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coleman to favour youth over experience
injury woes worsen
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If you are making the trip to the Riverside on Saturday, you might want to take a pair of boots with you given the state of our current injury crisis. In addition to Darron Gibson being ruled out for a minimum of eight weeks with a groin injury, Paddy McNair and Aiden McGeady are huge doubts for the Boro cup tie. Lee Cattermole, Didier Ndong, Lynden Gooch, Duncan Watmore and Jonny Williams are also unavailable meaning the midfield is particularly threadbare. On injuries and team selection issues, the gaffer had this to say: “From the weekend, Paddy McNair has trained, but there’s a doubt. He’s got a recurring problem in his groin and stomach so we’ll have to asses him tomorrow to see if he can play any part. Aiden McGeady has a problem in his calf. He trained today, but we’ll have to see. Adam Matthews is a no with a problem in his calf, and we still have the rest of the guys who have been out for some time. Gooch won’t be back for another seven to ten days. Our bench at the weekend will be mainly academy boys because at the last count there were nine or ten players unavailable. The rest are not ready. Darron is low. He’s down. He’s been key to the way we want to play. And he’s definitely grasped what we needed in that holding midfield position. Now we’ve lost him for eight to ten weeks, and that’s a big blow. It’s a tough one. We’re going to get one more opinion just to make sure, but we think it’s between eight to ten weeks, which is a huge blow to us. We need to make sure we get it right. If it’s not quite off the bone, maybe we could get him back a little bit quicker.” Lewis Grabban remains unavailable through injury, but there had yet to be any contact from Bournemouth regarding a recall.
In light of these injury woes, Coleman is determined to bring in fresh faces in the midfield despite a lack of funds. “We’ve not got a replacement really. We’ve got Paddy McNair coming back, but he’s not quite fit. Catts obviously won’t be fit for the weekend and they’ve got different attributes anyway. In terms of someone to sit in there and switch play for us, it is certainly something we might have to look at in the window. It’s getting these players fit. Gibbo has been playing through injury really. George Honeyman has been in there, but he’s more of an offensive player really. Paddy hasn’t been fit, Catts isn’t fit, Rodwell, Ndong, plenty of names there. Obviously, a couple of them may not be with us – Ndong, Rodwell, we don’t know – so it is a position we need a bit of cover in certainly. There’s loads of players that could help us in the positions we need, and they need first-team experience – Premier League players, younger players – but when we get down to the wages, we can’t do it.”
He also suggests that our lack of funds is unlikely to receive a significant boost from any potential incomings. "If we do get a sum of money, I am not sitting here thinking I can go and spend it in this area or that area. I may get a slice of it, but any money that came in like that would be going elsewhere - although I am sure we will see a little bit of it. I’m positive the chairman will see that in certain situations we need some help. But we are certainly not looking at a case where if we got £10m for a player, we could go out and spend £10m - it will be nothing like that.”
Sunderland’s first signing of the January transfer window is likely to be Ben Woodburn on loan from Liverpool and Coleman insists he would rather sign hungry youngster than certain battle hardened old pros. “What I don’t want to bring in is an experienced player who has been around the block and wants to come here and just go through the motions, ‘Yeah, six months at Sunderland...’ I absolutely don’t want that. The mentality here we have to get right. If it’s a younger one coming in here with his sleeves rolled up and he’s not afraid of it, then I’ll take that all day long. As long as he’s capable.Anyone I’ve spoken to about possible deals I’ve been up front and honest – can you handle it or can’t you? It’s not for the faint-hearted here. It’s risk-reward. You run the risk of disappointing a lot of passionate people if you don’t perform or the reward is that, if you perform, you get a load of passionate people right behind you, and that’s powerful. There is no grey area. It’s black and white – or red and white. If you think you can grow and get better in that atmosphere, then you have the right mentality. Just because you’re 30 and have been around the block once or twice, doesn’t mean you have the appetite. You can have £50m in the bank and 500 games under your belt, but if you’ve lost your appetite then you can’t come here or shouldn’t be here. Give me an 18, 19, 20-year-old who is climbing and progressing with a bit of fight and fire in his belly, then I’ll take that all day long. It doesn’t matter if you’re 17, 18, 25, 30, if you have the appetite, that’s what I want. I’ve seen some players who have been around the block kidding themselves on, thinking they still have that bite, that burning desire, but maybe they’ve lost it a little bit. Finance has softened them up a little bit. Maybe they’ve got a perception of themselves that is actually not true. If you’re ready and capable, come here. You’ll get a chance to prove yourself and learn here playing in front of a demanding crowd. It’s good for young players. Could we afford to keep them? If someone doesn’t want to be here, as long as they’re honest, come out and say it – ‘I’m not up for the fight’ – that’s fine. We can’t afford with a pretender amongst our ranks, it doesn’t matter who they are. If you don’t want to be here, ‘Bye, bye, go somewhere else.’ We need to bring someone who wants to be here, who is up for the fight. It’s amazing how far you can go with a bit of unity. My door has been open for six weeks, no-one has knocked on it yet. We should get away from thinking, ‘What have we got to do to bring players to this club?’ We should reverse that, players should look at us and go, ‘Wow,’ even though we’re bottom of the Championship, not ‘Please come and play for us, please stay with us.’ If you don’t want to play for us, jog on – go somewhere else and play badly. As a player you look around the dressing room and you can see in their eyes who is dead up for it. We have to make sure we have soldiers in our ranks who will keep marching forward.”
