Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.
Sunderland are one of those Clubs who should be doing a lot better than they are , with an average attendance of 43,071 in 2015/2016 which only 5 other Premiership Clubs could better [ well 4 as Newcastle went down ] .
The trouble with Sunderland is they can't attract the sort of quality players other Clubs can despite being not that far away from Newcastle .
Their last 6 results aren't that different from ours - Wins - 0 , Draws - 2 , Losses - 4 .
They lost to Stoke , Crystal Palace , Tottenham and Everton - They drew with West Brom and Southampton .
We have Won - 1 [ Crystal Palace ] - Drawn - 1 [ Middlesborough ] - Lost - 4 [ Southampton , West Brom , Watford and Man City ] .
Our last result gave us all hope , not the score of 0-1 , but the effort and the passion showed by the players , effort and passion that's been missing for most of our season - it was like The Magic Fairy came along and waved her wand , the difference in attitude was like night and day , we had our Players back ! Even new boy Zaza played as if his life depended on it - if the same amount of effort is given during the Sunderland match then whatever the result there will be no complaints - personally I don't think there are any bad teams in the Premiership - towards the end of last season Sunderland beat both Everton and Chelsea , 3-0 and 3-2 respectively , so they're not a bad side , no Premiership Club is .
The only game of theirs I've seen this season was their Home Match to Middlesborough where I thought they were unlucky to lose 1-2 , they went behind to a superb Stuani belter and despite giving their all failed to get the equaliser .
If the players put in the same effort as they did against Crystal Palace then I can only see one winner here - Slaven Bilic can come up with all sorts of formations but ultimately it's up to the players , I think last Saturday showed that the passion has returned so I'm going with -
i really hope we play the same system again - we cant keep chopping and changing systems. Besides it works really well for our better players....Cresswell, Payet, Lanzini, some are finally playing well Kouyoute and others will need to work hard and slot in I'm afraid (yes i mean Antonio in that even though i am a massive fan of his and hope he does).
The system and shape wont be as effective without Cresswell's runs up the left but there was another area that was dominate on Sat at Palace...when Kouyoute was joining the midfield on Sat we completely bossed it and outnumbered them giving Payet and Lanzini space to roam so much so Pardew changed the midfield at half time by bringing Cabaye on. Sunderland wont be able to cope with this. But who will slot into left wing back? personally I would put Antonio there just because Payet needs the left runner overlapping and on the right play Arbeloa, though don't be expecting many runs up the right from him though I wonder if Feghouli could slot in there to bomb up the right? as we have Obiang and Kouyoute sitting deep.
Palace game will count for nothing we don't win Sat against Sunderland. I personally think we will smash em 3-0.
YorksHammer wrote:
Seems like every week Zaza is on his final final chance around here and then puts in an improved performance so gets another final final chance.
You'd almost think he'd moved to a different country, been dropped into a different team and is settling in.
Because he needs to do better. Simples really.
How long would you give the guy to settle into his new country and team? 3 games? 3 months? 6 months?
I am not saying he is s-hit, I am saying he doesn't warrant a starting 11 position right now.
We sort of competed with Boro and got a draw, we definitely competed with Palace got a bit of the rub of the green and won. I think that the dire results were due to not competing with the opposition and I think that Bilic has got on top of that now with his hard graft fitness sessions.
We'll definitely compete with Sunderland and the extra class of some of our players will show through, this one will be a win too.
I think the crowd is especially important for this one. We really need to get behind the lads and make some noise, even if it doesn't start so well as i'm expecting a nervy first 15-20 minutes.
Defence is a worry with all the injuries but we have the offensive players to hurt them. It would be absoutely classic West Ham to lose this one but i'm sticking my neck out for a home win 3-1. I also reckon Zaza will get off the mark (he defintely deserves to start after his performance against Palace). Also Pedro has to play after the last two games.
How long would you give the guy to settle into his new country and team? 3 games? 3 months? 6 months?
I am not saying he is s-hit, I am saying he doesn't warrant a starting 11 position right now
You are Alan Pardew and you are talking about why Carlos Tevez who didn't score for West Ham until March in his first season in British football should be binned.
Estuary wrote:
You are Alan Pardew and you are talking about why Carlos Tevez who didn't score for West Ham until March in his first season in British football should be binned.
Can Sunderland continue to be as shi*e? Can we replicate Saturday's first half performance at home for the whole game?
Let's be honest, we just about deserved the points Saturday but we still allowed Palace enough chances to make the result different.
If we show the same intensity, we should have enough against currently the worst team in the league but they have to improve sometime, (or get some luck) have Defoe and we are the ever obliging West Ham.
Is Arbeloa definately out? In that case, Fletcher on for Cress, and change formation to a 442. Sakho(?), Calleri, Feghouli, Oxford, Collins and Pike on the bench.
Voronin wrote:Is Arbeloa definately out? In that case, Fletcher on for Cress, and change formation to a 442. Sakho(?), Calleri, Feghouli, Oxford, Collins and Pike on the bench.
the last thing we should be doing is taking bodies out of midfield after our best performance all season came from dominating the middle of the park.
personally i'd have slav getting fernandes to run up and down the touchline, putting in crosses and jockeying antonio all week. he's a natural box-to-box midfielder so a one week stint at wingback isn't the most ridiculous idea.
Last edited by Beavis Danzig on Mon Oct 17, 2016 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Has to be three points. No if's or but's. Sunderland will work hard, we will have to do our jobs, it's no gummies but failure to get the job done is not acceptable.
I have heard that Van Aarnholt is out with a groin injury sustained against Stoke. While he is a useless defender, he is quite a threat going forward. Good news.
Ludeksgloves wrote:I have heard that Van Aarnholt is out with a groin injury sustained against Stoke. While he is a useless defender, he is quite a threat going forward. Good news.