Sunderland (H) Post Match

[Fredo]

Think the edginess comes with us playing the so called lesser teams, whose games we are expected to win. It will be different for City and Chelsea I think. Might be an issue against Spurs.

It's a shame though. I thought the crowd were great pre-game, but then noise fizzed out as the first half progressed. We expect the team to score early, and when that doesn't happen, anxiety creeps in.

[meffin]

We played well without being great. They started the match with such negative tactics it was always going to be difficult to break them down.

We hit the bar and missed a few decent chances- it could easily have been similar to other matches where we hit 5 or 6- but our most lethal players weren't on top form.

Most important thing is we won (and Gerrard didn't get booked!), over the past few seasons- that would have been one of the matches we didn't win.

Flanno was completely at fault for the goal, they never really looked like scoring before that point. Johnson was shocking, his passing was abysmal.

Hopefully its the sort of game to wake us up and get us fired up for the Spurs game

[calvoboy]

yeah thats what i was trying to say - 2nd half we were fired up, coutinho ran the show and we had a few changes to kill it off 3-0....we didn't take them, sunderland weathered the storm and we slowly lost a little momentum and the fans went quiet, panicky, nervy and they scored and it was **** your pants time and yeah it may have effected the players

but the last 10 mins it was weird, it was like the crowd just all subconsciously spoke to each other and said **** if we don't pull our heads together and get behind them, they're going to bottle it

The period from 65 mins to 80 mins was disgraceful though - we collectively, as a home support, really need to grow a pair and just get behind the team. From the anxiety and shouting you'd have thought that we were 2-1 down in a game we needed to win, rather than 2-1 up. And in truth we should have been at least 3 or 4 ahead were it not for the atrocious refereeing and our own wastefulness.

I think too many looked at Sunderland's league position and expected us to roll them over too - whereas they stated the season with 1 point from 8 games under Di Canio and since then have been better away from home, beat Everton, did a good job in keeping City quiet apart from a couple of world-class finishes, and really are no mugs. I hope they stay up - if they can do it by taking points off Chelsea when they play, even better!

[Tee]

This pic.......

[The Birdman]

Johnson was poor but improved when Sterling came on and we changed to system to a 4-5-1 as he actually had someone in-front of him to pass to or to run onto an out ball to relive pressure.
Playing with the diamond against a 3-5-2 meant Sturridge and Suarez spent more time making pointless runs out wide to offer an outlet.

The time it takes to make those runs means Johnson got caught in possession and the move slowed down, Flanagan doesn't have the same problem as he is always looking to play inside off his right foot anyway so the lack of width didn't affect him as much

[PTP]

The period from 65 mins to 80 mins was disgraceful though - we collectively, as a home support, really need to grow a pair and just get behind the team. From the anxiety and shouting you'd have thought that we were 2-1 down in a game we needed to win, rather than 2-1 up. And in truth we should have been at least 3 or 4 ahead were it not for the atrocious refereeing and our own wastefulness.

I think too many looked at Sunderland's league position and expected us to roll them over too - whereas they stated the season with 1 point from 8 games under Di Canio and since then have been better away from home, beat Everton, did a good job in keeping City quiet apart from a couple of world-class finishes, and really are no mugs. I hope they stay up - if they can do it by taking points off Chelsea when they play, even better!

i was impressed if you like with how they set up and approached the game...

tactics where clear - when our defence had the ball and wanted to piss about at the back, their two strikers pushed high and wide to close that option and their AM was it nocherinio?? pushed up in the middle.

Then when they wanted to attack, one of their big grocks up front, either wickham or altidore were straight onto flanagan - so that every attack they had went towards a big unit vs flanagan.

[RedReet]

Really? He didn't have much to do defensively but still managed to cost us the goal by ball watching. he'll get better with age most probably.

Just not a fan at all, are you SB?

I thought he did quite well last night, bar the goal. he got forward well and used the ball intelligently.

The goal was inexcusable though.

Johnson was poor but improved when Sterling came on and we changed to system to a 4-5-1 as he actually had someone in-front of him to pass to or to run onto an out ball to relive pressure.
Playing with the diamond against a 3-5-2 meant Sturridge and Suarez spent more time making pointless runs out wide to offer an outlet.

The time it takes to make those runs means Johnson got caught in possession and the move slowed down, Flanagan doesn't have the same problem as he is always looking to play inside off his right foot anyway so the lack of width didn't affect him as much

I don't think Johnson did too bad second half when the whole team were a bit more relaxed and there was a bit more space behind the Sunderland defence.