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coterill linked again
coleman hints at sending loanees back
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Sunderland have again been linked with David Coterill on a short term deal, but it is thought that a lack of financial mobility could hinder even this sort of deal. Birmingham released the 30-year-old to free up their own wage bill, but the Welshman was a regular under Gary Rowett. Coleman is no stranger to the right midfielder, he has 30 senior caps for Wales, and was a member of Coleman’s squad that made it to the semi-finals of 2016’s European Championships in France.
A potential way of finding room to operate in the transfer market is by returning loan players who are not making an impact on the first team. Coleman has recent hinted that Brendan Galloway and Jonny Williams could return to their parent clubs. “Brendan is at an age, boys of his age who have come out on loan they need to be playing, his development is important as well. We are looking at what we absolutely need here to help us out. Jonny has bust his shoulder and will be out for another month or six weeks depending how he recovers. These guys are not participating, it is hard for them too as they need to be playing. There will be a conversation and it is an ongoing conversation but nothing has been decided on any of that yet.”
Such short terms measures will be the order of the day until Coleman had scope to implement his long term strategy on Wearside. “I know where we need to improve. I have a plan going forward of how I see us but at the same time we have this core of players who are playing week in, week out. I have to get the best out of them. I don’t know who will be where in six or 12 months, that’s football, I have a plan of how I see this team playing and the identity. But I have to concentrate on what we have now, I have something in my head of how I would like to go with but can’t at the moment because we don’t have the personnel physically fit. We are chopping and changing a lot. We have stuck with a formation that has served us well. It didn’t work so well at Sheffield United but I think that was more to do with mentality. If we are consistent in our performances in the way we were against Sheffield United then that will be bad news for everybody. Long-term I know how I see it but the most important thing is short-term and making the best of what we have got and making sure it is a strong platform we have to build on rather than in six months time thinking wow, it is even worse!’ You can’t take your eye off the immediate challenge of getting away from where we are.”
The gaffer also spoke of Callum Mcmanaman’s misfortune since arriving at Sunderland but insists he still could play a big part as the season progresses. “I think Callum missed pre-season and it is always tough for players when they do that, always playing catch-up. He got sent off against Reading, then I changed formation to go with wing backs rather than wingers. So he has suffered really. He has worked his socks off in training, he really has. He hasn’t been a moment’s problem. He has worked really hard. He has been unlucky to be fair, you are always playing catch-up after missing pre-season and he has had a suspension too when we changed formation.”
Meanwhile, the under 23’s progressed to the third round of the Durham Challenge Cup with a 4-1 away success over Stockton Town. The lads raced into a 4-0 lead in the first half with goals from Chris Allan, Dan Wright, Sonny Best and Jordan Hickey, we failed to add to this in the second half but the damage was already done and a late Stockton goal through Alan Cossavella couldn’t prevent Sunderland from running out comfortable winners.
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THIS IS THE CRISIS WE KNEW HAD TO COME
BY LUKE HAKIN
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2017 will go down as one of the worst years in the club's history, remembered mainly for relegation, redundancies, an absentee owner, a charlatan chief executive and a squad of players so spineless and inept they’d make our infamous ’19 pointers’ blush.
And that’s without even mentioning the two clowns in the dugout. 2017 was the year our luck finally ran out and the years of boardroom mismanagement caught up with us, but it wasn’t helped in the least by the arrogant and defeatist Moyes and the bumbling and buffoon-like Simon Grayson.
