The Official Sunderland thread

[Art_Vandelay]

Searched for one and couldn't find anything so I figured I'd start one.

First point, Bruce seems to have made some good signings this summer, very pleased with how much better the team has looked as a whole so far this season. This may also be down to not having angry Keane glaring at the players constantly (just look at Ipswich of late)

I do feel however we are in need of cover at left back, the sale of Danny Collins perhaps could have been delayed until January when more time for a suitable replacement would be available. Yes we have George McCartney, but with him injured, we have no natural left back.

Performance against Hull was good, shame we got less than 40,000 fans in attendance. We still have some frailties but from the quality I have seen so far and the reputation some of the latest members of the squad have, I can see us with a top ten finish on our hands. Feel free to ridicule this last statement

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Just the two of us then

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Not at all, said at the start though Burnley for a top 6 Finish

We were the better team during the first half but we just didn't capatalise on our greater possesion. In the end it bit us in the arse.

Oh, and Anton Ferdinand is ste Bring back Nyron!

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Some excellent news for this weekend, well it is if you're a Sunderland fan, Torres and Gerrard injured gives us a better chance of getting something from the game.

http://msn.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5631...

[Art_Vandelay]

Well a good performance from the lads today. Yes a lucky goal but Darren Bent could have had a hat-trick and despite some pressure from Liverpool they didn't give Gordon much to do today.

Impressed with Bardsley today and Cana played well at CB. Steed played well and even lasted the full 90 minutes which was quite the shock

Fingers crossed Cattermole and Jones aren't too badly hurt.

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Good win today, didn't give Arsenal an easy game at all, Silva looks like a bit of a bargain when playing at CB.

Glad to see "The Rock of Gibraltar" back and he had a good game as well.

Pleased with the effort the lads showed today, plenty of chasing down and Fulop didn't have a particularly hard game back in goal. Towards the end they had a few good crosses into the box that just needed someone on the end of it mind.

A well deserved win IMO.

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MonkeyBusiness said:

Went a bit tits up today.
To top it off, Bents mother was apparantly racially abused by a sunderland fan.

I hope she wasn't, would hate one muppet to tarnish the reputation of our away support.

Yes, tits up indeed today, glad to see a few more Sunderland fans contributing seeing as the other posts were off me

Da Silva apparently poor today, with a bit of luck it was a minor set back. Fingers crossed our away form improves against Fulham.

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MonkeyBusiness said:

Art_Vandelay said:

I hope she wasn't, would hate one muppet to tarnish the reputation of our away support.

Unfortunately yes. From DB himself : "So we get beat by wigan and to make matters worse my mum gets racially abused by a SUNDERLAND fan. I wont stand for that"

Seems the whole team didn't play today. Agree with the defence comment - maybe Mensah shouldn't have been dropped after his good display against Arsenal.

Well he's been caught from what I've read. Mrs Bent followed them, what a trooper!

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I too felt tonights performance was poor. Too many boots up field leaving the forwards with a lot of work to do and little support. Why can't we play a passing game and work an opening. Whitehead should have been off, seemed as though Webb was watching a different game at times.

We need a win which will hopefully be the start of a few strung together. Shame we didn't strengthen much during January, but I feel like some of the players are new signings now that they are back from injury

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North West Tom said:

Sounds like you had a really good chance at the end, and I'm pleased with a point away from home. How was our crowd (or lack of)? I heard we took 150 people.

First half we were shocking and you could have been 2-3 nil up. Our passing was awful, we were very un-creative. Your crowd, although small, wasn't bad. They had a go at Bruce and Cattermole but they were pretty quiet after we equalised.

Second half was better from a Sunderland perspective, we could have just nicked the 3 points at the end. Darren Bent had a goal disallowed for offside, hard to tell from my view (next to the away fans, south stand).

All in all, a disappointing result but considering our first half performance, it was a point gained.

We need to beat Portsmouth on Tuesday now.

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Utter ste today, passing was non-existent, when we did pass we actually got a shot away.

Ref was a useless tt too but we didn't deserve 3 points let alone 1. I've been supportive of Bruce but he needs to go IMO. No idea who could replace him, but he just hasn't taken us to the "next level" with his tactics and signings.

Jones star man for me tonight, although Gordon was good in goal too. Hutton had his moments, the rest were useless.

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MonkeyBusiness said:

Well, well...who saw that coming?

Well done Bent on the hatrick. Cana looked like a footballer again and Steed was excellent.

Ellis Short is in town to speak to Bruce tomorrow

Agree with what you've said, a good performance which resulted in a good and much needed win. Could have even had a few more goals and we look assured at the back. I had to rub my eyes at one point to make sure I was actually watching Cana

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Craig Gordon was fantastic today, only a wonder goal from Adam Johnson beat him despite the 50million+ worth of strikers banging them towards goal. Man of the match and he deserved it. Nice to see Kenwyne get a goal too.

