Martin O’Neill
The transfer window opens and two players leave the club with no replacements coming in. No doubt there are some lined up and we shall see some new names on the Sunderland roster but Martin O’Neill in his post-match e-mail to M Salut highlights the smallness of the squad and for once, has little to temper the disappointment of the result.
Jake's imagination
Dear Colin,
Liverpool were too strong for us and deserved to win the game.
It looked as though we ran out of steam out there tonight.
We started off very brightly indeed and we had Liverpool on the back-foot, but once they got their goal they opened us up and exploited us.
Luis Suarez is a top quality footballer and he was a handful tonight.
Perhaps it was a case of a bridge too far, we’ve played four games in 12 days and we’ve got one of the smallest squads in the Barclays Premier League.
We’ve had some big games as of late and maybe in terms of recovery we just haven’t got that ability to switch things around as we would like to.
As always we’ll dust ourselves off and get ready to go again on Saturday as we’ve got a big game at Bolton in the FA Cup.
All the best,
Beware of forgeries
Martin O’Neill
Sunderland News 24/7
I was wrong on my predication about the scoreline, but not wrong on my fear that Suarez tormented Kilgallon.
2nd half we were leggy and just gave them way too much space. Give anyone that much space and you’ll be punished. I don’t know why MON didn’t give fresh legs the chance to impress. At least energy would have been injected. Eg: Vaughn starts, Wickham starts in place of Sess, Sure, these players are not natural starters but a fresh player is better than a tired one surely.
Wickham would have ran his socks off and gave us a long ball option flick onto Fletch. etc
Roll on January transfer window. We need a centre back and a midfielder.
The only consolation smile I afforded myself over the past week is that our friends up the road got toasted at Arsenal, and now by Everton.
We beat Reading and Southampton; who doesn’t and then got a fluke goal against Man City.
Some people were suggesting that we had turned the corner and that O’Neill is the man we thought he was when he was appointed.
Sadly neither case is true. We are complete and utter dross. There is nothing in this team that we can look to other than Mignolet and a loanee from Spurs who looked as if he was suffering Whitworth’s disease today.
My patience is running out and my belief is sorely tested.
Jeremy, we just beat Man City with a brilliant performance, then we played Spurs who also run you ragged.
We were a bit tired against an in-form L’pool team.
By the end of Jan I am optomistic things will have turned around since we are playing some teams around us.
Cheer up mate.
I’ve changed my mind. McClean isn’t good enough for Hartlepool.
Had McClean scored , it would have been a totally different game , goals change games . After a quiet couple of weeks Jeremy gets back into moan mode – nothing new there then
The point Ian and Davey is that we have managed to beat the likes of Reading and Southampton and then put in a spirited performance winning by a fluke. That’s it. Everybody beats Reading and Southampton and everybody else beats us. We are crap.
First the positive – I am sure that most of us would have grabbed 6 points from the 4 Christmas games (I would have happily settled for 4). Also, the performance against Man City was of a high quality and really should give us hope.
Last night, the first half was really even and if we finished as well as they did it would have been 2-2 at half-time and who knows.
However …..
1) Steven Fletcher is either not fit or not trying. Hopefully the former but either way he must be rested for Wickham on Saturday. This only relates to the last 2 games where he has appeared not to move as freely and to not be prepared to gamble on balls being put into the box. Up until the last 2 he has been great, which is why I think he must be carrying an injury.
2) Carlos Cuellar is too much of a liability. He may be tired as well but he has been directly or partially responsible for 4 goals in 2 games and we cannot win games if he is going to perform like this. His defending for Suarez first goal should see him ruled out of contention at least until he gets his strength back! Personally, I don’t think he is tired, just past it as there have been countless times when he has arrived just too late when the opposition score (Man City, Villa and Fulham, at least) and he was also woeful against Norwich. It is clear that there is a problem if you would prefer Bramble because he is MUCH less likely to make a mistake.
3) McFadden did not exactly excite as an option for Sess.
4) MON cannot complain about the size of our squad while refusing to give any sort of a chance to Wickham, Vaughan and Meyler (not to mention Laing and Egan). I have doubts about both midfielders but they are better options for centre mid than McClean.
5) McClean must be left on the wing. He had just started to get his form back and then we mess him about and move him to a position that he is clearly not suited to, losing his threat and gaining nothing. I could understand against City when he was fresher than most and we needed someone to run around in midfield but not last Saturday and not last night.
6) Larsson must not be allowed to shoot from free kicks. I am sure someone will know but I can’t remember when he last got the ball over the wall. Still great at whipping balls in from free kicks on the wings but Johnson or Gardner should be the only ones allowed to shoot, at least until he gets his mojo back!
7) I must stop telling people how good Mignolet is. Told people at work before the West Brom game and this week said how good he is at 1v1s, only for him then to let 4 in from 1v1s in about 90 minutes. I know it is a bit harsh given how badly he was let down by those in front of him but (and this is a sign of how good he is) I was disappointed with him on both Suarez goals last night.
We have 2 huge league games coming up. 4 points from West Ham and Wigan and we should be fine.
Is it only me are is Cuellar really a liability, he was appaulling in the last two games and makes ricketts in every game which prove costly, it must be murder for O’Shea nd Killgallon to play along side him. He needs o be banished to he reserves