Moyes spent the majority of the season plotting his own escape, but not before rubbishing his own January signings, threatening to slap a female reporter and broadcasting to the world that our star striker had a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for free in the probable event of relegation.
Spirits were temporarily lifted in May when Moyes eventually packed his trunk and said goodbye to the circus, but it quickly became apparent that a) nobody wanted to buy the club, b) nobody wanted to manage the club, and c) the current owner had no interest in investing further. Grayson eventually replaced Moyes, but it showed how far we’d fallen when online debate on the afternoon of the appointment centred not on Grayson’s skills or capabilities, but instead whether or not he’d shave off the ridiculous receding haircut he'd sported at Preston that made him look like the lovechild of Bobby Charlton and Terry Nutkins.
Five months, 15 games and 1 (away) win later, Grayson departed with the club propping up the league. Robbie Stockdale had a brief spell in charge as caretaker amidst talk of Ally McCoist or another joker of that ilk taking charge permanently.
Instead, we appointed Chris Coleman.
And I have to admit, I was sceptical. There’s no disputing the tremendous work Coleman did with Wales, but club management is a different animal altogether.
But based on what I’ve seen and heard so far, Coleman has impressed me. Despite the league position, I’m confident we’ve finally got the right man in charge to lead us forward. Without going all ‘Rafalution’ over him, I like the cut of his jib.
He speaks with authority and encourages accountability, but does so with the warmth and charm that Moyes never had. There’s an air of Allardyce about him, who never hid his desire to manage England but made it his number one priority from day one to improve the defence and eek out clean sheets.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the most popular, most successful and well-regarded Sunderland managers in my lifetime are the ones who bought into the club and embraced the challenges that it brings. Nor is it any coincidence that the least successful and most disliked were the ones who distanced themselves from the job and shied away from getting their hands dirty, so to speak.
I don’t want or expect managers to blow smoke up our arses or shower us with false platitudes, but we’re an easy target and get enough of a kicking from the press as it is. I want the manager to fight our corner and take personal responsibility when things go right or wrong. I don’t want the manager to play the club down or play up to the media narrative of us being unmanageable.
That’s why Coleman has quickly won over the fans and the other two losers didn’t. Take results out of the equation and compare their body language and demeanour. One wants to be here and is desperate to succeed. One was desperate to get away, and the other couldn’t believe he’d talked his way into being here and appeared happy to put up with any old rubbish to keep himself in a job.
The situation we’re in is still desperate, and barring an unlikely change of heart from the owner, the same one-paced, weak-willed, ‘heads drop as soon as they concede a goal’ plodders who got us into this mess will still be here for the foreseeable future.
But for the first time in a long time, the manager isn’t part of that problem. Instead, he’s part of the solution, and that’s something I could never have said last year.
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transfer craic
mcnair looks to give coleman a midfield boost
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Sunderland have conducted their first piece of the transfer window with the departure of Andrew Nelson on loan to Falkirk on a six month deal. The young forward has spent time on loan at Hartlepool United and Harrogate Town in the past and featured regularly for our under 23’s.
Even more thrillingly, the lads have been linked with a move for out of contract former Birmingham man David Cotterill. The midfielder hadn’t been featuring much in West Midlands and the decision to terminate his contract was reached by mutual consent with his name sake and manager, Steve.
On other incomings there is mixed news, Coleman is thought to be confident of bringing in Liverpool youngster, Ben Woodburn on loan, but when asked about signings he said nothing was majorly close to getting over the line. “Nothing is imminent. We thought there was but it has slowed down a bit, not because of us. We have been quite close but we haven’t quite got that one over the line yet.” However Bolton are confident of keeping rumoured Sunderland target, Gary Madine.
James Vaughan has been linked with a move to Wigan in recent days but the gaffer believes that we cannot afford to let him go at this stage. “Imagine if we sold James Vaughan right now? Where do we go then? There will be interest in a few of our players. But we couldn’t at the minute let James go. We only have Josh Maja and Joel Asoro... it’s alright bringing them in but we can’t go to the end of the season with just the two young players.”
