his shooting was still pretty precise.

Don't get me wrong, Xabi is capable of better and there might have been better performers on the day, but just because he doesn't hit 10 perfect 60 yard passes or score from his own half, people shouldn't overlook his overall contribution to the game and his value to the team.