I would have taken a point at the start against a good Manchester City team, gutted that we've conceded so late after defending "like beavers Jeff". A good performance and a decent result really.

Gutted, but believe if we can play like this for the rest of the season, we'll be able to get plenty of valuable points. Meyler played better than I thought he would, credit to him. Hutton has been a revelation at right back and even Anton Ferdinand has improved of late. Also nice to see Steed back to his best.

I think we'd be in a much better position than we are at the minute had we not been struck so badly by injuries. Hopefully most of those are behind us and it's nice to see Henderson back too.

Gutted I missed the start of the match, too busy playing football myself

[ArtVandelay]

Sweating at the end, but a good result. Unfortunately didn't get a chance to see this game, but listened on the radio. Great to see Bent get another 2 goals and for Campbell to get another one. Gordon had another great performance too from the sounds of it, he is a fantastic keeper and starting to show his £9million worth. Shame he isn't English

Question to those who went, how was Benjani?

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had ham said:

Good point last night - we deserved that entirely. Gordon had another great game, Catts was great, Mensah was superb.

If we can keep Mensah fit and part of a steady and consistent defence (with Turner, Hutton and Ferdinand), and keep Catts fit and have Cana back, we have the makings of a very steely backbone to the side. That should be enough to keep us out of trouble and win more games than we lose.

We are now playing like we did in the first third of the season - looking hard to beat. If only we had kept it going thru the winter we may have been challenging for something by now.

But hey, this is Sunderland, so a season without a disasterous run would just not be right!

Didn't see the game or the highlights

Watched Sky sports news though, a point well deserved and it's a shame Mensah couldn't hit the target towards the end. Two more tough games coming up, which reminds me, is our star man fit for the weekend or does he still have a puncture?

[ArtVandelay]

MonkeyBusiness said:

Wednesday was a great game. End to end stuff and Gordon That's a 9m keeper.

Liverpool on Sunday. Not sure about this one. Cana & Cattermole should be back and Jones up front with Bent maybe? SB might prefer to keep a 451 with Campbell on the wings. The lad in fairness hasn't done alot wrong and will be full of confidence.

I'll settle for another draw. Head says a sneaky win of course. Bent will score.

Seen Merson's comments? He believes it will be 4-0 to Liverpool the tt.

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What a win. Darren Bent played excellent (we won so I can forgive the two penalty misses), Steed tore them apart with his footwork, Campbell with his pace and Gordon was again on fire.

Unlucky Ferdinand's goal didn't count, especially after such a wonderful celebration

Jones though...what a miss, spectacularly bad attempt to kick the ball, thank god we managed to get the third through a wonder goal from Zenden. Cracking game which surely means we're safe for yet another season (especially with some promising games coming up)

I've been impressed with Meyler and Henderson in midfield again, we've got a young squad with plenty of promise IMO so things are looking up. It's rare to be a Sunderland fan and to be looking forward to the end of the season run-in. Should be an enjoyable finish, despite having to play Manchester UTD.

Chuffed to bits.

[ArtVandelay]

MonkeyBusiness said:

Doesn't seem right not worrying about something!

I know, and to look at a squad with the feeling that "Yes, these will improve and perform better next season"

Today, we lacked nothing in any department, even with Hutton and Mensah missing.

EDIT

Stolen from SMB

Gordon 27

Ferdinand 25
Turner 26
da Silva 30
Ricco 25

Hendersen 19
Meyler 21
Cattermole 22
Malbranque 29

Bent 26
Campbell 22

that's an average of 22.9 years old, very young indeed.

Edited by ArtVandelay on Saturday 3rd April 20:26

[ArtVandelay]

Pleased to have another away win this season, it's about time! Didn't manage to catch the game at all this week unfortunately but from what I've read, we destroyed them in the first half. Watching MOTD however, it didn't really show much of Sunderland apart from the goal and the malicious ball bounce....

I see Steed is yet again man of the match for us despite only playing one half. His transformation since the bking prior to the Fulham game has been astonishing, and for once I am actually looking forward to playing Man UTD at home this season with the thought of getting three points not seeming so ridiculous.

I personally think that we should finish in the top ten next season, a few key players are needed but not much, especially seeing as our youth players appear to be developing to life in the premiership so well.

I also feel I gave Steve Bruce unfair criticism during our dry spell but I have to admit that this squad can play some excellent football on their day and for that Bruce deserves praise.

[ArtVandelay]

It was a poor game today and we actually looked a little dirty. Hutton was a big miss (fking FA hate us appealing red cards don't they) although we were fairly solid at the back. I would have liked to have seen Jones start upfront alongside Bent, he just gives us something to aim for when we do the god awful punt upfield.

We didn't play badly but we didn't deserve a point either.

I would have liked to have seen more from Bent but Man U give us little space in attack.

Wolves should be a better game though, hopefully get something from that