Meanwhile, Paddy McNair is relishing this weekend’s cup tie with Boro and is determined to give the manager something to think about as the transfer window progresses. “I was out a long time, so then to come back and get done again with a groin after a few games was disappointing. I would like to be fitter and that’s what I am focused on now. I think that will just come with games and hopefully I can get those early in the New Year. Since the manager came in he has given us a lot of confidence. We have won a few games, defended stronger than we were. We have to make sure we build from there and on those signs of progress. I am sure we will be fine if we can do that. We have bounced back before. We have a good group of lads in there, we know we have to do it again. It does feel different these days, but after coming off the high on Saturday when we beat Nottingham Forest to then lose at home against Barnsley was hard to take. It’s frustrating. We know we can beat anyone in the league but it’s about getting the confidence going in the league again. We had got ourselves on top a bit in the first half and failed to make the most of it, then we looked to build on that in the second half. We let that early goal in like we did and from there it was just an uphill battle. It does keep happening where we win one and the slip up, but we have to remember we have won a few and that proves what we can do, what we are capable of. We have to put this behind us and go to Boro, try to build confidence again from there. We go into every game looking to win, we were confident going into the Barnsley game which is why it is so frustrating. It just wasn’t to be.”
PLIGHT AT THE STADIUM OF LIGHT
BY PADDY HOLLIS
The Barnsley match on New Year’s Day was only my second visit to the SoL this campaign due to living in Germany. It wasn’t just on the pitch where things are failing, the atmosphere in the club is toxic.
Dance of the Knights rang out and I was prepared for the buzz as the players emerged from the tunnel. What followed was barely a standing ovation; my questions were answered once the match kicked off.
Fewer than 29,000 were present to witness the visitors claim a 1-0 win which surprised me due to the date of the fixture. In past festive fixtures there was a spike in the attendance due to the holidays. However, these were at a time when we were in the Premier League therefore we were hosting more glamorous opposition (no disrespect to Barnsley, of course).
The main thing I noted from the match was the lack of singing and enthusiasm from our supporters. This is by no means a criticism, it is easy to sympathise with our fans who have paid good money to go to the match. It is these fans who deserve to be rewarded with a passionate showing but if the Barnsley game was any indication on the rest of the season so far, that won’t happen any time soon.
Judging from the few home games I have been able to follow, the fans who decided to stay away since relegation cannot be blamed for doing so. Going off the last time we kicked off in Championship, the opening weeks of the season followed a similar pattern in terms of attendances. Our opening three home games of the 2006-07 campaign saw crowds of no more than 27,000 come click through the turnstiles.
However, in the past we got to grips with life in Championship much quicker than in the current campaign. We went on to average almost 32,000 over the course of that season, it wasn’t spectacular but at least we all had more to cheer about under the tenure of Roy Keane and Niall Quinn.
Regardless of the number of the fans in the ground, the atmosphere was poor against Barnsley. A short-term solution to this could be to close the upper concourse, the upper section of the North West corner and the Strongbow upper stand and move all of these fans down until there is an increase in crowds. Hull City have done this, and their atmosphere has definitely improved to some extent.
The away fans could be moved back to their previous location in the South Stand, completing this short-term solution. However, in the long run, only a turnaround in how the club is run and its fortunes on the pitch will see the numbers in the SoL swell once more.
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new year, same old sunderland
by michael lough
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New Year's Day can often be a depressing day, you’re inevitably hungover, you’ve probably got work the next day and all the dying embers of festive cheer are extinguished as many household take down their Christmas decorations. Throw in a 1-0 home defeat to a Barnsley side that were without a win since the first week of November and it’s enough to make anyone retreat under the covers and hibernate until this all blows over.
What was more worrying was our approach to the game, we sat off a mediocre at best Barnsley side and even when we went behind we showed no urgency to get back into the game.
“We go again” is one of those tedious phrases that footballers trot out on an almost weekly basis, win, lose or draw. It may be a boring platitude but it’s very apt when describing my feelings on watching Sunderland over the past 18 months or so. Before the game, despite seeing the lads win away from home less than 48 hours previously, I had little hope or expectation prior to kick off. I didn’t feel a pre-match buzz, or a sense of anticipation. It’s like I’ve been conditioned to expect defeat and anything else if an unexpected bonus.
Looking back, I don’t think I can remember when the last time was I felt anything other than a sense of dulled dread in the run up to a game. Probably Leeds at home in August, when the sun was shining, we had made an unbeaten start and there was a bit of excitement. Since that day things have unravelled at an alarming rate and we find ourselves in the bottom three of the Championship with over the half the season gone.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, the fun of a match day is diminishing by the week. Not so long ago if you went to a Sunderland city centre pub from around midday onwards there would be standing room only and whilst giddy excitement wasn’t the order of the day, there was at least a hubbub of enthusiasm and a degree of hope for the afternoon ahead. Sure, we still invariably got beat most weeks, but there was something galvanising about playing the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea at home and a sense of communal pride at not lying down and meekly surrendering to the “top four”.