As I mentioned in the match thread, every single player wasted their final ball in the first half, whether it was a misplaced pass or a fluffed shot. Sunderland gave us very little space and we struggled. Johnson was guiltier than most because he kept bombing forward so seen more of the ball in the final third than any of our players and after he wasted a few opportunities, you could see it was effecting him. Second half there was less pressure thanks to the goal, so he kept things much simpler and rarely gave the ball away or did much wrong.

[Fredo]

Think Flannagan gets on the wrong side of players sometimes when he plays on the left. Think this will improve as he plays more games in this position. It's just a positioning issue as he's a right footer.

[calvoboy]

i was impressed if you like with how they set up and approached the game...

tactics where clear - when our defence had the ball and wanted to piss about at the back, their two strikers pushed high and wide to close that option and their AM was it nocherinio?? pushed up in the middle.

Then when they wanted to attack, one of their big grocks up front, either wickham or altidore were straight onto flanagan - so that every attack they had went towards a big unit vs flanagan.

Yep, I think Poyet's a very good coach in the making. You could see they'd been working on what to do in certain situations - it wasn't just a case of men behind the ball and press hard. He changed it again with his late substitutions as well, showing decent in-game management. We just had a little bit too much class for them, even though we were misfiring ourselves.

[Tee]

Johnson in that first half was shocking. Don't really understand what happens to him at times. Much better second half though, thankfully.

[Fredo]

Johnson in that first half was shocking. Don't really understand what happens to him at times. Much better second half though, thankfully.

It was difficult for him as Sunderland was defending deep. We didn't have much width and he had to come inside a lot. Don't think he was that bad to be fair. Misplaced a few passes and put us under pressure sometimes, but those things happen.

[Fierce]

I don't think it was THAT nervy really. Still reasonably comfortable. We've just been spoilt rotten of late.

It wasn't a vintage performance, but I still thought we were poetry in motion for long periods of the game

I don't think the diamond at home works.
Allen, Henderson, Gerrard and Coutinho are all very similar players (in that they play in front of you)
We missed Sterling massively imo, I can (kind of) see the logic in keeping the same team but we were very 1 dimensional in the first half.

After we got the 2nd we ****ed around and passed it for passing's sake, we turned into Arsenal and almost paid the price.
Coutinho looks great on a MOTD highlights reel but his end product isn't anywhere near good enough at the moment, he's only 21 and a phenomenal talent but Sterling has to play all the remaining games for me.

As does Sakho, it's harsh on Agger as Skrtel is just as weak but we miss Sakho's physical dominance.

Skrtel's defending (or ****ing lack of it) on that late free kick when John O'Shea should have scored is inexcusable.
It's bonkers that our best 2 CB's are left footed and Rodgers doesn't want to play them together.

**** me

Coutinho was arguably our best player

Sakho has only just got fit and we're on a 7 game winning streak yet you'd like us to change a centre half? Skrtel has been brilliant all season. His positive play far outweighs the wobbles we get from him and he didn't cost us any goals last night

Mental how people's opinions differ watching the exact same game

[The Birdman]

**** me

Coutinho was arguably our best player

Sakho has only just got fit and we're on a 7 game winning streak yet you'd like us to change a centre half? Skrtel has been brilliant all season. His positive play far outweighs the wobbles we get from him and he didn't cost us any goals last night

Mental how people's opinions differ watching the exact same game

I didn't say leave out Coutinho for Sterling I said Coutinho gives the ball away needlessly a lot, his end product will improve with time and I also said that imo Sterling needs to start.

In home games I wouldn't be bothered if they both started.

Coutinho is seen as a flair player, a creator of chances in the '10' role off the front with a free reign

Coutinho 3 goals 6 assists in 26 games.
Henderson has 3 goals 7 assists in 31.
Sterling has 6 goals and 3 assists in 26.

For the role he plays and the ability he has Coutinho should be producing more. We're also much harder to play against when Sterling starts.

That's all I'm saying.

[Kenneth]

It was difficult for him as Sunderland was defending deep. We didn't have much width and he had to come inside a lot. Don't think he was that bad to be fair. Misplaced a few passes and put us under pressure sometimes, but those things happen.

They do all too often with Johnson.

[PTP]

re johnson - i've said this loads about him before - you can tell within the first 5 mins/first few touches of the ball what game he is going have

if his first couple of touches are sharp, his passing quick and his heads up - he'll have a stormer

if his first couple of touches are a little off, his first passes not great - that's it, he's **** and he doesn't seem to be able to turn it round - he either has his head in the clouds or he looks world class