Now if you had to town at the same time most weeks, you’ll find yourself able to get a seat pretty easily, the atmosphere is akin to the awkward first hour of a party where hardly anyone knows each other. Then it gets to around 2.30 and you drag yourself over the bridge like lambs to the slaughter to watch us get beat in front of around 26,000 fans (that’s taking a generous figure), and endure watching yet another set of travelling fans having a lovely old time and taking the piss at our expense. Apathy seems to be the order of the day.
If this was happening a few miles down the road in Newcastle, horses would be getting punched all over, bedsheet sales would be doing a roaring trade and the local and national media would be labelling it a disgrace. But of course, we just have to accept it all like good little boys and girls and give ourselves 10 lashings because we aren’t showering the poor lambs on the field with unwavering love for 90 minutes.
In 2017 we were statistically the worst team in the country out of 92 teams. We won just 8 competitive matches in an entire year, and two of those were victories over lower league teams in the League Cup. Honestly, it is a minor miracle that we still attract crowds higher than a lot of Premier League clubs at home and are constantly backed by sell out away allocations. As I’ve said before, despite everything thrown at us, we all want to get behind the players. Rare wins have seen them given heroes receptions, Christ when they went off at half time against Brentford you would have thought we’d wrapped up the league title.
As with everything in football, context is key and on Wearside a perfect storm for our discontent has been brewing for a while. Even before we plunged to new depths of incompetence in 2017, we had won just 20 games since August 2014. We’ve not registered back to back wins since November 2016, crushing disappointment is the price we pay for rare moments of joy. In terms of our fan base we are in a horrible flux where people of all generations are getting increasingly fed up.
Old timers who have seen all us get relegated to the Third Division and struggle under Terry Butcher and Mick Buxton, get relegated with a record low number of points from the Premier League twice are finding this season to be a bridge too far. People my age (22) have witnessed the record low relegations but have never known us to struggle at this level and the younger generation have access to bigger clubs on tap via social media, TV and online content. We may be a football obsessed, one club city be we cannot continue to take the support we get for granted.
Another depressing thing about our situation is a lack of cult heroes, or favourites. As things stand I’m pining for us to just totally accept the next couple of years as a banter era and bring back Nyron Nosworthy, Danny Collins and Steed Malbranque no matter what their age or condition. At least it would be a laugh. I don’t actively dislike most of the team but it’s hard to build a connection with our current side. Too many times after we’ve scored a goal there’s been ear cupping and almost confrontational gestures towards the fans because we dare to be dissatisfied at being in the Championship’s relegation zone.
Of course, football is purely a results business and should we put a run together, I will be writing another article demanding that a statue of Chris Coleman is erected immediately and Donald Love is given the freedom of the city. But in the meantime, it very much seems to be new year, same old Sunderland. But “we go again next week.”
See you all at Boro…
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coleman on defeat, transfers and injuries…
REACTION
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A lacklustre Sunderland display saw fellow Championship strugglers Barnsley run out 1 – 0 winners at the SOL on New Year’s Day thanks to a second half header from Ethan Pinnock. Barnsley hadn’t won a game in ten attempts but were deserved winners as Chris Coleman’s side defended and played as if they were still struggling from a hangover from our horrific 2017 never mind from New Year’s Eve.
Chris Coleman had this to say afterwards: “When you see the goal we have conceded it kind of optimised us all afternoon really. We were slow to take charge and we were bullied really from the first minute. Barnsley deserved the three points. There might have been a penalty right at the end but it would’ve been harsh on them. It was hard for us because we lost Darron Gibson after 30 minutes and we are short in that area with injuries. That was tough, and we lost Marc Wilson before the game. We had to revamp it a little bit, but we never took charge of it today. They started bright and we never really got into it. We showed some good signs but after we lost Darron we never really got into our rhythm. Here at home, I can see it is a bit too much for us and because of the position we are in. We were on our heels, we looked nervous and we should’ve stepped in and taken more charge of the situation.”
Chris Coleman reckons that he’s looking primarily at loan deals this transfer window. “What we have to do is fatten squad up in numbers and add a bit of quality. If we bring that in on top of what we have then we will have a good chance,” said Coleman. “It will be an extremely important window for us, there is no escaping that. We can’t go and spend money on it, unless we lose players. It will be loans. We can still be cuter and smart and bring in faces. You talk about players out injured – Duncan Watmore is out for the season, Jonny Williams another month or six weeks. Lamine Kone and Didier Ndong haven’t been fit. Players we haven’t had. They have not been part of it anyway. But there’s nothing imminent. We thought it was, but it has slowed down a little, not because of us. We have been quite close, but we haven’t got it over the line. If we sell someone depending on the sale, the price, then we maybe get some money to spend. We will look at two different fronts, loan deals, and if we get cash to spend then who can we spend that on? I will be more confident saying the new faces will be loan deals. But January is a critical month. The next few weeks are huge. We would like to do business at the start of January. Transfers being what they are that doesn’t always happen. It’s a worry. It is what it is. We have to get on with it. At Boro next week (in the FA Cup), it’s not like we can rest four or five six players. But we have no one else to come in.”
Coleman has also put the departure of James Vaughan to Wigan on hold. Coleman added: “Imagine we sold James Vaughan right now? Where do we go then? There will be interest in a few of our players. But we couldn’t, at the minute, let James go. We only have Josh Maja and Joel Asoro. That is an area we need to bring bodies in, rather than lose anyone else. I don’t know what will happen with Grabban. We haven’t sent him back and Bournemouth haven’t asked for him back. It is irrelevant at the minute because he is injured anyway. We know that there is a huge possibility that could happen.”
Chris Coleman is also sweating on the fitness of Darron Gibson and Marc Wilson, but Bryan Oviedo is OK despite his half time subbing. "Darron thinks he has popped his groin, which doesn’t sound good," said Coleman. "We will have to wait and see. He will get scanned. But if it is what is suspected then it is a big blow. Lee Cattermole won’t be back for another couple of weeks, we are going to have to get Paddy McNair ready for Boro. We have the transfer window and could, possibly, bring someone in that position. Where else do we go? That’s all we have at the moment. Gibbo has been pulling the strings for us, he was just settling into the game and that happened. I am bitterly disappointed. We had no choice but to play him because Paddy was not fit to start. We lose Darron now but we had nowhere else to turn apart form a few young ones. That’s the worrying thing. Marc Wilson calf had tightened up, he couldn't play. We can't start him and then lose him for six weeks. He is too important. With a bit of luck Marc will be okay but this game came round too quickly for him. Do we risk him against Boro? Maybe not. Bryan Oviedo wasn't injured, I just felt he looked rusty and lacked a bit of fitness. We changed it around. Tactically we had to do it differently because we had different players on the pitch. Bryan had been out for a while, he played at Sheffield United and maybe that was a bit much for him where he is fitness wise."
MACKEMS KICK OFF 2018 WITH UTTERLY DREADFUL PERFORMANCE
BY PATRICK HOLLIS
This New Year’s Day match against an out of form Barnsley side was set up to provide the ideal opportunity to record back to back wins and to get off to a flying start in 2018. Instead, Sunderland put in a lack lustre and effortless effort in which we got exactly what we deserved.
At times we struggled to string two passes together and it felt as though every 50/50 in the middle of the park was won by someone in green and white. Before being forced off with injury, Darren Gibson was holding things together in the engine room but after his withdrawal we struggled to compete against the stubbornness of the visitors.
James Vaughan had another disappointing day at the office, if I had to be really honest I’d say he didn’t look arsed today. His hold up play was poor and any half chance that fell to him failed to trouble Adam Davies in the Tykes goal. If he is to leave this month, it’s hard to see how he’ll be missed.
We’ve conceded plenty of poor goals this season, however Barnsley’s winner gets worse each time you watch it. Somehow, we managed to let the ball bounce in our own six-yard box and everyone in red and white watched as Ethan Pinnock sauntered in to head home.
It was slightly frustrating that it took for us to fall behind to see both Josh Maja and Joel Asoro on the pitch, yet what was perhaps most annoying was that with three strikers we mustered very few chances, failing to test Davies.
We might have had grounds for a late penalty as the ball was cleared off of the line, but we wouldn’t have deserved it. Barnsley were nothing special, but they were organised and stuck to a game plan which worked out for them. This match wasn’t just another home defeat, it was also another home game in which we fell behind and never really looked like recovering. If Chris Coleman doesn’t get the financial backing he desperately needs, then 2018 could be another testing time for SAFC fans…
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Super Saver Sub: Avoid ALS Price Increase & Save £37... |
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ALS shop opening times...
we never close |
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